Teach old dogs new tricks

Known as one of the world’s most active volcanoes, Mt. Mayon in Albay showed anew signs of restiveness since September 15 this year. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised several times the maximum Alert Level when Mayon spewed pyroclastic materials as it rumbled for several weeks.  

Thousands of people living near Mayon have been evacuated after government scientists warned of an impending eruption. Albay Gov. Jose “Joey” Salceda forcibly evacuated more than 12,000 residents living around the 6.8-kilometer extended danger zone of Mayon.

Tens of thousands of villagers were displaced when Mayon erupted in December 2009. Last year, the volcano spewed ash and rocks that reached 500 meters above the summit, killing four foreign tourists and their local guide.

Despite these latest detected increased volcanic activities — from a growing lava dome, crater glow, rock fall events, volcanic earthquakes and gas emissions  — it did not stall preparations of Gov. Salceda for Albay’s hosting of the first of a series of international meetings where his province is one of the venues for the country’s hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit next year.

The first of the APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) to be held in the country was supposed to take place in Albay’s capital city, Legazpi, on December 8-9.

Despite a history of 48 volcanic eruptions of Mayon, there was no stopping Albay’s gearing up for APEC. All done and ready for the big event in the province, Gov. Salceda suddenly came out last Wednesday with a sad announcement. Albay is giving way to Manila to host the first of a series of APEC-SOM. Malacañang decided to move the meeting to alternative venue at Makati Shangri-La instead.

Reason: The APEC 2015 National Organizing Committee (NOC) deemed it prudent to consider the safety of the delegates. Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., head of the 2015 APEC-NOC, cited the transfer was done with prior consultation with Gov. Salceda and other stakeholders.

While it cited “safety of delegates,” there was no mention, however, of anything about renewed restiveness of Mt. Mayon as reason for transfer. Neither was there any reference to possible security threats from New People’s Army (NPA) which claims strongholds in Bicol region.

Mayon is located about 300 kilometers southeast of the capital Manila. It is the largest of the Philippines’ 22 active volcanoes, according to Phivolcs.

The only other justification by Ochoa for the transfer of the venue was to supposedly enable the local government of Albay to attend to the more urgent need for disaster-mitigating preparations for typhoon “Ruby” (international name “Hagupit”).

What Mt. Mayon failed to stop, typhoon “Ruby” did before it could even make landfall.

Albay is among the provinces in the direct path of Ruby. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) raised alarm of storm surges to reach as high as four to five meters. PAGASA warned storm surges may hit the eastern part of Samar, Bicol and Surigao provinces. Likewise, PAGASA warned low-lying and mountainous areas also face possible flashfloods and landslides, respectively.

As of press time, Ruby further intensified as it was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 230 kph. Public storm warning signal no. 2 has been hoisted over Eastern Visayas and Northern Mindanao. The full brunt of Ruby is expected tomorrow (Saturday). Meanwhile, the eastern sections of Southern Luzon and Visayas will experience moderate to heavy rains.

So it is not surprising if the usually combative and articulate Gov. Salceda accepted the Palace decision without a fight. He said he fully understood the decision to transfer the venue of the APEC-SOM. “There are other opportunities that Albay can take advantage of,” Gov. Salceda pointed out.

The Albay governor is one of the best officials of our local government units (LGUs), especially in his strong advocacy and effective implementation of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation measures. His staunch application of DRR and climate change advocacy have been acknowledged here and abroad.

His province prone to disaster, Gov. Salceda has saved thousands of lives of his constituents through his competent and hands-on management in times of disaster — from Mayon rumblings to typhoons that frequently visit Albay. Other LGUs should learn a lot from Gov. Salceda that local governance is not just politics.

As early as last Wednesday, various LGUs in Leyte have reportedly convened their respective Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils to discuss how to effectively address potential emergency and other issues that would arise in case Ruby — with the strength more or less of super typhoon “Yolanda” last year — slams into Leyte. Thousands of people were killed and millions were displaced because of typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan). Both Leyte and Samar were hardest hit provinces.

Learning the lessons from the tragic Yolanda, Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez reportedly convened yesterday his disaster preparedness team for their so-called “Oplan Bagyo Hagupit.” He called upon his City Hall officials and his constituents not to take the typhoon warning lightly like they did last year with Yolanda.

The mayor reportedly instructed city and barangay servants to make themselves on call in case their services are needed and to secure all public documents, equipment, facilities and properties should Ruby make landfall in their city.

 Mayor Romualdez is reportedly still smarting from his differences with national government officials on post-Yolanda projects in Tacloban as supervised by the Office of Presidential Assistant for Recovery and Rehabilitation (OPARR) headed by former Senator now Secretary Panfilo Lacson. Instead of closely cooperating with the OPARR, Lacson earlier deplored Mayor Romualdez in his allegedly toeing the communist lines to attack the national government's efforts to build better and disaster-resilient homes for Yolanda survivors.

With many Tacloban City folks still in evacuation centers one year after Yolanda, Mayor Romualdez and other LGU executives for that matter, could learn so many other disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation measures from Gov. Salceda. It’s not too late for old dogs to learn new tricks.