Atty. Gloria Estenzo-Ramos
Supertyphoon Haiyan or Yolanda showed the agonizingly obvious fact what we and the world knew: that our people and our institutions are painfully unprepared to meet the onslaught of disasters and climate change. That is the reason the Philippines is considered a highly vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change. We rank second in the 2014 Global Risk Index, up from the third place rating in 2012.
We wish that more communities can better handle and take responsibility for the devastating impacts to lives, livelihood, health, properties and ecosystems as Japanese people remarkably do – with fortitude, grace, strength and perseverance, that can only come with hours, days, weeks, months and years of preparation.
Laws related to sustainability and climate change, such as RA 10121, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 are again treated as insignificant.
Four months after, there are still houses, schools, courtrooms and public buildings especially in Leyte and Samar that are in disarray. Courthouses are gone and inevitably the much-needed documents. Parties and their lawyers have to prepare for further delays in the reconstitution of the records of cases and the inevitable slow wheels of justice.
Benjamin Franklin’s warning seems to be meant for us. He said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
This sad state of affairs are a testament to our continuing failure to acknowledge that we are a disaster-prone country, aggravated by the lack of coherent policies and strong institutions which should not blink in performing their functions. We should have built the structures stronger, and, at the very least, covered them with insurance against the contingency happening. The no-build zone should have been in place decades back. Mangroves and reforestation using endemic, not exotic, species should have been given the highest priority as they should be now. And, ecologically destructive projects that destroy habitats and biodiversity should already be stopped.
The people’s anger at the slow response of government is understandable as there are still thousands of people who are displaced. But, should we not also ask the local government units (LGUs), the constituents and the supervising authority, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, why there are still LGUs which have yet to prepare their climate change plan and DRRM plan, aside from updating their comprehensive land use plan, incorporating climate change and DRRM, as required by our laws?
A properly oriented and prepared citizenry would also take pains of planning for at least three days of food and essential items, and aim to be self-reliant. If the people of Japan, Albay and San Francisco, in Camotes Island can do it, why can’t others do the same?
Unfortunately, instead of learning the tragic lessons of the past, some LGUs are again back to the business-as-usual mind-set, waiting for another round of development aggression to take place, and worse, not even required by the DILG or the supervising local chief executive to comply first with the primary duty of delivering the essential services, including building the capacity of the public to cope with hazards and disasters that are surely coming.
Food security should already be high up in the list of items that should be discussed vigorously with the various stakeholders, such as the “availability, stability, accessibility and affordability of safe and healthy food” (National Climate Change Action Plan or NCCAP).
With the aberrant weather conditions, farmers need to be informed and reoriented on possible crops that are more resilient to the changing climate. “Climate-sensitive agriculture and fisheries policies, plans and programs should already be formulated” if we are to pursue the strategies of the NCCAP.
In a dialogue with the students of Hope Christian High School, four of whom are transferees from ravaged Tacloban, President Benigno Aquino III was reported to have apologized.
Finally, he acknowledged the slow response of government to the needs of the survivors of typhoon Yolanda. It is not enough, however, that he, on behalf of the national agencies and negligent LGUs, make an act of contrition.
He should start exercising the vast powers of the Presidency, investigate and unhesitatingly hold accountable the local chief executives and the Cabinet officials who have not been implementing the laws enacted to stabilize the climate system, build the resiliency of citizens and the protection of the environmental rights of the constituents. We cannot afford to be the perennial object of donations and grants from foreign governments and institutions, and not even lift so much as a finger to ensure that our laws are faithfully complied with by all, especially the public officials.
Another strong typhoon unmasking our state of unpreparedness is simply too much. It will be a terrible source of shame for us, Filipinos.