The Philippine Online Chronicles

First, Super Typhoon Pedring hit Northern Luzon with rains and wind reaching all the way to Metro Manila due to its huge diameter. Just a couple of days after it left the country, Typhoon Quiel slammed the very same provinces hit by Pedring. Fortunately, the low pressure area following Quiel dissipated before it could hit or else it would have been a 1-2-3 knockout punch for the country.

With typhoon Quiel gone, rescue and recovery remain for the people of Bulacan and Northern Luzon. Bulacan folks say the floods that stranded many of them in areas like Calumpit are the worse they’ve seen in decades.

Is the government better prepared this time after the lessons of Ondoy?

YES. And NO.

Just look at these two news articles. In this one dated Sept. 26, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) head Benito Ramos was reported as assuring “the public that Pedring will not be like the deadly tropical cyclone ‘Ondoy,’ whose second anniversary was being marked on Monday.” And yet, in this article dated October 5, Ramos now is being reported as acceding to the possibility that Pedring’s damage could be worse than Ondoy’s.

Obviously, our forecasting and prediction capabilities need some more work.

But let’s get on to my citizen’s view of where government is doing better and where it still needs to shape up.

ONLINE PRESENCE. During Ondoy, Metro Manila residents found themselves without a coordinated cross-agency effort to rescue people. Sure, there were the radio and TV stations but basically, cries for help and rescue efforts were fragmented and disorganized. It had to take the likes of Gang Badoy of RockEd to coordinate rescue missions on her radio show. Private individuals like the Ateneo de Manila students also came up with a spreadsheet to make it easier to monitor who were already rescued and which areas still needed help. Bayanihan Online was created to put in one place all donation centers and rescue centers.

Post-Ondoy sees several government agencies already on Facebook and Twitter. @dost_pagasa, @MMDA, @DepEd_PH and @NDRRMC_OpCen, to cite some, were actively tweeting updates and responding to citizen queries, where possible. CHED, which held out against creating a Twitter account for unknown reasons, finally made gave in and now is on Twitter as @PhCHED. It has also activated its Facebook wall which was previously not accessible. Despite these improvements, the interaction with the public could still stand improvement in terms of how to engage the public online, getting more agencies and LGUs on social media and information content.  But that is for another post. Overall, it was a far greater improvement compared to the days of Ondoy.

My grade, on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest): 7

RESPONSIVENESS. The dire lack of disaster preparedness was visible during Ondoy. There were hardly any rubber boats to ferry stranded flood victims. Rescue was painfully slow.

Post-Pedring and Quiel, the scenario is better than post-Ondoy but not quite. More than a week after the two typhoons, people in several Bulacan towns remain stranded and in Northern Luzon, towns have been totally cut off from the rest of civilization with very difficult access. It was telling that a TV station’s crew was able to reach one such place ahead of the people from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). One improvement though was that this time, the government was able to use several rubber boats purchased post-Ondoy, albeit they were still insufficient and some boats were unusable due to ill-fitting motors.

Listening to one radio station during Typhoon Quiel, I heard a reporter comment that when the power was cut in most parts of Metro Manila, he observed that the NDRRMC did not seem to have a battery-powered transistor radio to monitor news. This comment really floored me because even here at home, while I am dependent on internet communications, I still have transistor radios, candles and flashlights for scenarios like this. Low-tech backup communication modes, I thought, should have still been in place.

My grade: 6

EMPATHY. There is one thing positive I could say about former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In every disaster situation, she was visible as she walked among the victims. On the other hand, President Aquino was at the receiving end of criticism for being absent in evacuation centers and flood-stricken towns before his visit the other day.

Whether the real intent of any President is for mere publicity and brownie points or real empathy for and unity with the victims can only be debated endlessly so I won’t dwell on that. And I fully understand the explanation given by Sec. Edwin Lacierda that the resources that would go to securing the President on every trip is better spent on assisting the flood victims.

But what is national TV for?

At the very least, I would have wanted to see Pres. Aquino go on national TV even before Typhoon Pedring struck, as well as after Typhoon Quiel, to assure the public that he was on top of the situation and was directing all agencies on rescue and relief efforts. He could have told us himself that he was diverting resources for his visits to the relief efforts in the early days of the rescue/relief but would visit later. This act would have stemmed the tide of criticism about his telling absence.

Visibility of a leader is key in emergency situations. This is not the time to go low-key, even if it is true that the leader is active behind the scenes. A strong leader has to have a commanding presence – in public and online.

I remember a key business concept while still in graduate school. It’s called “Managing by Walking Around”. A leader who is visible on the factory floor or is seen walking around his departments sends off a subliminal message to all that this is one guy who is in charge, expects proactivity and productivity, and won’t tolerate any monkey business. Same goes for a President.

My grade: 4

Fortunately for us all, we are almost at the end of the typhoon season. But again, there is next year. While the grades I’ve given this administration are on the low side, it just means that this administration can only get better -- that is, if it continues to be open to constructive suggestions from citizens who are now a lot more assertive online and sincerely want this administration to succeed in all fronts.

Jane Uymatiao is a wife and mother to 4 teen/adult kids. In her previous left-brained life, she earned a degree majoring in Accounting as well as a CPA license, worked for a major accounting firm for over 15 years as IT consultant, took her MBA in International Business in the USA and put in another few years as VP in a universal bank. After discovering yoga in 2006, she reinvented herself and now tries to live a right-brained life advocating health, yoga and a more purposeful life. She is presently a freelance writer and an active citizen media person. She blogs at Here's To Life!, The Yogini from Manila, and The Philippine Beat and is on Twitter as @yogajane and @philippinebeat

Photo: “Typhoon Pedring - US Embassy Roxas Boulevard” by Auio Visual Junkie, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved

Photo: “Typhoon Pedring” by Lance Catedral, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved