Disaster personified

Finally, the Filipino people got to see on TV that President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III himself has taken a more personal, hands-on presence in handling the latest calamity to hit the country. Last Sunday, the entire proceeding of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) chaired by P-Noy was aired live.

Presidential spokespersons have tried to explain to the public that the Chief Executive shuns the idea of being in the limelight in times of calamity. The official line was P-Noy does not relish “photo-ops” (photo opportunities) just to gain brownie points.

The latest Palace justification on the issue of P-Noy being “missing in action” during times of calamity was intentional. The Commander-in-chief does not want to get in way of rescue and relief operations of the police and military who would have to re-deploy some of their forces to secure him in calamity hit areas he would go to, the Palace pointed out.

For whatever reason, President Aquino could not escape public frustration. People experiencing crisis are overly sensitive especially if they don’t feel or see their leader’s personal care and concern for them.

More than 15 months into office, obviously our bachelor president’s role as “Ama ng Bayan” has not sunk in his psyche yet. The Palace announced P-Noy would visit disaster areas today.

People in distress understandably could not care less if the President of the country is seen or not for as long as they could feel the government responding to their emergency needs, especially in times of calamity. As a disaster-prone country, the Philippine government structure has already instituted systems and procedures to address specific needs in any kind of natural or man-made calamity.

One such government structure is the NDRRMC. Under this set-up, the Defense Secretary, Voltaire Gazmin, heads this inter-agency body. But of course, the President chairs this whenever he decides to convene it under Republic Act (RA) 10121, or the law that created the NDRRMC.

When he finally convened the NDRRMC which was telecast live from Camp Aquinaldo in Quezon City, P-Noy was obviously smarting from severe flak he got from administration critics that he was “invisible” at the height of the two typhoons that visited the country one after the other.

Watching the entire proceedings on TV, it was rather disconcerting to listen to the status report delivered by Defense Undersecretary Benito Ramos, executive director of the NDRRMC. It was my impression that Ramos is an efficient bureaucrat, based on his performance in handling previous calamities as the chief workhorse of the NDRRMC.

He made a lot of sense when interviewed by media in the past.

That Sunday, however, the retired Army general seemed to have been excessively exuberant while delivering his status report. I just don’t know if he was not sober or was it lack of sleep that made him extra talkative — and making unnecessary — or should I say impertinent remarks every now and then in the course of his reporting.

One, or two, or even three jokes would certainly help break the ice or break the monotony of the meeting. But punctuating his report many times over with wisecracks was the height of insensitivity when the meeting was all about preserving lives and properties and easing the plight of people in the typhoon and flood-stricken areas in the country.

 “The super power US was rescued by Philippine forces,” Ramos quipped, referring to the US embassy in Manila inundated by the storm surge at Manila Bay last week due to “Pedring.” It drew smiles from P-Noy and snickers from Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa Jr. and others present at the NDRRMC meeting.

“I was harassed,” Ramos again blabbered, referring to successive meetings of NDRRMC from the time “Pedring” entered the country. It also drew laughter from people in the room. “Nag close-open, close-open sila,” he went on to say referring to road sections in Northern Luzon affected by floods that were closed to traffic while some were left open.

“The same area (in Cordillera) hit by Pedring, sinundan ni Quiel, double kill. They have no power, isolated. Sa Ifugao umiiyak sila kasi dalawang beses na-hit.” Though he did not intend it to be a joke, the smiles stemmed from his heavily accented, and overly enthusiastic delivery of his piece.

Ramos, apparently trying to sound folksy, further prattled: “Ang problema nagkakaalipunga na sila. Pati mga sundalo nagkakaalipunga na,” (referring to soldiers who walked through flood waters to conduct rescue operations developing athlete’s foot). Again, Ramos poked fun at the expense of Marines, who he said would laugh at a joke several days after they heard it.

The court jesting by Ramos somehow changed P-Noy’s mood as the meeting went on. P-Noy was seen frowning when he first entered the conference room. On the other hand, Gazmin’s face was visibly disturbed while Ramos was cracking jokes. But when P-Noy and Ochoa and the others laughed, one could see the relief on Gazmin’s face.

Unfortunately, it was taken as a go-signal by Ramos to continue with his one-man comic act. At the end of his briefing, Ramos joked that Pagasa should “discipline Quiel to behave, if not, the typhoon should be sent to Taiwan or Okinawa”. It’s a good thing we don’t have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. But still, Ramos should have kept such inane comments to himself.

A day after the NDRRMC meeting, no jokes were heard from Ramos when he reported before the joint congressional oversight committee on disaster risk reduction with the Senate committee on climate change. They were summoned to shed light on the failure of government agencies handling water dam releases for causing floods in Central Luzon.

While there was no more wisecracking from Ramos before the congressional hearing, the NDRRMC executive director turned out to be funny. He could not distinguish geo-hazard map from risk map that they at the NDRRMC were supposed to be guided in their job to reduce disaster risks to the people. Ramos became disaster personified before the congressional public hearing.

Indeed, President Aquino acknowledged, his administration needs to further improve disaster response, starting perhaps with NDRRMC.