Short memory or none at all

The date 8 November 2013 will forever be etched in the annals of Philippine history as well us in the minds of millions of victims of the killer typhoon “Yolanda”. Only the death statistics which the [Noynoy] Aquino administration ordered pegged at 6,300 might have been altered but the devastation Yolanda inflicted on the eastern Visayas region was beyond anyone’s imagination. At a 315-kilometers per hour wind speed, trees and houses were wrecked and the waves metamorphosed into a tsunami, a weather phenomenon which like the thousands of corpses that littered the streets remained an eerie spectacle in the memory of a stunned nation.

In retrospect, we watched in horror from the comfort of our home in Davao City as Atom Araullo of ABS-CBN detailed in live broadcasts how buildings were leveled to the ground or carried away by strong currents of sea water spawned by tsunamis onto the streets of Tacloban City. Atom with his cameraman had taken refuge in a concrete building and from a window watched tons of debris flow past on the street and horrified people scramble for safety in the rampaging waters that quickly rose to 10 meters.

For us Davawenyos, killer cyclone “Yolanda” [international name Haiyan] was of great significance. Our city mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, quickly assembled relief and medical teams along with five dump truck-loads of relief items. They were the first to reach ground zero. My younger brother, the late Dr. Danilo Ledesma, the medico-legal of Davao City, led one of the medical teams. He later sent me pictures of the mayor supervising relief operations and photos of dead bodies that lay uncollected in the streets. The local government and police and military were not functioning as they themselves were victims of the devastating super typhoon.

Fast forward, Mayor Duterte became president and later focused on building more houses for the homeless victims of “Yolanda”. And now in his retirement, his successor, President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., with his cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, by his side declared that the past administrations had done nothing to help Tacloban get back on its feet.

But never mind these cousins for they must be suffering from a sudden attack of amnesia triggered by a political virus. What boggles my mind is that while his statement makes it to the print and broadcast media, ABS-CBN which had the footage of Atom Araullo’s exclusive account of what happened during and after the height of devastation never showed the travails that Atom went through and who among the government functionaries got to Tacloban first to succor the victims of the tragedy.

Rappler too had coverage of the aftermath of the typhoon, generously quoting Mayor Duterte in its interview when he came back to Davao City after his emergency mission in Leyte. Nothing was said of their story for it may not please their friends in Malacañang and in Congress.

But aside from the stink of death that engulfed Tacloban was man’s insensitivity to their fellow man in time of crises as typified in Mar Roxas straight talk to Mayor Alfred Romualdez: “The problem here is you are a Romualdez and the President is an Aquino.” A remark addressed to the mayor who pleadingly asked Roxas for more assistance from the national government.

If that insensitivity and tactlessness were not enough, think of this post from The Adobo Chronicles: “It was during the tenure of Dinky Soliman as secretary of Social Welfare and Development under the Aquino administration that super typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan) hit the Philippines, causing massive devastation and the loss of many lives. Relief for those who survived the tragedy was slow to come. Worse, food items intended for victims left homeless and hungry were left to rot and later buried underground. That was in 2013.”

It’s 2024, yet no one in this administration has the courage to correct the lapses of President Bongbong Marcos. Sadly too, the local government of Tacloban did everything to prevent the prayer rally of Hakbang ng Maisug led by private citizen Rodrigo Duterte and obstructed people from converging on the park where once upon a time those in charge of calamities and emergencies feared to tread.

It’s simply incredible that the leaders of Tacloban suddenly suffered a strange loss of memory.