Dick and Harry still looking for Tom

Our country has been battered by a series of typhoons since last month from tropical depression “Ofel” followed in close succession by tropical storms Pepito, typhoon “Quinta;” super typhoon “Rolly;” severe tropical storm “Siony;” tropical storm “Tonyo;” and typhoon “Ulysses.” Super typhoon “Rolly” wrought deadly landslides and flooding in Catanduanes, Albay and other Bicol provinces. But it was “Ulysses” that caused another devastating flooding in Marikina, Bulacan, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and left at least 73 dead.

After the flood subsided, people rescued, and sadly the recovery of those killed, it became clear that it was more of man-made driven disaster. Human errors more than anything else caused much of the devastation than what these natural calamities brought in.

Initially identified were the operators of the Magat Dam that included officials of the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) for the opening of all its seven gates to release waters that inundated low-lying areas in Cagayan and Isabela. In Marikina and Bulacan, local government officials and residents are up in arms again over the release of water from Angat Dam running the hydroelectric plant by the state-run National Power Corp. (Napocor). Upstream, the operators of illegal “pocket” mining and deforested lands in Sierra Madre mountains were pointed as the culprits for the landslides.

This is why leaders of the 18th Congress are now sharpening their investigative skills to determine the people in government who must be held liable for these deaths and the enormous costs of properties and economic losses.

But what is more important to Senator Richard Gordon as the chairman of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is to address the more immediate needs and requirements of the people at the moment than finger-pointing. Featured guest in our weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay via Zoom Webinar last Wednesday, Gordon told us he would leave to his fellow Senators to investigate the NIA officials and other government agency heads to explain what just happened.

“I fix the problem. I do not fix the blame,” Sen.Gordon quipped.

“What we must learn is that we have a country to be won. And if we don’t fix ourselves, nobody is going to fix it for us,” he pointed out.

Seeing no legislative remedies needed, Sen.Gordon though underscored the need for congressional oversight review of the protocols of dam operations. Offhand, he noted, it does not obviously make sense why the waters from the dams were not released days ahead earlier than the projected time of typhoon onslaught?

And the consequences of which, he rued: “Res ipsa loquitor, the thing speaks for itself.” Gordon presented to us photos showing the Red Cross workers and volunteers in action and in the middle of risky missions in assisting the people needing help from the typhoon damages they suffered. The Red Cross rescue equipment, workers and augmented by volunteers, he cited, were deployed in the 18 typhoon-stricken provinces across the country.

Aside from attending to these post-typhoon calamity rescue, relief and rehabilitations activities, Gordon reassured the public that Red Cross remains actively engaged in the campaign to stop the spread of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Through their own molecular laboratories, he reported, as many as 8,000 to 10,000 COVID-19 swab tests are processed using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machines.

Thankfully, Gordon disclosed, the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp.(PhilHealth) has already remitted P800 million out of its P1.1 billion fees due to the PRC. These were for the swab tests done to the returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) screened at the airports by the Philippine Coast Guard volunteers and submitted to the PRC laboratories.

“We must learn to praise and give credit where credit is due,” Gordon pointed out. He commended nameless Red Cross volunteers and staff and the Coast Guard for doing “good job” despite the dangers of COVID-19 infection.

As the head of the PRC, Gordon explained, he is more concerned to the immediate delivery of relief goods and assistance as much as they could give as “auxiliary” organization assisting the government during rescue and relief operations. But PRC remains “an independent, humanitarian and universal” organization, Gordon cited.

Gordon abides by what he calls as the “5 F’s” and “4 P’s” that have guided him through these years while he was Mayor of Olongapo City, then as chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) until he got elected Senator and during his stint as Secretary of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in that order. These are the same principles, he added, which he brought with him when he took over as chairman and chief executive officer at the PRC in concurrent capacity as Senator.

According to Gordon, the 5 “F’s” stood for: F-focus on the problem; F-fast to act; F-Friendly actions; F-Flexible to react; and, F-Forward-looking on the challenges and threats ahead. On the other hand, the 4 “P’s” stood for: P-Predict danger; P-Plan the needs; P-Prepare; and, P-Practice.

Gordon is pleased that PRC workers and volunteers have learned by heart these guiding principles, especially during these times of calamity and crisis situations they are always faced with. “Because there is no time for intramurals while people are suffering,” Gordon pointed out.

The PRC chairman felt sorry to the exchange of diatribes between President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo. They were feuding over supposed attempts of the Vice President to discredit President Duterte being noticeably “missing in action” during the calamity period.

Turning ebullient, the Senator could not help but tease fellow lawyer, presidential spokesman Harry Roque to help cool things down at Malacanang. “Just look for the ‘Tom’ to complete our ‘Tom, Dick, and Harry’ (trio),” Gordon chortled. Off course, it was only a “tease” from Gordon who also recently got the presidential ire over PhilHealth-PRC row.