Water world after extravagance

By Alex P. Vidal 

“People say I’m extravagant because I want to be surrounded by beauty. But tell me, who wants to be surrounded by garbage?” —Imelda Marcos

THERE’S a dearth of political leaders in the Philippines who will—or are willing to—serve as epitome of simplicity, humility, and moderation. No more; there will never be one.

Even the younger legislators, who were supposed to diverge from their seniors’ propensity for profligacy, have also been swallowed by the prevailing system that has magnetized and glamorized Filipino public servants feeling and thinking special and sikat (famous) during big and important occasions like the President’s recent State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Some of them mistook (or took advantage of) and transformed the SONA into a fashion show in Paris and New York by dressing like they were going to the movie shooting of The Terminator, Stars Wars and Return of the Jedi.

While many Filipinos cannot eat three square meals a day, can’t pay rents and electric bills, can’t afford to buy basic medicines, and can’t send their children to school, “dressed-to-kill” politicos—Tagalogs, Warays, Ilonggos, Cebuanos, Karay-as, Chavacanos, atbp. (they’re all the same actually)—arrived in the Batasang Pambansa like members of Empress Dowager Cixi’s Bench Division shaking their tale feathers and waving in the crowd like peahens and peacocks.

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The late Ilonggo senator, Miriam Defensor Santiago, was right when she once berated the SONA organizers and calling the gathering a “thoughtless extravagance” where “peacocks spread their tails and turn around and around, as coached by media in a feeding frenzy.”

Only hours after they turned the SONA of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. into a parade of stars and ostentatious displaying of impractical and illogical embellishment, mother nature’s wrath snatched away the publicity they had hankered for their expensive outfits.

Typhoon Carina (Gaemi in international name) and Tropical Depression Butchoy lashed the Philippines and turned many areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao into a water world.

As observed by some Ilonggo netizens, “Wala pa matapos dayaw sa media attire ni Mama Monchang nag baha na” (hardly had praises in the media for Mama Monchang’s attire were over, then came the flood).

At least seven people were killed in Mindanao from incidents related to the storms which hit the region last week, reported the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) July 23.

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The NDRRMC has confirmed four deaths in Zamboanga Peninsula and one each in Northern Mindanao region, Davao region and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

At least 96 people sought shelter in evacuation centers after floods submerged their communities in Cagayan province, it was reported.

Floodwaters reportedly reached up to .91 meter (3 feet) in the low-lying areas of Del Carmen and San Agustin villages in the City of San Fernando.

High tide and monsoon rains also caused water levels to rise as high as .97 meter (3.2 feet) in Masantol and Macabebe towns.

A high tide of up to 1.49 meter (4.92 feet) on Monday in Bulacan July 22 caused floods in the coastal towns of Hagonoy and Bulakan, as well as low-lying areas in the City of Malolos, including Guiguinto.

PDRRMO Bulacan further reported that at least 30 families from Sitio Libis in Bulakan were evacuated to Taliptip Elementary School around noon after high tide inundated their community.

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The removal of 75 cops from Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s security was so sudden and reeks of politics.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) should not have allowed it to happen at a time when the Dutertes in Davao were trying to win the people’s emotions.

Some of the vice president’s critics may be right when they thought the removal of the 75 security cops would “weaken” her and stop her and her family from bellyaching and agitating for the downfall of President Marcos Jr.

But the PNP’s action will definitely embolden Mrs. Duterte-Carpio’s followers to close ranks and think that the vice president is being singled-out and “persecuted” now that she is outside the kulambo of the President’s cabinet.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)