Yolanda disaster (before and after): whose fault was it?

[Retz]

PNoy hits critics: Bahala na si Lord sa inyo

"Bahala na si Lord sa inyo, busy ako."

This was the strong message of President Benigno Aquino III to his critics, whom he repeatedly blasted during his speech before the Filipino community in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday.

"'Yung mga kritiko ho natin may industriya na ho sa Pilipinas... na sa totoo lang ho… hindi ba ang dali naman sumulat ka sa papel, banat ka.

"Talagang kami ho tuksong-tukso [na sabihin] kayo nga kaya pumunta dito at subukan niyo magagawa niyo, di ba? Problema ho ni ayaw tumakbo," Aquino said.

The Aquino administration has been under fire for its handling of the Yolanda relief efforts. Before this, it has also been criticized over the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program.

But the President said the criticisms are sometimes absurd and uncalled for, citing the time when he was accused of falsely stating that he slept in a tent during his visit to quake-hit Bohol.

As to how he was doing in the face of so many criticisms, he said: "Sa totoo lang ho, feel na feel ko po talagang isang malaking karangalan na mamuno ng isang sambayanan na maraming pagsubok na dinaanan, nadadapa, bangon, at palaban pa rin."

He likewise said he voluntarily accepted the post so he can't give up.

"Bilang pinuno, hindi tayo pwedeng bumigay, hindi tayo pwedeng mawalan ng pag-asa maski na napipikon ka na dun sa ibang taong namumulitika pa," he said.

Source: PNoy hits critics: Bahala na si Lord sa inyo | News | GMA News Online

PNoy hits critics: Bahala na si Lord sa inyo | News | GMA News Online

[explorer]

mukhang fake ang iyak ni mayor...malamang natuwa pa silang Romualdez family dahil nilis ni Yolanda ang lupain nila na tinitirhan ng mga squatters...

gustong tumulong ng government at patayuan ng bahay ang mga squatters...pero mukhang may ayaw...at sino ang umaayaw?

from: The New York Times - Land Disputes Slow Recovery in Philippines

Now the Romualdez family, which has dominated city politics for decades, is locked in a battle with the squatters, trying to block rebuilding on the site.

The family says it is for the squatters’ good; the area was so exposed that even the evacuation center, in a school, was overwhelmed. Waves and wind slammed cars and other debris repeatedly into bodies that were trapped against the school’s walls, a local official said, sending sprays of blood onto terrified parents and children seeking shelter there. Even some in the federal government, stacked with rivals of the Romualdez family, say such vulnerable land should be abandoned.

The squatters doubt the family’s sincerity, and the ability of the government to help them build lives in a safer place. They contend that the clan sees the storm’s devastation as a way to finally clear the land, which some in the family have wanted to do for years.

[explorer]

kaya pala galit na galit si mayor kay mar roxas...

[ClaNker]

kaya pala galit na galit si mayor kay mar roxas...

Hindi kasi binigyan si noggy ng papel sa rebuilding, kaya nga nag reklamo ang anak nya sa Senate. So best way is sirain na lang ang magiging kalaban nya sa 2016. Ba't di si PNoy ang inatake ni Romualdez? Well di na tatakbo si PNoy sa 2016.

Yung mga paniwalang-paniwala kay Romualdez ay mag suot kayo ng magnifying glass.

[Retz]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6vLwbi2hoA]Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo -Pres. Noynoy Aquino refused to approach the flood victims - YouTube[/ame]

[explorer]

eto naman daw sinabi ni Tulfo...

[explorer]

tanga ba si romualdez o mautak talaga sya...

from: Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez Asks for “Extra Funds” for Rehab

Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez Asks for “Extra Funds” for Rehab

Posted by :Sam Ting Wong On : January 15, 2014

We’re a little pissed off with Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, who is not exactly a victim of Aquino Politics as he is of his own stupidity, ignorance, and negligence.

The fact that over 4,000 of his town’s citizens paid the ultimate price for Romualdez’ negligence seems to be of little concern to the other faction of the Aquino political empire and all they’re really after is the utter decimation of the opposing camp.

Mayor Romualdez knew only too well about the hazards that his people faced every typhoon season and yet in the years that he served as Mayor, he didn’t do anything in the manner of executing programs and projects that could have saved thousands of lives.

A lot of those who died because of the Super Typhoon Yolanda Storm Surges were living in low lying areas and had no access to elevated, concrete structures that could withstand strong typhoons — a fair number of which are bound to rip through Tacloban City. A large number of those people were informal settlers, some of whom were squatting on land owned by Romualdez’ clan and were beholden to his clan, compelled to vote for him or his relatives in every election.

Mayor Romualdez, who claims to know much about how his city fares during the typhoon season, should have moved to relocate the people living in these low-lying areas YEARS and YEARS ago or at least built elevated, concrete evacuation centers.

But, then again, why would he risk relocating people (thereby decreasing his captured votes) at a time when he was after the recognition of Tacloban as a Highly Urbanized City (HUC)? The HUC status he sought was actually a move that would consolidate his clan’s political base and carve out a territory from Leyte that his clan could virtually OWN.

Even more, why would he construct elevated, concrete evacuation centers when it would be much more profitable to him as well as his DPWH and construction contractor cronies if he just kept on evacuating people in structures that WOULD HAVE TO BE REBUILT after each storm or typhoon? That’s business every single year!

Which brings us to the latest bit of news about Romualdez and that is him PRESSURING the national government, on the strength of his crocodile tears, to give HIM money for rehabilitation.

According to Budget Secretary Butch Abad, the national government will be footing all of the rehabilitation costs for Tacloban City, so why does he need money for rehabilitation?

Abad told Rappler two things:

• All the relief, rehabilitation, and rebuilding needs of Tacloban City will be met by line agencies. He can send them written requests if he has specific needs.
• Tacloban has Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA). That should suffice for all necessary salaries and expenditures.

Well, it’s not as if Romualdez and members of his clan will be dirt poor.

Thing is, in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda, the national government will be buying land owned by the Romualdezes to build the extension project for the Tacloban City Airport.

For years, the Romualdezes wanted to sell the land but it had been occupied by squatters and Mayor Romualdez THANKED GOD for ridding his land of the squatters through Yolanda. By SIMPLY FAKING IGNORANCE about the coming storm surge, all the squatters in his family’s land were WIPED OUT — saving his clan from having to spend on relocation.

Suddenly, his family will get hundreds of millions of pesos from the sale of their land!

[chua_riwap]

baka samantalahin ni nognog yan.
siya bumisita......

kung hindi sa anniv. ng yolanda, baka sa nov 27.



?Don?t make big deal of Aquino skipping Tacloban? | Inquirer News

Don’t make big deal of Aquino skipping Tacloban’



DAVAO CITY, Philippines—President Aquino will skip Tacloban City as he hopscotches Friday across a region devastated by Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas appealed to the media not to make a big deal of the President’s whirlwind tour of the Visayas on the eve of the first anniversary of Yolanda’s onslaught.

“You’re magnifying this. There’s no issue about it,” Roxas told reporters on the sidelines of the Philippine Development Forum in Davao City, keynoted by the President, that presented the Bangsamoro Development Plan.

Aquino will visit Guiuan town in Eastern Samar, Palawan province, Bantayan Island in Cebu province and Aklan province Friday because the President had set aside Saturday to prepare for his trip to Beijing for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting from Nov. 9 to 11.

When he returns to Manila at 3 p.m. Friday, the President will brief the media at Villamor Air Base on the measures prepared by the government against the threat of the deadly Ebola virus to the country.

Rift denied

Roxas denied that the administration’s rift with Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez was the reason the President was avoiding the city, where most of the fatalities were reported.

“In fact, shortly after Yolanda, one of the major [fund] release of the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Governments) is for Tacloban, amounting to more than P200 million. This money was downloaded direct to the LGU (local government unit) so I think there should not be any spin or interpretation on the issues,” Roxas said.

A short video clip uploaded on YouTube by Romualdez’s father-in-law had Roxas telling the mayor a few days after Yolanda hit the region on

Nov. 8, 2013, “You have to understand, you are a Romualdez and the President is an Aquino.”

Roxas called the video “malicious” because it was apparently spliced. Longer versions of the video were later released.

Asked if he was still hurting from the allegations that the government’s response to the tragedy was slow, Roxas said as public servants, he and his fellow government officials “don’t have any right to feel hurt.”

“All the decisions that we do will be criticized. There are those who are unhappy. But the basis of our decision is for the good of many, that is the only principle that we follow,” Roxas said.

Face survivors

In a statement, Bayan Muna secretary general Renato Reyes blasted Aquino for leaping over Tacloban.

“Is it because of the protesters that will be gathering in the city starting tomorrow? Or is it still because, as Mar Roxas puts it, the President is an Aquino and the mayor is a Romualdez? Why can’t he face the outraged survivors on this important day?” Reyes said.

[Ry_Tower]

^ Dapat kasi sumaglit din si PNoy, para wala na lang masabi. Sabagay hindi na siya naghahangad nang new term eh, hindi na kelangan magpapogi. Unlike Binay na sureball eh gagatasan yang event for political campaign mileage like nung sa pamimigay nang candy. Lufet talaga!

[kisshmet]

Totoo po that the LGU people aren't meteorologists...but does it really take one to estimate how bad a storm surge would be, with winds of 250-260kph?

small typhoon = small storm surge
big *$$ typhoon = big *$$ storm surge

i think most of us here in the Philippines of mature age have gone through a major storm at least once in their lifetime -- regardless of educational attainment. It's been mentioned many times, that the common people don't have the technical knowhow of a meteorologist, ergo they don't know what destruction it can bring. But when you think about it, that shared experience should have made it plain and simple common sense.

So why do people insist that they didn't know/expect it? Here's the sad truth: it *has* to be the fault of PAGASA, NDRRMC, etc. , so we have somebody to blame. Because, if it's not *their* fault, then it's ours. And we just cannot accept that.

btw, i looked it up:



The Feed
Ted Failon apologizes for saying PAGASA employee died during Yolanda because she didn't know what a storm surge is




Condolences po dun sa namatay na taga-PAGASA; i don't know the circumstances of her death, but bear in mind that putting themselves in harm's way is part of their job, to measure rainfall, wind speed, etc. etc. i'd like to think that she died more because she was doing her job, not because she underestimated the storm.

imho, Mar really lacks political "experience". He got played by Romualdez big time.

PAGASA personnel perished due to her DEDICATION, not stupidity as ted failon was trying to imply

The national govt cleared the national roads which stretches to several provinces & the airport severely affected while the local govt is tasked to clear local roads & other facilities

The local govt cry for help simply means to pass that burden to the national govt as well as they sit back & relax amid the disaster. The locals cant even do it properly!