Calling Marikina Rescue Line 161

(Part 2 of a series on Mayors Bayani and Marides Fernando, the dynamic couple who transformed Marikina)

How often have we wished we had America’s rescue number 911… whenever a thief breaks into our homes; whenever our children break out into a convulsive high fever, or, when our aging parents get a heart attack? Even worse when we see almost daily how innocent families in Metro Manila are slaughtered in their subdivisions. For a time, we thought it was plain wishful thinking. Then we heard that Marikina Mayor Bayani Fernando installed this emergency line for his constituents.

Did you know that it was former Marikina Mayor Bayani Fernando’s turn to become Metro Manila governor? I wonder why President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did not appoint him. This great metropolitan city would have been able to sleep peacefully.

Sleeping peacefully in Marikina

Of all Metro Manila residents it seems that it is the Mariqueños who can sleep most soundly every night. However, since 1992 the Fernandos and his city council must have sleepless nights thinking of all ways and means to keep the city safe and sustain its economic prosperity.

Usually famous for its shoe industry, Marikina became notorious as "rape city" and hideout of drug addicts. People shunned Marikina. Even the river that encircles it are filled with squatters who constantly pollute it. The smell and stench was just obnoxious. People wondered how anyone could stand living there.

However, the great transformation came about in the nineties when Mayor Bayani Fernando took over the management of Marikina in 1992. His first major project was "Save the Marikina River" and "Rescue 161". So determined and persistent was he that 10,000 squatters were gradually persuaded to leave the riverbanks, so by 1995 still midway to perfection, it won the "1995 Kaban-Galing Pook Award " or "treasure box" for community innovation and exemplary practice in local governance.

The great floods of Marikina

Marikina City chief engineer Espiritu has assisted then Mayor Bayani in averting the yearly river flood problem. Mayor Marides recalled that for the past three terms her husband governed the city, the most serious concern was the yearly flooding of the city caused by the overflowing of the river every rainy season. But, every four years, the danger escalated. Initially, the 10,000 squatters resisted being trucked to relocation centers spread out all over Marikina. But Mayor BF persisted. Oftentimes, blocks of mattresses or even shanty house debris would block the river outlet, making the water level rise even higher.

But soon the city government was relieved when after two or three years, the same families would automatically pack up and go to their assigned relocation centers, the moment they see signs of a coming flood. The trucks were no longer needed to get them. Still Mayor BF would have outposts by the river with a number of wardens so that the families would not return since they had a tendency to do so.

The young councilor Teodoro recalled that these poor families learned to trust Mayor BF and his wife Marides, since they realized all their needs are systematically looked after. These include the feat of feeding thousands at the height of panic, which usually lasts a good eight hours, the feeding program of the flood victims would start. Mayor Fernando’s mobile kitchen could feed thousands at a moment’s notice. Strict regulations help make it orderly like having a one dish menu. The rules include having consistently clean and tasty food, a ticket for a single meal per person to prevent hoarding. Cooked food donations are therefore discouraged since one uniform menu has to be used to avoid complaints.

Is Marikina disaster ready?

Right after addressing a UNESCO priority workshop of Phivolcs and UNESCO-ACCU on the theme "Expecting the Unexpected", which where participated by 12 Asian countries, I saw a full video of a dress rehearsal of a Japanese community often endangered by earthquakes. Can this be duplicated in the Philippines? I therefore joined Major General Rosales, chief of the National DOD Civil Defense office and Phivolcs chairman Rey Punongbayan to call on Mayor Marides Fernando as regards the ‘valley fault line’ that runs through Marikina and would affect the whole Metro Manila area.

Is Marikina disaster-ready? Yes. For years, in any accident or disturbance, requiring police, medics, firemen or waste disposal units, the Marikina Safety Center has come to the rescue in five minutes. It has a simple ground floor office right next to the police station. Drop by this Center on a weekday or weekend. The duty personnel will welcome your brief visit. The wall is covered with a complete roster of names of rescue teams and evacuation centers during disasters.

About eight personnel alertly respond to the call which comes every minute. "A vehicle is illegally parked across the street…" "My father has chest pains. Our address in San Roque is…" "Something is wrong with our water line. We have had no water since five this morning…" "Our post-typhoon garbage is usually abundant…" The center, which has two other sub-stations brings help in five minutes.

The safety program for the public

Mayor BF engineered each aspect of city disasters, charting them on a three-page data sheet for the public to be guided. The first page of the data sheet indicates the Central Communication Rescue Center, line 161 followed by the Medical section, Water Rescue, Evacuation, Clearing Public Information including the persons in charge with the corresponding telephone numbers.

Just as Angeles City coded lahar inundations by numbers like storm signals, so does Marikina referred to the water level increase by numbers: "First alarm" (storm signal no. 2) sees water rising to 15 meters; "Second alarm" sees a water level of 16 meters (start of evacuation) and the "Third alarm" is a 17-meter river water level.

A post disaster program reassembles a total of 756 LGU personnel for the clearing of debris, rehabilitation as well as the restoration of affected structures, utilities and facilities. There is constant monitoring, coordination and reporting. The Marikina radio station DZBF disseminates information promptly.

The second and third pages of the data sheet map out the condition of water and electric power, traffic mobility, fire control, waste disposal, evacuation centers with DSWD support food assistance provided eight hours after evacuation, signages as well as public address systems.

No homeless, no unemployed

The mayor couple has been actualizing their motto, "one job per family," so that there are few idle hands in the city.

Marikina is home to a number of industries, some of which are the biggest in their fields: Purefoods in food processing; Nestle (formerly Goya) in confectionery; Fortune Tobacco in cigarettes; Goodyear in tire-making; Noritake in porcelain and chinaware; ARMSCOR in guns and ammunitions; and, foremost of all, shoe manufacturing being the best in craftsmanship.

With hardly any interruption, productivity is high since labor, capital and the city government entered into a tripartite agreement to deal with labor problems. It is not for nothing that Marikina is now known as "An Industry and Government-friendly Happy Working Class Community."

Practically all NCR private subdivisions or villages have squatters residing adjacent to them. One feels quite insecure for they are likely to be drug addicts, thieves or drunk murderers. Huge conflagrations or even epidemics could sweep over the community anytime.

Mayor Bayani Fernando and later Mayor Marides his wife first classified Mariqueños into those who live in subdivisions (Marikina Heights, Provident Village and Industrial Valley), the old town and the "communidad such as Dao, Tumana, Parang, Nangka and Santo Niño are also adjacent to well-off subdivisions.

Reinforcing 200 policemen with 200 tanod bayan

To serve almost half a million Mariqueños two hundred policemen are not sufficient. Working as a strong team with their councilors and the city hall department heads, several DILG ordinance have been reinforced and implemented.

Foremost is the organization of the police assistance by volunteer tanod bayan, the private male citizens who alertly come to trouble-shoot "problems in the community." They are a great relief to Mayor Marides who recalls that they work without pay for 24 hours. While the police force have to consider legalities and therefore cannot strike where troubles are, right away, the tanods even established "quarantine stations" at the entrance of a community where drug addicts and drug peddlers reside. The tanods get the names of anyone approaching these houses and check why they are visiting these notorious people. Ultimately, the callers are discouraged and the addicts usually move out.

Restoring dignity to the ‘Communidades’

Mayors often complained of begging lines that start early in the morning "pang-kape", "pang-kasal, "pang-binyag", "pang-kumpuni ng bubong", pang-ospital’ o "pang-burol". Instead of encouraging this habit of begging, the mayor couple with their united team of councilors have simply enforced existing DILG laws, as well as added ordinances for Mariqueños to help themselves. The communidades specially are offered the following programs and services:

Barangay Talyer provides basic tools for cutting, carpentry, drillilng, gardening, measuring, and lay-out, welding, striking, threading, wrenches, and others are stored and used for free by barangay residents, particularly the marginalized ones and the youth.

Marikina City Funeral Assistance Project was launched in cooperation with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to help those who are badly in need. During the wake, free coffin, mortuary equipment and a tent are provided by the General Services office. The service is limited to three days to accommodate other beneficiaries. A fee of P2,500 for the embalming and the use of a hearse will be paid for by the family. But in extreme cases, when recommended by DSWD, even these expenses as well as that of the burial plot in the City Cemetery may either be waived or reduced.

To guide the low-income residents to live decently, Ordinance No. 59, Series of 1993, prohibits the use of the sidewalk for makeshift stalls, basketball courts, newspaper and magazine stands, cigarette vending, bathing and laundering. Ordinance No. 16, Series of 2001 amended Ordinance No. 59. It states, "Violators will be charged a fine of P1000 by the Office of Public Security. If unable to pay the offender’s commercial goods shall be confiscated and he will be temporarily taken into custody for a minimum of 10 hours to a maximum of 18 hours."

Another ordinance implemented regularly is maintaining a clean public market. What would usually smell and be often muddy are the fish and meat stalls. Marikina’s market instead has no flies since the cemented aisles are curved and dry with good drainage canals. In addition to uniformed health and security wardens, a food laboratory checks weekly samplings of the carinderia food as well as the purity of water in more than 70 aqua stations of the city.

Lumipat na tayo sa Marikina

I wonder why I feel "masarap yatang tumira sa Marikina." Now, after all the above has been said, don’t you feel like "migrating " to Marikina?

The only part of Marikina I have been to are Ateneo and the Loyola Grand Villas subdivision. However, when I drove into the center of the city along the descending road of Industrial Valley from White Plains I felt strange seeing the uncluttered and wide sidewalks. The roads were equally smooth although the houses, stores and establishments were plain and ordinary. The simple neatness contrasted very much with the sidewalks of Manila, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Pasay, Pasig and Quezon city which seem to have disappeared since shanties, debris, "stores" and vendors clutter them.

If good governance were a TESDA course, Marikina City should be the OJT or on-the-job laboratory.

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