Multisectoral group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) is demanding accountability from Malacañang and the leadership of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) for gross incompetence in dealing with the onslaught of tropical storm “Ondoy” and its aftermath.
The group minced no words in calling to account the Arroyo administration, particularly President Gloria Arroyo and NDCC chairperson Gilberto Teodoro Jr., for failing to steer a prompt and organized government response to Ondoy, that claimed, according to partial reports, 246 lives, left 42 missing and so far affected 2.5 million people in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Bayan recalled that Mrs. Arroyo declared in her last State of the Nation Address (SONA) that “A President must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime”. She also said, “As a country in the path of typhoons …we must be as prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible; to extend immediate and effective relief when it is not….The mapping of flood- and landslide-prone areas is almost complete. Early warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved…”
But last weekend and in the following days, this SONA pronouncement by Mrs. Arroyo proved to be just an empty boast.
“We are a typhoon and flood-prone country. While the volume of rainfall last weekend admittedly surpassed previous records, what we can’t understand is why government response was agonizingly slow, pitifully disorganized and woefully inadequate," Bayan chairperson Dr. Carol Araullo said.
Araullo noted that as early Thursday evening, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) had already issued flood warnings and even raised storm signals by Friday.
“By that time, the NDCC could have already coordinated with concerned local government units and readied an evacuation and rescue plan. But until Saturday noon, during the height of the heavy rains and when flooding began, the national authorities seemed to be at a loss on what to do,” Araullo said, citing the numerous pleas for rescue from affected residents through the media most of which went unheeded.
“The number of rescue boats, for example,” Araullo pointed out, “for the entire Metro Manila area was inconsequential; they would not have met the needs arising from an even less severe calamity. In fact, most people rescued themselves or were helped by their neighbors and not by government rescue teams.”
“Affected and displaced families grow in desperation and seethe with anger even as the entire nation witnesses the kind of inept leadership that the Arroyo administration is reduced to in the face of this destructive natural calamity,” said Araullo.
Araullo added, “In the coming days and weeks, hunger, disease and overall misery in the Ondoy-afflicted areas will rise exponentially. From an unbelievable stance of NDCC head Teodoro that government has adequate stores of relief goods, it is now appealing to private and foreign donors to help. We can only hope that the Arroyo government would soon get its act together before the situation in the most severely affected areas deteriorates further.”
Meanwhile, Bayan commended relief efforts led by various non-government groups including the mass media as well as private citizens to aid the victims of Ondoy. The group itself is joining efforts to generate and distribute relief goods to affected communities. #
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