Obama win gives way to stormy passage

I had expected heavy rains due to the intertropical convergence zone Thursday. But I never anticipated that the ICZ did a lot of damage as well as flooded low areas of Bacolod City. Thus, the euphoria over the unprecedented victory of Barack Obama as US president-elect was over and locals soon found themselves focused on local developments.

No doubt about it, Bacolodnons were just as excited as their American counterparts in hailing Obama’s win as ushering in a new era of true democracy in the US. For the first time, an African-American received a stunning number of votes, not only the biggest number of electoral college votes.

But as I had earlier pointed out, my car waded through the floodwaters that inundated a stretch of Lacson street as well as other areas of the city. Even the Bacolod Shopping Center was flooded. So with the area forming the Gaisano City in Singcang. And the Bacolod plaza looked like a swimming pool.

Later, however, I received word that tornadoes hit Zone 3 of Talisay City, destroying 30 houses and damaging 50 others at noon Thursday.

A fisherman was also found dead in Zone T, Barangay Singcang at about 5 p.m. after he was reportedly swept away by a flash flood. Saturnino Gonzaga of Singcang was recovered by the Amity Rescue Group near Magsungay River.

In short, tropical storm “Quinta” stole the thunder from Obama’s smashing win. Then, there was the report that nine were killed when their boat capsized off Concepcion town in Iloilo City. And, of course, Iloilo also went under water for the nth time.

But the most jarring event was the press conference by the Anti-Baha Alliance, which announced their withdrawal as member of the Disaster Mitigating Council of the Bacolod City government. But that was not really surprising.

Earlier, Mayor Evelio Leonardia had hinted that he was being asked to apologize to the residents of Barangay Felisa for the dispersal of their barricade last Oct. 26 when they protested the attempt to put up a dumpsite on the seven-hectare property of the Lopez family bought by the city government.

The Anti-Baha Alliance, however, was unceremoniously dismissed by Mayor Leonardia after City Hall monitored their distribution of pamphlets asking the city executive to apologize to the Felisa residents for the dispersal.

“We do not want to be where we are not welcome,” was the terse announcement by the group headed by Jean Trebol. The others included Agnes Jalandoni, Elsie Coscolluela, Anna Balcells, Tina Monfort, Cayenne Gaston, Merly Severino, Gigi Campos, Boy Pecio, Norman Campos, Edgar Arona, Dionisio de la Cruz, Rene Hinoljales, Alan Gensoli, Francisco Cuenca, Gina Pecio, and Inday Javellana.

What was tragic was that the Anti-Baha Alliance had been member of the Disaster Mitigating Council since June this year. And as pointed out by Alan Gensoli, they took their work seriously and studied what could best be done to alleviate the floodings that have repeatedly bedeviled city authorities.

The alliance, through Gensoli, listed many times when they were virtually kept in the dark about plans by the city government, including the purchase of the Lopez property for the city’s sanitary landfill.

They also claimed that Councilor Greg Gasatay allegedly told them that what the Spanish government submitted to the city was only a draft of their study on where and how to put up a sanitary landfill.

And they pointed out that they waited for several days before they finally came out with their pamphlet calling on the mayor to apologize to the Felisa residents.

Leonardia, however, pointed out that there were circumstances that forced the city to disperse the barricade put up by Felisa residents. He said they did not have the necessary permit for it and how Atty. Sony Petierre tried to negotiate with the residents to lift their barricade and allow the dump trucks to pass through. The picketers, however, asked for one day to maintain their stance.

But by mid-afternoon, Leonardia said city legal officer Alan Zamora and Petierre proceeded to Felisa to supervise the clearing of public roads so the trucks could proceed to unload garbage at the dump.

Considering the situation, Leonardia stressed, some amount of reasonable physical force – pushing and shoving – had to be applied to clear the illegal barricade.

“We are sorry that people had to be pushed and shoved but we cannot apologize,” Leonardia added.

Well, that’s the situation as of yesterday. The alliance and the city government will have to discuss more their tiff and how the city could re-invite the group to help in the government’s efforts to really address the sanitary landfill site.