Sendong 2.0

“Most floods are caused by man, not weather; deforestation, levee construction, erosion, and overgrazing all result in the loss of ecosystem services.” -Paul Hawken

IT felt weird looking at oddly familiar scenes and smelling the same odor as I was coming home to Consolacion on Saturday night.

Riding the trisikad from UCCP’s main church, I was greeted with the fetid smell of mud and debris. As we turned a corner on Burgos Street, a husband was gently stroking his spouse to comfort her. They were both squatting in the mud. The woman was crying profusely as she looked at a heap of assorted things in ankle-deep of mud — their belongings, I presumed.

Moving on to District 2 of Consolacion, people were busy shoveling mud off their houses while their children helped by falling in line with containers for water at a firetruck that parked near the chapel. The sun had come out later that day, so at 5-ish pm, I could still see all these things.

Earlier that day, we evacuated our home, “Crow’s Nest,” when the city hall’s Disaster Resiliency and Reduction Management Department hoisted the “code red alert.” It was a good 30 minutes before the barangay counterpart switched the emergency siren on which meant forced evacuation was being implemented.

We agreed that my ex-girlfriend and the kids would stay at her sister’s house uptown while I would report for work.

However, a close family friend couldn’t leave his chickens in his backyard. He lives nearer the river than us and we had expected it would be flooded as soon as Cagayan River swelled. So, it was agreed that he bring his poultry animals in our house which was on the second floor of my ex-girlfriend’s ancestral home.

So, it was a win-win agreement. Crow’s Nest would be secured from burglars while our friend and his feathery friends would be out of harm’s way.

He was alone at Crow’s Nest at the height of the flooding. He would text or call me for updates.

Before I continue, I’d like to give a shoutout of thanks to friends who sent photos and videos via the private message of how our block looked as the severe tropical storm Vinta barreled through the city.

For the first time since typhoon Sendong, I was watching our house getting flooded from the outside looking in.

The difference with Vinta, however, was that we were prepared. We prepared our minds even before Vinta made landfall. We charged all our cell phones because we knew, just like in Sendong, that power would be cut off once the flooding starts. We stored two gallons of mineral water. We packed our grab bags which contained toiletries, three-day worth of clothes, and important documents sealed in zip-lock plastic bags. We did these on Thursday night.

I guess experience is the best teacher.

City hall was well-prepared and systems were already in place. So that when the river swelled up to its critical point of nine meters, every department — from the police, fire brigade, civilian rescue teams — were already doing what they were tasked to do.

The mayor was on top of things. He wasn’t visually bossing around people, smoking cigarettes and pointing orders. He was at the command center since Thursday night monitoring Vinta via satellite feed.

The city’s information office did not elude the questions of the press and answered the questions in succinct and clear manner. They gave out critical updates on their social media platforms.

I was even surprised with my neighbors. During Sendong and typhoon Pablo before, in my opinion, they were the most bull-headed people on earth. They ignored the alerts during the Pablo onslaught. Sendong, on the other hand, had no alerts whatsoever. Well, that’s that.

One Sendong is enough for a wise guy and the city rose up to the occasion and overcame another Christmas Grinch.

The zero casualty in the city, despite the widespread flooding in the city, is a testament to how well-prepared the people of Kagay-an are.

Kudos, Kagay-an! Now, where’s that leftover ham?

Of dubious loyalties

NO you’re not mistaken. I know this day isn’t scheduled for my column but I requested for this space because I have to get this rant off my chest.

Just this week, we carried a story on how Vice Mayor Raineir Joaquin Uy had to cut short a regular session of the city council because they no longer had a quorum.

Uy said councilors Lordan Suan, Leon Gan, and Yan Lam Lim were present at the start of their 42nd regular session on Monday but sneaked out in the middle of the plenary.

The three reportedly gave different reasons for cutting their attendance short. Suan said his stomach ached. Gan said a relative died so he excused himself from the session. Lim said he had to get out of the chamber because his blood pressure shot up.

Three different reasons but, to me, they still have a “common denominator” ? They’re all purples.

What got my goat was they were supposed to tackle timely issues during that session. As the disappointed councilor Bong Lao said, they were supposed to discuss the proposed flood and risk-reduction measures of the city.

I say timely because the government weather agency just declared that it’s now the rainy season. They even said to prepare for at least 14 storms until November. If  storm “Sendong” taught anything it is to prepare for worst.

Our city council has 18 members and 10 members would constitute a simple majority. At the start of the session, six of these “honorables” were absent.

Had these numbnuts stayed, the council still would have had a quorum and passed important resolutions.

Uy had no choice but to declare an end to the session because “since there were only nine left, anything that the city council approves can be legally questioned.”

These councilors should realize that their boss after the 2016 elections are the Kagay-anons and not that aging thing in Sta. Cecilia.

If Suan and Lim had a delicate constitution that day, they should have taken medicine for it. Hasn’t Suan heard of Diatabs, for chrissakes?! Newsflash, councilor, that’s what your JO is for! You could have just messaged that worker-relative of yours for medicine. Besides, don’t they realize the office of CDRRMC is directly below the plenary hall? That office is ready 24/7.

As for Gan, let’s just hope most of his relatives to the fourth degree of consanguinity and affinity are healthy because, god forbid, he couldn’t attend sessions anymore.

You ran for office, gardemet! Do your part and serve the people who voted you in office and don’t be such a baby.

Dongkoy’s ‘greatest hits’

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”— George Santayana, The Life of Reason (1905)

EVER since 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez announced that he will be joining the fray for city mayor next year, social media have been abuzz on how this declaration would virtually ensure erstwhile kingpin Vicente “Dongkoy” Emano’s return to city hall.

While this theory may hold water, I believe it may not hold enough. I do not believe that Kagay-anons suffer from memory loss. I offer Kagay-anons one word to jog their memory: “Sendong.” But that’s getting ahead of what I want to say.

As a public service, let me count the ways, so to speak, the many incidents Kagay-anons had to endure under his absolute regime in the city, from his maudlin excuses to the macabre decisions. However, we’ll have to limit our list to hizzoner’s “greatest hits,” lest we run out of column space.

He does not have a sense, let alone respect, to local history and culture. In 1999, Dongkoy bulldozed Huluga to build a P635-million road and bridge on it. My igso Elson Elizaga wrote in his blog: “The project was stopped in 2001 when the Department of Environment and Natural Resources… issued a cease-and-desist order. But, unknown then to HCA (Heritage Conservation Advocates), it was lifted and the project continued in 2002, even though the project had no Archaeological Impact Assessment and was, and remains, illegal.”

He turned the monument of Andres Bonifacio in Divisoria into a flea market with his “Night Cafe.” This is a blatant insult to the Kagay-anon Katipuneros whose bones are buried at the base of Supremo’s monument.

There’s his dismal performance or the lack of it, as the city’s vice mayor. He could very well be the worst vice mayor in the Philippines having presided over the city council only twice in his three-year term. I’ll let you sink that in for a minute. His default excuse for his absences was that hizzoner was “attending more important matters.” When you’re the vice mayor, what could possibly be more important than presiding over the city council?

After his calculated stint as vice mayor—in order to get around the term limit rule—Dongkoy returned with a vengeance as city mayor from 2010 to 2013 by allowing ambulant vendors to be pretty much wherever they want.

He has been known to be a vindictive leader, often booting out employees who he deems not totally loyal to him. He usually brushes aside criticisms, no matter how legitimate they are, as “politically motivated” and no Kagay-anon will forget his signature “Pag mayor sa ‘mo” retort to almost any issue thrown at him.

By announcing that a bombing that kills less than five persons is not an act of terrorism, Emano cemented his insensitive nature to the general public.

Now we come to the piéce de résistance: The Sendong tragedy of 2011. Despite a geohazard map identifying riverine communities and river deltas as “highly prone” to flooding, for the sake of getting votes—to ensure his Marcosian rule over the city—Emano encouraged people to continue living there with his onerous “piso-piso settlement program.”

His stamp-pad city council even passed a resolution allocating funds for the electrification of the riverine communities and river deltas plus water service connection.

One of the reasons that exacerbated the Sendong tragedy was the mining operations in our city’s hinterland barangays. Let’s not forget that he was the one who issued the permit of Cekas Mining Corp. that recently destroyed some five hectares in one of our upland barangays. He even bypassed DENR’s Mining and Geosciences Bureau.

And the height of his insensitivity—he ordered the transfer of decomposing corpses of Sendong flash flood victims to the city’s dumpster in Zayas, Carmen because, according to him, city hall had no place to put the bodies on.

If you are still convinced hizzoner can stage a successful comeback, there’s the midterm elections in 2013 where Emano lost even in his own polling precinct in Gusa.

Remember that we have only limited our recollection of Dongkoy’s 15-year regime to his “greatest hits.” If you still think that Rodriguez joining the mayoral race will be Emano’s ticket to take back city hall, then perhaps you are the only one suffering from memory loss.

With that, maybe you do deserve each other.