EDITORIAL - Down the drain, literally

It looked like a scene from a slapstick movie. In the comedy films, however, people who fall into open street drains emerge largely unscathed.

In Pampanga last Monday afternoon, a man walking with an umbrella in heavy rain and then suddenly disappearing into an open drain in a flooded portion of Angeles City did not survive the fall.

The body of Reiner Novero, 25, was found by rescue teams under a bridge about two kilometers from the open drain along Friendship Highway. The flood had concealed the absence of a cover on the curbside drain.

Across the country, such accidents are dismayingly common, causing injuries and deaths. One reason is official neglect. Why wasn’t there even a warning sign about the open drain? Is such a task too much for barangay officials in Cutcut, where the open drain is located?

Another reason for open drains is because thieves have stolen the covers, either for fun or, in the case of manholes, to sell the iron cover to scrap dealers.

The heavy covers aren’t the only items stolen. Amid the heavy monsoon rains and flooding over the weekend, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon lamented the theft of critical parts and high-voltage electrical cables from flood pumping stations in Manila, causing the pumps to fail.

Police have since tightened security around the pumping stations, while Malacañang has warned that such thefts are tantamount to sabotage and the perpetrators would land in jail.

If the government is serious in its warning, it should crack down on the fences for stolen items. Power providers have long complained of the theft of electrical cables to strip away copper wires, causing blackouts. Ladders are stolen for the aluminum.

Closed-circuit television cameras can help identify the thieves. But the thievery is encouraged by the fences, who surely can recognize copper wires stolen from utility cables, but still buy the hot items. Buying stolen manhole covers is even worse, as open drains can cause death and serious injuries.

A frustrated Dizon said that before tossing the thieves in jail, he wanted them dunked first in floodwaters so they can feel the suffering they are inflicting on the people.

Whatever the punishment, the government should launch an honest-to-goodness crackdown, starting with the buyers of the stolen items.