Feeling sick over the weekend made me stay home and glued on my Facebook, which brought me back to my memories two years ago when Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name Haiyan) dubbed as the strongest storm to hit planet earth struck us in the Visayas. Looking at the weather bulletin, we were all certain that Metro Cebu would be hit because of the huge swath that Typhoon Yolanda showed on the radar screen.
Whenever we have a storm that huge, I gather the family together and monitor the storm into the wee hours of dawn without sleeping. Listening on the radio, one could sense that Yolanda already struck, but it spared Metro Cebu and struck Northern Cebu. When you no longer hear any reports coming from Northern Cebu, it could only mean one thing – the power lines are down and if the power lines are down, it also means that the roads are going to be impassable due to fallen electric posts and downed trees.
Nov. 8, 2013 was a Friday and by Saturday, Nov. 9, we were getting reports from the first responders to Northern Cebu telling us that the towns in the North were totally devastated. So I immediately went shopping for foodstuff and water. Now most of the stores have already been ransacked earlier by the people who went on panic buying on emergency foodstuff fearing that the typhoon would hit Metro Cebu. Luckily I got enough for my pickup truck and my brother’s pickup truck that I borrowed.
By early morning Sunday we took off for Bogo City, 100 kilometers from Cebu City and to our surprise, we became part of a small parade of like-minded Cebuanos who were also going north on their pickups and SUVs bringing foodstuff. Halfway through to Bogo, we started to see trees broken down and roofs of huts blown away. Then as we neared Bogo City the devastation affected 80 percent of the city. What struck us on our way to Bogo were families with their children who brought up a sign “We need food and water.” Heartbroken we actually dropped half our load to those needy people.
Arriving in Bogo City, we went to the shoreline communities that were the most devastated and dropped our supplies to the people who lined up for what supplies we had left. Suddenly we felt that two pick up trucks were really not enough to help so many beleaguered people. The question popping up on my head was…Where was the national and local government? For sure they were not around!
A couple of days later, I joined with a larger group from the Rotary Club of Cebu (mother) who already prepared some foodstuff and we went back to Bogo City in a much larger convoy. Meanwhile we were so happy that Cable News Network (CNN) gave a full coverage of the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda and what an awesome coverage CNN gave without any political color. Perhaps the most unforgettable reports we got were the looting in that Gaisano store a few days after the typhoon struck.
If at all, the best report that CNN gave us was on what the Aquino regime failed to do in the first hours after the typhoon struck. Who could forget that news report coming from Philippine National Police (PNP) Regional Director of Region 8 Senior Supt. Elmer Soria who was quoted to say that he feared there could be some 10,000 casualties due to the typhoon. That remark cost him his job, as it was the first thing that Pres. Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III did when he went to Tacloban.
Perhaps the most dramatic albeit unforgettable moment was the video that went viral in the social media networking sites when DILG Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas had that poignant meeting with Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez who told the latter, “You are a Romualdez, Mr. Aquino is an Aquino. Bahala kayo sa Buhay nyo!” In a nutshell, that meeting gave Filipinos an idea that the Aquino regime was so full of contempt for people who did not belong to the Liberal Party. Politics played a very important role, which hampered the delivery of the typhoon victims’ most basic needs.
Last year my motorcycle buddies finally went to Tacloban City to see things for ourselves and riding a motorcycle is different from riding a car because you only have the wind swirling around your helmet and in many corners in Tacloban City, you could still smell the stench of death. Clearly many bodies have not been uncovered and I still say that P-Noy’s order to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) to stop the counting of casualties at 6,000 plus was totally wrong.
Even now Malacañang continues to ward off criticism that the Aquino regime did not do enough to help the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda. I gathered that the National Government did not join the 2nd anniversary rites for Typhoon Yolanda. Could it be because they are scared that the people of Tacloban would demand from the Aquino regime where is the P150 billion in unspent funds that the Commission on Audit (COA) recently uncovered?
* * *
Email: vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com