The Philippine Online Chronicles

Much has been said about Sendong--- the tragedy that struck Northern Mindanao--- particularly, Cagayan de Oro City and Illigan. A UN Aid worker described it "like a tsunami" hitting. It is an apt enough description. The outpouring of aid from Filipinos across every walk of life is staggering. We've not seen this like since Ondoy. It is moments like this that truly best represents what is Good and Great about our nation. That inspite of being a poor, and often tired nation, and the spirit of Bayanihan lives, and for the Christians and Catholics amongst us, a true representation of the meaning of Christmas as well.

The outpouring of aid from the Philippine government too has been remarkably better. Not ways off, mind you. Many of course will contend to its imperfections, but whereas during Ondoy when at the heart of Manila was struck, it would seem this time the organs of government moved at lot, lot faster.

In the coming months, when the relief work is over, and rehabilitation work fully goes into gear, the dust would have settled. In that moment, we as a nation would have to ask ourselves to question why Sendong happened.

We would need to trace the events as they transpired. Where we, blinded by the recent political turmoil, blinded by the approaching holidays, simply ignored the warnings of our weather bureau?

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In a comment to an opinion piece I wrote titled, "Provincial", Nik wrote "I've been saying on twitter since this all began that we need to stop focusing on the president as the knight in shining armor and begin holding our regional/municipal/local officials accountable as well. Anytime I hear a mayor say: "Well no one told me" I get disgusted. Is it the role of the national government to hand hold you? Can you imagine the size of the bureaucracy of Pagasa et al if they had to have a call center that repeatedly got in touch with every affected municipal and local leader? If laymen can log on to the internet check Pagasa, NASA, CNN/BBC Weather I would expect at the very least for political offices to be able to do the same. Especially when they are the ones in best position to evaluate the needs of their communities and respond accordingly."

And so going forward, our LGUs need to level up. For the longest time, our Local Governments have been asking for greater autonomy. No better way to express that autonomy that having the local disaster council monitor not just PAGASA data, but others as well. It is inconcievable that in this day and age, that government doesn't know, or can not know.

The Jester-in-Exile agrees. He wrote, "Anytime I hear a mayor say: "Well no one told me" I get disgusted. Is it the role of the national government to hand hold you? mismo. if LGU officials are incompetent (as disaster preparedness, contingency planning, and implementation is an LGU function, with NDRMMC as support), it's not national government's fault -- it's theirs."

There could be a lot of blame game going. Not to mention, "I told you so". To think we had a lot of information, but no one acted.

On the radio, I heard the Department of Health discussing how to properly put Sendong dead for temporary burial. Put them in body bags, tags. etc. They noted that this is what they learned from Ormoc. When Ormoc happened bodies, he said were buried in mass graves one, on top of the other. And it was hell to identify bodies later on. So it would seem our agents of government do learn.

We can not put the genie back in the bottle. Over a thousand people are dead. Whether or not warnings were made, and went unheeded, now becomes moot. Though I hope, at least not academic.

Scientists are predicting climate change, and that storms will continue to be worst. We can not stop nature. We can not be like the Mango tree against the onslaught of a storm. The walls we will errect, the structures that we will be building, will be insignificant against the Earth herself.

But humans are not entirely without defense. Like the Bamboo, we must, and can be flexible enough to bend, and bow amidst the powerful storm. We must be real tropical people. We must know when to hide when the storm comes. Science can reasonably predict when storms will come. Science can reasonably tell us which areas are flood prone, and which areas will water flow.

We can already tell by now as well, that Government can not do it alone. If we are to reasonably arm ourselves against climate change, it must be a collaboration between public and private spheres. Another Ondoy, or another Sendong will come. It could also be another Earthquake. It isn't a question of "If", in both cases, it is a question of "When".