Indeed we were better prepared this time!

Congratulations to the City of Vigan, especially to my friend, Msgr. Vicente Avila, parish priest of the Vigan Cathedral — Vigan City in Ilocos del Sur was named one of the New7Wonder cities of the world by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Yes we did not only write about Vigan’s entry, but voted it too. I knew we had a strong chance because there are so many Filipinos all over the world…but most importantly Vigan City is unique among all the cities of the Philippines, and now including the whole world!

Best of all, Vigan bested 1,200 cities from 200 nations all over the world, which means it is not an easy feat. The other cities that won together with Vigan are La Paz, Bolivia; Beirut, Lebanon; Doha, Qatar; Durban, South Africa; Havana, Cuba and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This means, next year I will have to visit Vigan again, but this time, I will bring my family!

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There is no doubt that Filipinos were better prepared to meet the threat posed by Super Typhoon Ruby (international name Hagupit). Funny, but it is the first time that we heard of the use of a Tagalog name for a typhoon used by the international weather centers, while PAGASA now used an English name, Ruby.

But least you have forgotten, we all prayed our Oratio Emperata’s seeking divine intervention to ward of this typhoon. In Cebu, our prayers were answered, and I guess you can say that when Typhoon Ruby passed south of Metro Manila it was no longer a destructive typhoon but a tropical depression. So our prayers were truly answered when the typhoon spared Metro Manila. So let us urge our friends to help those victims in Samar.

Sure many areas have been declared a calamity area like Borongan, Samar because there were areas that could not stand the strong winds. But kudos to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) for better preparedness. This is what we all learned from the lessons of Super Typhoon Yolanda. But we can still improve on our disaster preparedness and not sit on our laurels!

Last Tuesday at the 888 Forum in Marco Polo Plaza, we had as guests Rep. Ben-Hur Salimbangon of the 6th District of Cebu and Department of Social Welfare and Development Assistant Regional Director for operations Shalane Marie Lucero and the major topic was disaster preparedness. One of the problems in Cebu Province was they could not go to the areas affected by the typhoon until typhoon Ruby has already passed. Actually, last year I already wrote one of the solutions for disaster preparedness.

Rep. Salimbangon admitted that in an era where the pork barrel is already unconstitutional, Congressmen have to rely to kind-hearted friends. But I reminded Rep. Ben-Hur of a column that I wrote after the Super Typhoon Yolanda disaster that prepositioning of relief goods can be done even without the need for  pork barrel… simply by creating a law on disaster preparedness and putting it in the budget…unless there is one already.

For the 5th District of Cebu he can build and preposition warehouses or bodegas that would be constructed one floor below the ground so it can withstand any strong typhoon that may hit the area. This huge underground warehouse can hold all the relief goods supply for at least a month. They can also house big or small generators, drinking water supply and fuel and trucks that could distribute these goods when they need to be deployed.

Surely building such a structure isn’t going to be expensive as it is going to be built one floor below the ground. In fact the cement roof can double as three huge basketball courts. What we need to do is for the national government to come up with one design for such a facility and build these prepositioned warehouse in disaster prone areas…and they will always be on the ready when a typhoon strikes again.

One of the complaints of DSWD officials was the lack of volunteers to help the DSWD in packing goods that would be sent to disaster areas. Again for the nth time I told Rep. Salimbangon and DSWD’s Asst. Regional Director Lucero that we must bring back the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) in the next school year so they can be sent to help in time of natural calamities or disasters. When will we return the ROTC?

I have been harping on the return of the ROTC for many years already, but no one in the Aquino regime or in the previous administration of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo cared to listen. Again let me reiterate that a restored ROTC should not only be given military training…but must also be trained for emergency evacuation and distribution of relief goods. So if you’re looking for manpower, it’s right there before your noses.

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