Political will. Right now!

After almost three days of incessant rain, the sun finally decided to show up and shine its most welcome rays upon the metropolis. But it has also revealed the destruction and misery brought about by the southwest monsoon! With the cessation of the rains, for now, the clean-up can begin once again. Scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of typhoon Ondoy not even three years ago. Muddy streets littered with every kind of garbage, mixed up with the personal belongings of people. Cars flipped over or even on top of one another. Boats have replaced the infernal tricycles and pedicabs by the most enterprising, hoping to see a silver lining in all the mayhem. As of this writing, the death toll stands at 19. It could have been worse. But, almost two million people were affected by the calamity this time, a lot more than Ondoy!

Of the 19 dead, nine were from Litex Road when a landslide buried houses built around the area. Three of the nine were children. This prompted no less than President Aquino to ask who allowed these families to return to Litex Road and build houses there, when a similar accident already occurred in 2002? He vowed to bring to justice those responsible for the return of these families, who have paid those who allowed them to build homes with their lives. But the President should not stop at Litex Road, but go on to prevent people from returning to areas known to be disaster-prone all along.

Ondoy should have taught us a lot. One is that people should not have been allowed to rebuild their homes in places that were submerged during Ondoy, or even during strong, continuous rain. One area is E. Rodriguez Avenue fronting De Los Santos Hospital. Everyone knows how notorious that area is when I comes to floods. Ondoy made a virtual sea out of the place, including the De Los Santos Hospital. And yet, as the waters subside, people start rebuilding again, until the next deluge tears their lives apart once more. Wouldn’t it be more prudent, more sensible, more practical to relocate these families once and for all, instead of having to time and again “rescue” them from a place that is known to flood in the first place? If we could clear these known disaster-prone areas of informal settlers, the government can use its available resources into serving a lot more people, at a much faster time. With the settlers located in a safer place, far from disaster, wouldn’t that make life a little better than where they are now?

If there is an administration that has the political will to do this, it is this one. It is commonplace to see the tents of politicians rise up in times of calamities. Thankfully, President Aquino is not into that. So it is just logical that he can implement the safe relocation of all those who live in known calamity-prone areas. In the long run, the whole metropolis benefits from it. This I am certain.

Otherwise, we might as well wait for the next deluge of filth and flotsam to come knocking at our doorstep. Surely people eventually get tired of this?