Meltdown

By Artchil B. Fernandez

 

#NasaanAngPangulo trended on social media at the height of Typhoon Ulysses lashing out in Metro Manila and many parts of Luzon.  That was not the first time the topic trended on-line. Earlier, when Super Typhoon Rolly ravaged the country, #NasaanAngPanglo also trended on social media.

Stung by criticisms of being missing in action as calamity after calamity struck the nation, Du30 said he had enough.  During his evening show this week, Du30 had a meltdown that some even noted a cognitive breakdown right before the eyes of the Filipino people. He directed his ire to Vice President Leni Robredo.

Accusing the Vice President of spreading lies about his absence while Ulysses was wreaking havoc in the country, Du30 opened and closed his evening show lambasting her. “She made a blunder, a big one, and practically lied making her incapable of truth. Alam mo, yung pakana niya na wala ako sa bagyo, I was here,” Duterte claimed.  “There was no need for you to make a very masamang biro na where were you?…” Du30 ranted.  “Wag ka masyadong porma, porma, hindi mo pa panahon. Not the time to be making grandstanding.”

Du30 ended his evening show with a threat to the Vice President. “During the campaign, papaalis na ako. Sige subukan mo. Matagal na ako maraming gusto sabihin sayo. Ireserba ko. When you start your campaign pag magtakbo ka ng presidente, waswasan kita nang husto. This is your nightmare,” he warned. He also accused the Vice President of usurping his authority, grandstanding, and competing with him.

The breakdown of Du30 on national television is a pitiful sight. Instead of a confident strongman exuding power, what Filipinos saw is a frail and embittered old man venting his insecurities. Worse, Du30’s heartache is based on lies and fake news.

Vice President Robredo had nothing to do with the social media trending topic #NasaanAngPangulo. Apart from not being the source of the topic, the Vice President did not even mention it in her social media posts. Netizens outraged by Du30’s conspicuous absence during calamities made the topic top trending in social media. It was the public’s way of expressing their anger and disgust at the administration’s habit of being missing in action once calamity hit the country. Du30 made the Vice President a convenient scapegoat of his ire to assuage the hurt caused by the truth.

Prior to blaming Vice President Robredo for his predicament, Du30 gave a lame excuse for his absence while the typhoon was lashing Luzon. When #NasaanAngPangulo started trending on social media, Du30 said he wanted to swim into the flood but was prevented by his security from doing. This is a childish if not a shallow response to the valid criticism of the public.

Filipinos do not expect, much more demand that Du30 swim into the flood. What the public wanted to see is a government in action while the typhoon is upon the nation. They expected to see Du30 leading the preparation, chairing meetings of NDRRMC, issuing instructions before, during and after the calamity has struck the country. Du30 did not do any of these. He appeared only after the fact when the typhoons had passed by leaving a large swath of destruction.

Instead of being pro-active, Du30 was merely reactive to the calamities. After Quinta struck, Du30 would have been more pro-active when Super Typhoon Rolly was coming. He was held-up in Davao City as Rolly unleashed its fury. But Du30 failed to learn anything from Quinta and Rolly. When Ulysses was projected to hit the country a few days after Rolly, Du30 should have been more prepared to handle the next calamity.

Alas, Du30 simply slept and waited for Ulysses to strike and came out only when many areas in Metro Manila were already submerged by a record-setting flood. Government agencies started moving after social media was inundated with pictures of people stranded on the rooftop of their houses crying for help. Had government agencies been primed for the impending calamity, help would have come to the stranded earlier thus mitigating the impact of the widespread flooding in Metro Manila and nearby areas. Thus, the topic #NassanAngPangulo trended on-line.

But the worst is yet to come. As the country was pre-occupied with the extensive flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, a greater calamity was happening up North, in Cagayan and Isabela provinces. The bad news ironically surfaced when ABS-CBN teleradyo airing on-line and on cable interviewed the governor of Cagayan informing the nation of a bigger tragedy in his region.

The country was shocked to learn that Cagayan and Isabela suffered their worst flooding in half a century. The scale of destruction was revealed a few days later when media and government agencies rushed there. Du30 and his administration would not have been blind-sided by what was unfolding up North had there been preparation for the disaster. As usual, the sleepy administration of Du30 merely reacted to the tragedy.

It is also worth noting that the absence of information on the typhoons did not prepare the people in the affected areas. ABS-CBN regional news was the only source of information in the Bicol and Cagayan-Isabela areas. The closure of the giant network deprived the people there of the information to prepare for the calamities and provide government agencies with situationer reports. The governor of Isabela lamented the absence of ABS-CBN which his congressman brother voted to close.

An upset Du30 had a meltdown on national television, hurt by criticisms on how he handled the recent tragedies that had befallen the nation. He has no one to blame but himself.  He was literally sleeping on his job as president and his whimsical act of closing ABS-CBN harmed the very people he had sworn to serve.