‘Santa Rody’

The afermath of typhoon “Odette” in our country last Dec. 17 was like a Christmas ghost of the past. As of latest death toll, 367 people were confirmed killed during the unleashing of rains and floods from “Odette.” Taking place a few days before Christmas, “Odette” fortunately was not in the magnitude of super typhoon “Yolanda” in November 2013. But “Odette” left a path of destruction in many of the provinces in the six regions it crossed.

As father of the nation, President Rodrigo Duterte could not underscore any greater the need for humanitarian assistance to be brought immediately to people and alleviate the devastation they suffered from “Odette.” For starters, President Duterte announced to provide as much as P10 billion in calamity assistance to all affected provinces. But as quickly as he mentioned this, the President was told the calamity funds for this year have already been used up.

No worries though. The President was informed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea the needed funds could be bridged by the Congress-approved P5-trillion budget for next year. It takes effect as soon as the President signs this into law.

In the meantime, the President reminded officials in the local government units (LGUs) of Odette-stricken areas to dip into their respective calamity funds for now. “If it’s a money intended for another purpose, we can always replace it,” the President told LGU executives. But only if there is a presidential proclamation can LGU executives get blanket authority to tap local calamity funds and other available resources for relief operations and rehabilitation needs in these disaster-stricken areas.

“So the process when it comes to money – when money is involved, people in government are afraid because there’s a possibility that they can be sued,” the President conceded.

The President got estopped again. By operation of laws, the President needs an official recommendation before he could even declare a state of calamity. It was only on Tuesday (Dec. 21) or five days later that the President was able to sign the Proclamation declaring a state of calamity in the six regions directly hit by “Odette.”

“The government can control everything. Then we can immediately provide help to the people. So the local officials should wait for a little while. It’s already there. The money is ready but we need the papers to be signed,” the Chief Executive admitted.

As the President disclosed, he waited for the official recommendation of an inter-agency body in charge of this function – the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). As created by law, the NDRRMC is chaired by the President with the Cabinet officials, led by the Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary, as key members. Thus, the designated executive director of the NDRRMC is the head of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) which is under the DND.

“So the NDRRMC – even sa abbreviated mahaba pa rin – came out with a resolution recommending that a state of calamity be declared over the affected areas and these would include Region IV-B, VI, VII, VIII, X, and XIII,” President Duterte quipped while signing the Proclamation.

The current NDRRMC executive director is OCD administrator, retired General now undersecretary Ricardo Jalad. “I told Usec. Jalad that he has 48 hours to do it…We cannot have a true and accurate count of the damages suffered by the areas or the people. That is well-might be impossible to do…All you do is you go by estimates,” the President quoted his marching orders.

“So I told him (Jalad) that if you wait for that, we won’t be able to help our countrymen. People are still naked, unclothed. So this is how government works. Ever so slow. That is why I need to cut corners. I told them to make a preliminary report and the full report would come late,” the President rued.

The NDRRMC originated from several administrations past and was originally called as the National Disaster Control Council (NDCC). Following several of the United Nations climate change conferences, the Philippines tried to redefine its approaches in conformity with international norms and standards.

“Itong opisina na ito para sa akin… Sino bang gumawa nitong National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council? Every meeting, hindi ko ma-memorize. Sinasabi ko lang ‘yung risk disaster teams,” the President narrated with obvious exasperation over the lengthy name of this inter-agency body.

It might have slipped the mind of President Duterte that he has endorsed to the 18th Congress as urgent administration bill the creation of a Department of Risk Reduction (DRR). One of DRR bills is authored no less by Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, concurrently his Special Assistant to the President. The House of Representatives approved the DRR bill since last year but remains pending at the Senate.

Typhoon “Odette” was the 15th in the annual average of 20 typhoons that enter the Philippines. This is not to mention other natural calamities that come in between such as the sporadic phreatic eruptions of Taal Volcano and Mt. Mayon etc. An institutionalized set up for frontliners and mitigation teams of government agencies therefore is a must for a disaster-prone country like ours.

Unlike Santa Claus bearing gifts, President Duterte could only assuage the “Odette” victims his best to make them feel a little better this Christmas.

For now, the 76-year old President Duterte hopped in and out of helicopters to personally reach the disaster-stricken areas one after the other. Being Mayor of Davao City for 23 years, the President should not begrudge many of his fellow politicians if they also go out their way to commiserate with the “Odette” victims. Of course, they do this in aid of elections next year.

But for now, let’s look at them as Samaritan acts out of the goodness of their hearts and political capital as well. Naturally, they could only help distribute relief goods and extend monetary assistance but not as much as Santa Rody could.