CARINA” is the local name given by PAGASA to typhoon “Gaemi” which inundated much of the country this week. Weather experts said while this tropical cyclone did not make landfall in the Philippines, it siphoned a huge volume of rainwater all over the country for two days by inducing the southwest monsoon or “habagat” to dump rains that caused massive floods in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
The people especially in flood-prone areas look up to government for assistance in these emergencies. In this latest natural disaster, the heart-rending scenes of poor and middle-class Filipinos victimized by the floods are repeated over and over again. The difference this time is the common people’s access to information technology such as cellphones and Facebook live. These vivid and real-time reporting by ordinary citizens who only wanted to document what’s happening or are in need of immediate rescue from government workers or private citizens who have the means such as boats, bancas and other transport vessels is most appreciated.
‘With these floods… the people are expectedly asking where these projects are, how much of the budget was spent and how much went to official corruption, and why are we suffering this hard from the floods.’
Most telling of the incidents include a man electrocuted, and died, while crossing the flooded Tayuman st. in Sta. Cruz, Manila; residents injured as two days of heavy rains in barangay San Antonio, San Pedro City in Laguna caused the collapse of a long subdivision wall; people lost their homes in Lemery and Nasugbu, Batangas because of landslides that accompanied heavy rains; rampaging floodwaters from the Sierra Madre mountain inundated towns and barangays at its foot, such as Rodriguez and Antipolo, Rizal, and Kalayaan and Lumban, Laguna; portions of the North Luzon Expressway in Valenzuela City and Pampanga were flooded; the Marikina River breached its 20-meter level and caused the mass evacuation of residents near it; and many streets in Quezon City and Manila became impassable to all vehicles.
Through all these, President Marcos Jr. did the best any president would do – preside over the early-morning emergency meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) at the Office of Civil Defense, issue directives to his Cabinet members on what to do in terms of rescue, relief and rehabilitation of flooded areas, etc.
Early on, the Office of the President through Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin issued the necessary orders suspending classes and government offices except those vital to the flood relief efforts. The suspension was extended for Thursday, even as the typhoon is well on its way in the direction of Taiwan, but still capable of attracting rain through the southwest monsoon. The second-day suspension of classes and public offices was necessary because the monsoon was expected to bring rains in northern Luzon and the western side of Central Luzon and Metro Manila.
An emergency meeting of the Metro Manila Council composed of the 17 mayors of the National Capital Region, along with Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority acting chairman Don Artes, resulted in a decision placing the whole of the NCR under a state of calamity.
The declaration of a state of calamity will allow local government units to access emergency funds that would enable the swift implementation of relief operations and the deployment of aid to affected residents.
With these floods happening a couple of days after the President’s SONA where he reported the completion of 5,500 flood control projects worth more than P1 trillion, the people are expectedly asking where these projects are, how much of the budget was spent and how much went to official corruption, and why are we suffering this hard from the floods.
Any self-respecting DPWH secretary would resign for his department’s failure in flood control. Is Manuel Bonoan listening?
