Don’t we ever learn from the past?

When Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales issued an Oratio Imperata Ad Petendam Pluviam (Obligatory Prayer to Request for Rain) a few weeks ago asking God to send us rain, I knew there was a problem. Archbishop Rosales unlike Cardinal Sin does not meddle with politics and government – he has made it a point to separate matters of the Church and the State. So, when he asked everyone to pray for the rains to come, he seriously needed intervention from God to save the people, plants and animals alike.

Throughout that week and the following weeks after the priests read the message to pray for the rains, I consciously started to do to my own conservation measures. I was very conscious of the quantity of water coming out of the faucet. I reminded my whole household to save water.  Hearing the priests pray for the rains to come was no laughing matter. In fact, it has grounded us again – as if God is sending us another reminder – this time not to take water for granted.

The Filipinos being a spiritual breed of people always seem to attribute disasters as a calling of God. Whenever there is a typhoon, a flood, a drought, a volcanic eruption, a landslide, an earthquake, we as a people are able to cleanse our spirits. We obviously have the love for one another. We worry about the masses who are suffering out there. We give and share what we have to the needy. We take steps to help each other. This is the very spirit of the Pinoy. And since we always go through such experiences, we become closer to God, to Allah, to Buddha or whoever Superior being we believe in.

But what baffles us is the mere fact that the government has not learned from its past experiences. There is an average of 20 tropical cyclones (depression, storms, typhoons) that enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility every year. Isn’t this enough to assess the problems that the tropical cyclones bring and find solutions in order to save lives?

Let’s go down through the list of typhoons that cannot be forgotten. Remember Typhoon Akang (1982) that damaged the seawall in Surigao; Typhoon Caloy (2006) capsized ferry boats in Albay, produced coastal floodings in Samar, and caused damages to buildings in Batangas; Typhoon Glenda (2006) that caused the overflowing of rivers in Zambales; Typhoon Reming (2006) caused landslides and mudflows in Albay; and Typhoon Seniang (2006) that brought strong winds that smashed up homes in Camarines Sur? How can we ever forget that most recent Super Typhoon Milenyo (September 2006) that damaged homes all over the country, toppled down billboards and trees, injured many people and cost lives?

Now, are we back to the drawing board? Every year na lang when the monsoon season comes the Department of Education falters in announcing suspension of classes, the city mayors try to resolve flood problems, landslides, and other disasters as if they never even prepared for the coming of these tropical cyclones.

All I have to say is do your job. If you do your job well you will not have such problems. In fact, if you are really determined, you would have already removed the squatters living under the waterways or near dumpsites. Every year, we hear families being swiped away by the flood or a landslide. If you really want to save lives, you would do all measures to keep them from returning to these areas. Why not find a place to resettle these families to safer environments once and for all?

Why do we govern our country as if we were living in the Stone Age? This is not the first time it has rained. Why have we been resolving these problems over and over again? Look at Phuket, remember that great tsunami in 2004? Now if you go there, you will see many restrictions and signs made by their governments to protect the people.

Our local government has a vital role to play. First, the permits given to live in such disaster-prone areas have to be strengthened – remember the Cherry Hill tragedy? As many as 109 people died in the Philippines when Typhoon Olga (1999) provoked torrential rains and flooding throughout much of South East Asia. The areas worst affected were Manila, Pampanga, Rizal and Pangasinan. Over 73,000 people were forced to leave their homes and seek shelter and food in local halls, schools and clubs. Some 900 families were evacuated from the town of Valenzuela as flood water rose to dangerous heights.

Majority of the deaths were concentrated in Cherry Hills subdivision in Antipolo. Its foundations were filled with water and the whole complex slid down the hill on which it was built. The local authorities had warned residents to leave the area some four hours before the landslide, when cracks appeared in roads and walls but why did they allow people to live there in the first place? The developers built the estate in an area well known for its landslides. A Geology professor, Victor Madlambayan, exposed the cross-section of a mountain behind the subdivision which showed horizontal layers indicating that the area was a former lake bed. The removal of soil and vegetation in the higher reaches due to quarrying activities was a major factor in the volume of water that traveled down the Cherry Hill slope as well. Why? Why? Why?

The Real Estate and Developers Group revealed that the lax building guidelines, known as BPP20, which has prevailed under the Marcos regime, were retained by the subsequent governments of Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Estrada.

The worst part is that there were government officials involved in the development of the estate. They even denied allegations by the residents that the disaster was a product of inept construction. Yikes! Scary! This should have been a lesson for everybody. Local governments could avoid problems of fire, flooding, earthquake, mudslide and landslide disasters if they strictly follow the guidelines to avoid similar situations to occur. If they allow influence, meddling and peddling to exist we will always have a repeat of history’s tragedies. I have not even reminded you of the Ormoc City Tragedy that killed 3,000 people in 1991, the Payatas Tragedy that buried 500 garbage scavengers in 2000 and the Camiguin Island Tragedy which buried 350 residents in 2001.

If our government continues to be lax in implementing the law. If it continues to encourage officials to abuse the law. If we do not allow the system to work as it has already been established – then we will continue to endanger more lives, suffer the consequences of natural disasters that have in reality become “man-made.”