Best Intentions

by Marie Rea, BS DevCom

Floods in Metro Manila; certainly not once in a lifetime. Government was caught unprepared! Surprise, surprise!

The Philippine government has asked the world for help in its massive rescue operations for nearly half a million people left homeless in the deluge that hit the main island of Luzon on the 26th of September 2009.

As reported by the United Nations, over 3.2 million Filipinos were affected by typhoon ONDOY (international code name Ketsana).

Foreign aid was delivered by many countries, notably the United States, Australia, Japan, China, Singapore, and many more private and public organizations. But the issue remains! Floods, especially in Metro Manila can never be a once-in-a-lifetime event!

Being a tropical island country, an average of about 20 typhoons strike this Southeast Asian nation every year. Of course, rains and strong winds often characterise these storms. Worst, mud flows, water-borne diseases and other problems plague this typhoon-prone nation.

Every year, we hear of floods affecting certain parts of the Philippines especially flood-prone areas like Central Luzon and even those in the Visayas. Metro Manila is also prone to flooding since time immemorial!

But what is enraging is to hear a Philippine official, Gilberto Teodoro Jr, saying “the government was caught unprepared by the heavy rains brought by the typhoon!” According to an ABS-CBN news report, Defence chief Teodoro is also chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).

Caught unprepared? The height of inefficiency! It is an insult to the Filipinos’ intelligence that the NDCC head himself admits to not being prepared for the strong rains. We journos describe this as “natutulog sa pansitan” (caught napping at the noodle house)!

Perhaps someone more capable should head the NDCC. Doesn’t Teodoro coordinate with the PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) people? To this day, I’ve never heard of an efficient flood control program set up for flood-prone areas in the country. What happened to the funds allocated for such projects?

Every true blue Filipino knows that strong typhoons visit the country even up to the last quarter of the year.

Here’s a partial list of devastating storms, also called super typhoons that hit the country late September up to December: Super typhoon “Loleng” (October 15, 1998) with wind velocity of 250 kph, resulting in 303 deaths, PHP6.8B in damages; Typhoon “Kadiang” (September 30, 1993), wind velocity: 130 kph, 576 deaths, PHP8.8 Billion in damages; Super Typhoon “Sening” (October 11,1970), wind velocity: 275 kph, 768 deaths, PHP1.9B in damages; Typhoon “Undang” (November 30,1984), wind velocity: 230 kph, 895 deaths, PHP 1.9B in damages.

(source: www.y101fm.com/index.php) The list goes on and on!

I remember December 1, 2004 when we flew in from Sydney just a day after another typhoon hit Manila. We experienced the aftermath, having being stranded during the black-out in Harrison Plaza. The security guards locked the Mall and we had difficulty getting a cab to take us back to our hotel. The weather was nice when we landed. We were happy it wasn’t humid but in the early evening, the weather suddenly changed!

I was gripped with fear watching an electric post burst into flames and all sorts of stuff – cardboards, shop signs being flung by the heavy winds all around us while we stood outside the taxi ramp! Luckily my sister remembered the hotel phone number and requested to get us picked! How relieved was I, as I had the kids with me. My husband was supposed to follow from Sydney after a week as there were no more flights available to accommodate all four of us!

Today, the government has not learned anything from the past!

It is amazing that the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chief, Bayani Fernando, who is in charge of Manila’s flood control program, even want to run for President in May 2010! He cannot solve the flood problems in Metro Manila (MM) and he wants to take on a bigger responsibility?

Attention Filipino voters: you can only blame yourself if you give Mr. Fernando a much bigger position! He is also the head of the Department of Public Works and Highways for the National Capital Region (NCR) for which MM is a part of.

Everybody knows the state of the DPWH in the NCR! Now, that’s for another column!

Updated: 2009-11-08 — 05:27:41