Disservice

By Jojo Robles

A video uploaded on the sharing site YouTube shows Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas telling Tacloban City officials that they had to sign a document giving him power over the locality, or else “bahala kayo sa buhay nyo.” The video clearly shows that Roxas was not as concerned about the plight of the city’s residents as he was about a piece of paper that gave him free rein over the city as the national government’s emissary.

As I’ve said, Roxas seems hell-bent on upstaging his boss’ empathy-challenged, insensitive and sarcastic remark about still being alive after Yolanda. And in this video, Roxas comes very close to succeeding.

Now, about that plan of yours to run for President in 2016. The victims of the typhoon – and everyone else who saw your interview over CNN and heard about your treatise on the importance of being a Romualdez or an Aquino – would probably have something to say about that, Mar.

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All this time, I thought that it was the government that had performed a disservice to the people by bungling the Yolanda preparations and the relief effort that followed. It turns out that, for the Aquino administration, criticizing the inadequate, politically-motivated and out-and-out incompetent response is the greater disservice.

It’s been more than a month since Typhoon Yolanda wreaked so much havoc on Leyte, Samar and other provinces in the Visayas. And yet, over at Malacanang Palace, the defense of President Noynoy Aquino and his officials in charge of the government’s disaster preparedness and relief and rehabilitation effort continues to be the number one priority.

Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said Aquino “believes that those putting the blame on the national government [for its inadequate response to the calamity] are performing a disservice to the people.” Coloma made the statement after the local official blamed the most by Malacanang for the disastrous aftermath of Yolanda – Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez – accused a top administration official of playing politics instead of helping his stricken constituents.

Immediately before this, Interior and Local Government Secretary Roxas, the object of Romualdez’ accusations, went all over media yesterday to defend himself. But Roxas failed to convince people that he did not ask Romualdez to sign off on a document ceding all authority over the city to the secretary, just to make everything legal, because the mayor was “a Romualdez and the President is an Aquino.”

Meanwhile, the government official in charge of distributing relief goods, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, spent another day explaining that reports of donated goods from the United Kingdom ending up being sold in shops in Metro Manila were untrue. Soliman also downplayed concerns aired by a United Nations relief agency about many victims of the typhoon who have yet to receive any assistance from the government, weeks after the disaster struck.

(This time, though, Soliman did not shed any tears. Perhaps she figured that since Romualdez had already broken down in public when he accused Roxas of politicking, the sight of her crying once again would not be very much appreciated.)

Over at Ground Zero, the National Bureau of Investigation has thrown up its hands and admitted that it will probably never be able to properly identify the casualties in the disaster, whose bodies have decomposed mostly beyond recognition. Now, this would not really be surprising, had NBI not bullied a University of the Philippines-based expert whom the government had contracted to do that job, forcing the scientist to quit in a huff.

In Estancia, Iloilo, an oil spill triggered by the puncturing of a ship containing toxic bunker fuel at the height of the typhoon is still causing damage to the coastline, long after a hurried (and suspicious) emergency bidding for the cleanup was conducted. The awarding of the oil spill cleanup contract to a mineral-water distributor, despite the enthusiastic backing of Senate President Franklin Drilon, has not speeded up the process in any way, as far as I know.

Is pointing out all of these and many other incidents of official failings in the aftermath of the typhoon really performing a “disservice,” as Aquino believes? Should we all, as the largely silenced pro-Aquino defenders used to say, just keep quiet and repack (but not resell) relief goods?

I don’t think so. And despite Coloma’s attempt at role-reversal, I insist that it was government that performed the disservice, when it performed any service to the typhoon victims at all.

Last I heard, all these government officials were getting paid by the people to perform the services demanded of them. And the people have been poorly served.

* * *

Speaking of Coloma, I wonder how he intends to rework his statement that the unabated killing of journalists in this country is “not so serious.” I was one of those willing to give Coloma a chance to be a more effective palace spokesman, after the propaganda firm of Lacierda, Carandang and Valte crashed and burned recently; now I’m not so sure anymore.

Perhaps the stresses that got to Lacierda and Co. are starting to wear on Coloma, as well, making him think (as his boss does) that media is actually government’s adversary. I hope not, because he’s just barely warmed his seat.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/12/11/disservice/