No one warned Cebuanos about Seniang!

It’s the New Year 2015 and apparently the spokesperson in Malacañang hasn’t changed its tactics (can a leopard change its spots?) and instead of giving the Filipino people the real score about Tropical Storm Seniang, the Palace Rasputins have once again defended the Aquino regime’s preparations in response to Seniang. So why did 54 people die due to Seniang, if we were given proper warnings?

Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte was quoted to have said that they got reports from local government officials who insisted that they did not get any advance warning on Seniang, which is why she defended those government agencies. However I can only say that this could be due to the fact that everyone thought that since this was just a tropical storm and not a full-blown typhoon, Seniang wouldn’t be devastating to the country. Yes everyone prepared for Typhoon Ruby…but not Seniang!

If at all we got any warnings from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) it was that Seniang was headed for Northern Mindanao. But no one, I mean not a single government agency gave any warnings that Seniang would hit us in the Province of Cebu!

The only warning I got was from my Facebook friend, Chris Go, Cebu’s Interplanetary Imager who kept putting in his Facebook charts from the US Navy storm reports…that in two hours, Seniang would hit southern Cebu. And indeed Seniang passed some 40 kilometers south of Cebu City.

I did not sleep early that night and stayed on vigil as the strong winds struck us without any warning. So please Ms. Abigail Valte, stop defending those who cannot defend themselves anymore because of their incompetence. No one from the national or local government agencies gave us any warnings about Seniang and that’s the whole damn truth and no matter how you peddle lies to Cebuanos, you have ran out of credibility in Cebu!

The next day, Dec. 30, after Seniang struck… we learned from many social networking sites that a major bridge near Simala, Sibonga was cut down. Soon we saw photos of this posted in Facebook. Today, it’s been more than a week since Seniang killed 54 people… and more photos of the Simala bridge show that enterprising residents who live nearby have hastily built a footbridge for passengers to cross to the other side.

Yes, the road to Sibonga has been cut off by this fallen bridge, and yellow colored Ceres buses from Negros have to stop and unload their passengers who have to cross that makeshift footbridge to waiting Ceres buses and continue on their journey to Cebu City. Facebook users who saw those photos have commented that the people who built the makeshift footbridge are charging P5 for all who use this bridge and they are crying extortion!

But is it really extortion? What we should be asking is where are the municipal officials of Sibonga? Why haven’t they built that footbridge themselves? What about the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)? Where are their equipment? The answer is simple… when Tropical Storm Seniang struck it was a holiday and therefore there were no available men and women to mobilize in this unexpected natural disaster.

What we have here is another “kapalpakan” by the Aquino regime. His minions in the Cebu Province under the leadership of Gov. Hilario Davide III haven’t done anything for the people living in the South of Cebu. Again, let me inform Ms. Valte that no one gave us any warnings that Seniang would hit us in Cebu so please stop defending those incompetent government agencies because it makes the government of President Aquino look just as incompetent as those government agencies she is defending!

Worse, there was a major landslide in Cebu’s Transcentral Highway where more than half of the national road disappeared into the ravine. So more than a week after Seniang hit us, DPWH hasn’t done anything to alleviate the plight of the Cebuanos. If at all, the only presence from the national government came last Sunday when Vice-President Jejomar Binay visited Sibonga, Carcar City and the town of Ronda in the South. He even attended mass during the rains at the Basilica de Minore in Cebu City.

Of course it can be said that VP Binay was in Cebu as part of his effort to campaign for the 2016 elections, visiting wakes of those who perished because of Seniang and even buying MacDonald’s hamburgers for children in Cebu. But will the poor people see Binay as campaigning already? This remains to be seen. But for people who feel left out by the government, VP Binay’s presence is of great importance to them that come election time, they will not look into the charges of corruption tagged against him. What is indisputable is that the national government was once again caught unaware in tracking Seniang’s route, which was why they couldn’t warn us.

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