Ulysses

By Art Jimenez

 

Three catastrophic typhoons had hit the country in as many weeks prompting many to suggest nature is giving us the “eye-for-an-eye” treatment (pun intended). Following this line is “climate change,” and “illegal logging.” Others lay the blame on culprit politicians or those who look the other way. Still, others point the accusing finger at the government, particularly the Head of State for non-proactive actions, reacting too late and too little.

But that is going ahead of the story.

Our first unwelcome visitor was Typhoon Rolly (International name Goni), which entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on October 29. It intensified into a super typhoon two days later with a Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal #5. That was only the second time that the weather agency raised Signal #5 since Typhoon Yoling (Hainan) in 2016.

Rolly first hit land in Catanduanes, then Albay, and Quezon. It considerably weakened after its fourth landfall in Batangas. It exited the PAR on November 6.

Done with its assessment by November 11, the NDRRMC reported that the country suffered at least 25 deaths, 400 injured, and 5 persons missing. We also lost P12.9 billion in infrastructure and P5 billion in agricultural losses.

Tropical Storm Siony (Atsani) entered PAR on November 1. Siony was comparatively a mild storm although it brought heavy rains to Batanes and Babuyan Islands, its nearest entry points, causing some P5 million in damages.

Siony moved through Luzon Strait and by November 7 moved toward the Paracel Islands near the South China Sea. After leaving the PAR, storm Siony weakened and thereafter dissipated.

Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco) made landfall over Quezon Province in the late evening of November 11 with gale-force winds and inundated most of Luzon Island. On its way out four days later, Ulysses looked back and briefly surveyed the destruction he wrought on our largest island: 67 dead, 21+ injured, and 12 still missing, plus untold billions of property either damaged or destroyed. 

Worse is the economic sledgehammer the typhoon pounded on Luzon, which is composed of eight regions of 38 provinces and 699 towns, and 72 cities (including NCR’s 16 cities). According to DSWD 

of these numbers, Ulysses brought more havoc on more than 420,000 families in 4,373 barangays in the following regions: Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), I (Ilocos), II (Cagayan Valley), III (Central Luzon), National Capital Region (NCR), IV-A (Calabarzon), IV-B (Mimaropa), V (Bicol).  

Luzon is the economic base of the nation’s three major islands – the other two of course are the Visayas and Mindanao. Luzon accounts for 72 percent of our gross national product. (GDP). 

And now the blame game. Political opposition naturally only looks at the national government and the leaders therein as “better-never-than-late” executives. Take President Duterte, for instance. His political detractors questioned his being on top of a catastrophe as President when he was physically absent in the November 1 meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in preparation for the incoming Typhoon Rolly. They asked the question as if they literally missed him. 

At least no one accused him of playing Herod who supposedly played his fiddle as Rome burned. The truth is, the fiddle had yet to be invented at that time. And second, when the fire broke out, Nero was at his villa in Antium about 56 kilometers from Rome. However, Nero immediately returned to the city and lent his royal hands to the firefighting efforts.

As for President Digong, he was in Davao City paying homage and respect to his beloved deceased parents on All Saints Day. He returned to Manila when his Presidential Security Group said it was safe to fly home. So there.

The kill-joys let go of the LGU chiefs when the latter admitted some errors like not having enough rescue boats and volunteer rescuers; not being able to convince many on the rooftops of their tall residences to evacuate until it was too late and they cried for help and food; and not having sufficient space and accommodation facilities in their evacuation centers; the presence of garbage in local drainage system; and the inability of both LGUs and the concerned national agencies, like the DPWH to dredge our rivers that now many look like funnels (wide at the mouth and narrows to the bottom) and causes more floods.

Then the needlers turned to the supposed unannounced or precipitate opening of dam gates to release water to the lowlands that actually serve as catch basins.

In answer to this accusation and the ensuing threats of court suit against them, the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) simply said that damage would be worse, even worst, if they held back the excess water and allowed the dam to burst and collapse.

So far there seems to be no follow-up on this threat.