Getting back on track

As the whole nation continues to mourn the passing of former president Cory Aquino, few hardly noticed that half of the month has gone by. Before this, people were occupied with criticizing President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) and belittling her achievements, questioning her judgments on a lot of things and now, bringing up issues on her unexplained wealth. Leaders of our nation are occupied with campaigning, grandstanding and hitting the administration, unaware of the more pressing concerns that need their attention. 

 No one seemed to have noticed that more than 106,000 families or about 530,000 individuals were rendered homeless and affected by flashfloods and landslides caused by Typhoon Kiko in seven provinces in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Some P324 million worth of infrastructures were damaged, necessitating the closure of nine major road networks in Luzon and Western Visayas, while the cost of damage to agriculture is P846.32 million. Coastal towns in Zambales, where there are also impoverished people, have been declared in a state of calamity, with roads and villages submerged in flood waters. All these will only aggravate the already serious problem of hunger and poverty in these affected provinces, which are among those identified as “Highly Vulnerable”. In Mindanao, the highest number to date of internal refugees has been cited in a global report largely as a result of the protracted conflict there, and now because of the recent storm, more people were rendered homeless.

 I, for one, would be interested to know the efforts being done, aside from NDCC and concerned non-government organizations distributing the usual packs of rice, sardines and old clothes, by our local leaders in normalizing the situation of the numerous affected people. What tangible support are these people getting to make their lives more sustainable. I would also be interested to know what happened with the other victims affected not only by natural disasters but also by the ongoing conflicts in Mindanao. Have they been relocated from evacuation sites or do they remain refugees? How many have recovered so far and moved on with their lives? How do they sustain their families; with no jobs, where do they get their daily sustenance?

 It would be timely to remind our leaders of the commitment we made as a country with global leaders to contribute to the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). The global targets until the year 2015 are to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, halve the proportion of malnourished children and halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water or those who cannot afford it. Our own agenda as a country stresses poverty reduction through equitable growth, rural development and social sector investment. Accomplishing even a fraction of this task is certainly a big challenge that depends a lot on effective and honest governance especially in the local levels, one that is focused on working partnerships with members of the communities and the private sector. 

Despite its gains, the government still grapples with reducing the alarming levels of poverty and malnutrition. The rapid growth of population and damage brought upon lives and property like these negate whatever positive achievements there have been and deplete the already scarce resources. Our leaders must realize there is no room for complacency. Only a strong leadership with highly committed people as support can help us achieve our goals to uplift those in the lower and disadvantaged ranks of society. So let our leaders get everyone back on the right track and do their jobs once and for all.