Photo: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images
In his third State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (Pres. Marcos Jr.) sought to give the impression that disaster risk response and preparedness is a top priority of his administration. He reported completing 5,500 flood control projects and said that a Disaster Response Command Center was just launched as the government’s central disaster response hub.
Two days after, Super Typhoon Carina hit and pushed 28 cities and 48 municipalities in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, CALABARZON, and Northern Luzon into a state of calamity with hundreds of thousands of Filipinos affected by heavy flooding.
Pres. Marcos Jr. hypes the administration’s infrastructure program including efforts to supposedly mitigate disasters. However, the Build Better More (BBM) infrastructure program has been criticized for merely being a continuation of former Pres. Duterte’s Build Build Build (BBB) program. These infrastructure programs are scored for including or facilitating environmentally destructive projects. This includes reclamation projects in coastal areas of Manila Bay displacing farmers, fisherfolks and indigenous people’s communities, and large-scale destructive mining and quarrying projects elsewhere.
Large-scale projects have been blamed for resulting in massive and widescale problems whenever typhoons hit the country. For instance, senators and environmental defenders implicate Manila Bay reclamation projects for flooding in Metro Manila, Bataan, Bulacan and Cavite. Likewise, quarrying of the Sierra Madre range especially in Rizal province has led to landslide and flooding.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reports 299,344 families with 1.3 million persons affected by Typhoon Carina and Typhoon Butchoy immediately before it. To date, 887,328 persons have been displaced. Heavy flooding and rescue operations in urban poor areas and relocation zones reflect the unfortunate state of housing and physical security for thousands of poor Filipino families.
Humanitarian and development NGOs have quickly responded and augmented government’s response to help as many distressed communities heavily impacted by the heavy downpours and floods as possible. This is despite their being attacked and accused of trumped cases of terrorism financing and supporting terrorist activities.
A relief Delivery Operation participated by CDRC and its donors provided sets of relief items to households affected by the massive fire in Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City/ Photo by CDRC, April 2023
Amid their on-going relief efforts, Dr. Susan Balingit of the Citizen’s Disaster Response Center (CDRC) reminds about the big picture of disasters and preparedness. She said: “The increased flooding and widespread landslides are from the reckless destruction of the environment. The impact of storms is exacerbated by the lack of housing programs and livelihood plans for poor and vulnerable Filipinos.”
Dr Balingit also underscored that: “Disaster preparedness goes beyond just being alert to an impending storm and simply stockpiling canned goods and noodles to distribute. Preparation should begin with understanding what makes citizens more vulnerable to the effects of the approaching storm. The collective preparation of communities to act, protect, and understand the natural resources they rely on for food and livelihood will empower people and enhance their readiness for disasters.”
Turnover of fishing gear and motorboats for victims of Typhoon Odette in Libagon, Southern Leyte/ Photo by Leyte Center for Development, Inc., 2013
Ms Jazminda “Minet” Jerusalem, Leyte Center for Development (LCDe) Executive Director and Defend NGOs Alliance spokesperson, alluded to the inequity in how the chronic environmental and economic crisis is most of all borne by millions of poor Filipinos: “We are in the same storm, but on different boats. Let’s work towards a society where all could be on the same boat.”
Members of the Citizens Disaster Response Network (CDRN), a national network of humanitarian NGOs and people’s organizations (POs), (along with other NGOs and POs), are extending humanitarian assistance to victims of calamities even as some of their members deal with spurious charges of financing terrorism and supporting so-called terrorists lodged against them by the Anti Money Laundering Council under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) and the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
Bank accounts of CDRC, LCDe and even some family members have already been frozen. CDRC is the largest network of NGOs under the CDRN umbrella while the multi-awarded LCDe, also a member of CDRN, has served millions of people in Samar and Leyte provinces in Easter Visayas. Freezing of accounts of humanitarian NGOs prevents them from providing urgent relief and life-saving emergency aid during disaster season.#eof#