Floods in Metro Manila: Dereliction of duty?

Last Sunday, my wife Jessica and I took the SuperCat (they call it 2Go now) to Ormoc City for the burial of dear friend, Mrs. Laura Aviles, mother in law of Jessica’s brother Dodong Rosello. It was a quick trip from the Ormoc terminal to the Cathedral and to the cemetery. It was then that I was told that the Ormoc City government had turned the mass grave of the unforgettable Nov. 5, 1991 Ormoc Flood where 8,000 perished into a memorial site, which was only 75 yards from the Aviles crypt.

It brought back memories of how things were in Ormoc City almost 21 years ago, when flash floods inundated the river and engulfed the one square kilometer Ormoc City. Back then, the Central Government of then Pres. Cory Aquino didn’t know how to react to this disaster. Cebu Governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña got a radio message of the disaster that was unfolding and reacted by practically having the entire Cebu Province and City government rushing to Ormoc with emergency supplies to help the beleaguered Ormocanons even to the point of CITOM traffic officers manning traffic. Those were unforgettable times indeed.

Why am I writing this piece? I guess it is because we Filipinos still haven’t learned our bitter lessons from all the natural disasters that have fallen on us. If today Metro Manilans continue to suffer through that great flood with no name (because there was no typhoon to name it) last week, it is because our political leadership just cannot get their acts together. We can thank God that this flood only had 89 casualties, which is a miniscule number compared to the great flood of Ormoc that killed more than 8,000 people.

Because of his hatred for the previous administration, P-Noy stopped all the flood control projects prepared during the Arroyo Presidency. So if you are still wallowing in flood waters, should we blame God or the Aquino regime for this near criminal neglect in stopping those projects which could prevent floods from happening again? Now all of a sudden, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) revealed that there is some P352 billion for flood control projects. Is it really that much or is it P18.2 billion that Rep. Arnel Ty was telling everyone? So after all, they had all that money… but in the last two years of the Aquino Presidency… this was never prioritized. Isn’t this what is known as dereliction of duty?

No doubt, the priority of P-Noy is the political control of all the supposed independent pillars of our Democracy. We know that the Legislative branch is already firmly in his pocket by virtue of his being the titular head of the Liberal Party (LP). Even the Senate whom many of us thought (wrongly) was independent minded… proved to the Filipino people during the Senate impeachment trial that they too are just too scared of the tactics that P-Noy used to oust CJ Corona and succumbed to his wishes.

What we are seeing today is the “Daang Matuwid Railroad Company.” The 188 members of Congress railroaded the impeachment of CJ Corona in less than an hour. While the Senate may have taken a longer time to deliberate on the evidences thrown against the Chief Justice… however in the end, we now know that the reality TV was merely “in aid of Re-election” but the Senate also proved that they belong to the same Railroad Company. 

Now it’s the turn of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to railroad the appointment of new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. First the JBC insisted that there should only be one member of the Legislature in the JBC, but both Senator Chiz Escudero and Rep Niel Tupas questioned why Congress only had one vote. But isn’t this written in stone in the 1987 Constitution? Instead of insisting on only one member, the JBC decided to temporarily allow the two to continue with their duties as JBC members, which in my book is totally unconstitutional.

At this point, we can only warn the JBC that, they must chose from the shortlist persons with proven probity and integrity… and without any stain of any administrative cases… which unfortunately DoJ Sec. de Lima has because she defied the Supreme Court. However, I’m not counting de Lima out… but if P-Noy appoints her, then he is taking risks that the Judiciary

itself might just revolt against the Executive Branch. I know for a fact that there are still many good Judges out there who are quietly grumbling from the trashing of the Judiciary by our politicians. I suggest that Pres. PNoy show some kind of respect to our Judiciary.

But respect is not in the vocabulary of the President. Last week, the social networks were busy chastising Pres. PNoy who led the distribution of relief goods to the flooded areas with his sister Kris and his Senatoriables in tow, notably, TESDA Chief Joel Villanueva, Rep. Rissa Baraquel, Rep. Sonny Angara and Customs Chief Ruffy Biazon. As our fellow Star columnist Marichu Villanueva said, “It was a cheap political stunt.” Shame!

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