Huwag nman ngayon maawa kayo: POLITICAL AMBITION: Sec. Mar Roxas clearly intends to use this tragedy to let his political ambition shine at its brightest, at the cost of hunger, thirst and deprivation of the typhoon victims where those lucky to have survived the typhoon are at high risk of dying from hunger, thirst, and from the gangs of looters. Mar Roxas has ordered that all distribution of relief operation be centralized by the DSWD and all relief goods coming in to Leyte should be turned over to this agency where he can decide by himself when, how and where to distribute them, with him leading the distribution with doleful eyes, the better to sear his personal image into people’s conscious and maximize his media face time. While we don’t give a damn what his political ambitions are, this is unfortunately creating a bottleneck in the distribution, with him sitting prettily in the middle of that bottleneck. Even private flights coming in are required to secure clearance from NDRRMC, again on Roxas’ instruction. Is this to ensure, again, that no relief goods are distributed without going through him? Small wonder why, despite the non-stop arrival of relief goods from local and international donors, people are still acutely hungry, thirsty, dying of infections from untreated injuries. This hunger has led to widespread looting, and bad elements are taking advantage by joining the fray not to loot for food, but for non-food items like tv sets and other appliances. As local gov’t secretary, Mar Roxas’ role should be to ensure the safety and security of civilian population. The DILG Secretary is vice chairman for Disaster Preparedness of the National Disaster Coordinating Council. So what business does Mar Roxas have in arrogating unto himself the distribution of relief items and elbowing out of the picture DSWD Sec. Dinky Soliman, NUDCC vice chair for Disaster Response? The answer is as clear as the hunger and thirst: Political ambition 2016. This was written by a group of people who have family in Leyte. They are professionals, business people, civil servants working and living in Manila, trace their deepest roots in Leyte and spend every possible free time, vacation or break there. They have moved mountains to gather resources for relief operations, organize transport by plane, boat and truck – some 90 tons worth so far I am told. They have arranged transport with assistance from contacts with the largest Filipino and multinational companies with the means to do so. And they have arranged security, many of them being in government and the military. They know the lay of the land, being natives. And their surviving families have been providing needed intelligence on roads, access and operational points. They have advance teams on the ground. Yet to operationalize their plan – especially to land the goods in Tacloban airport – they report that it needs Mar Roxas’ permission. Going over land, they say Roxas has to sign off on it. The answer was simply: “No.” Meanwhile, the BBC report shows children in Tacloban, standing in the rain and amid rotting corpses, waiting for any sign that food will come. “Are you hungry?” “Yes we are,” answer the children, smiling and in perfect English. That’s what got me up this morning, on Day 6 after Yolanda.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 10:41:02 +0000
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