Two took to the air, while others slept?

With malice towards none, the phrase "while others slept" is a very loose metaphorical figure of speech. While Ondoy has gone, but its havoc has until now festered unhealed. Many lent helping hands and material help, but some officialdom had been unheard of.

Of the two who took to the air, actually only one did so on private helicopter on rescue sorties of the stranded victims of tropical storm Ondoy. The other one first coordinated at Malacañang the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) rescue and relief operations, and had gone beyond the clock cycle many times over overwhelmed by the impossibility of it all.

Also actively overseeing the Philippine National Red Cross emergency operations was Senator Richard Gordon as PNRC chairman. Likewise, some TV shots spotted Vice-President Noli de Castro beside President GMA in the NDCC coverage with Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro as NDCC chairman.

However, Kabayan appeared sort of a bored observer with nothing on his hands to solve, and seemingly unimpressed of GMA in occasional get-up for photo ops wading through shallow waters among a few typhoon victims. While she cheered them up for their resiliency and upholding the Filipino tradition of helping one another in times of cataclysm, Kabayan seemed like a spare tire.

In this paper's photo spread covering "the wrath of Ondoy", one still shot showed Senator Manny Villar with showbiz host Willie Revillame looking over relief sackfuls, with yonder helicopter standing by ready for take-off. Apparently, as a presidentiable, and with personal wealth to burn, Manny Villar actually organized relief and rescue operations for the Ondoy suffering many. And that is commendable, except that the gift bundles bore his name as gift tags.

If keen observers still remember, when ferocious Hurricane "Katrina" almost totaled the then historic and picturesque New Orleans after breaking its protective huge dikes and barriers, many of the city's cosmopolitan faithful still stayed put. It was a crucial blunder that they didn't evacuate even in the nick of time before the ginormous wrath and fury of Nature.

But more taken to task by the American nation and tri-media was the absence of immediate and timely rescue and relief measures of the US federal government of then Pres. George W. Bush. The latter's faux pas, as in very belated reaction, did Dubya Bush in irretrievably. What he later tried to make up for his delayed reaction for devastated New Orleans, put poor Bush at the bottom heap of heeldom and obnoxiousness.

Without citing names who are now presidentiables, or vice-presidentiables, and can be ticked off by the fingers easily, it is believed that they too did their concerns in the emergency situation over the Ondoy debacle. Not to have shown any whet of empathy for their devastated brethren, many of whom until now are on the throes of pain, hunger, and chill, would have been every political leader's virtual death and perdition.

But all this time when climate change or global warming is not just a matter of "if", or even "when", but actually "here and now", mankind is still not jolted or scared stiff enough. Typhoon Ondoy was but a sample and wake up call. Mother Nature can be that watery for drowning, or flooding torrent of ferocity, and unforgiving, unrelenting, sweeping beyond compare, or so fierce, so wild, so untractable when roused to her full fury and anger.

It's always a refreshing thought - never mind the presidentiables for taking low profile who might have feared as taking advantage of a misfortune - that outside government funding, the private sector did a very splendid relief operations. And perhaps, Cebu has not been far behind.

* * *

Email: [email protected]