In the past, natural calamities offered rare occasions for amity among feuding politicians and political groups, tragedy being a precursor for kindness and charity, no matter how brief.  

Sadly, that has not been our fate of late. 

Human suffering has not erased the partisanship and incivility that has defined our national discourse in the months following the formal breakup of the Unity coalition. Tragedy has heightened it. 

Instead of circumspection and temperance, Vice President Sara Duterte and her allies remained relentless in their attacks on the President and his administration, unmoved by the images of the unfolding tragedy in Bicol flooding news feeds as early as Wednesday morning. 

Wasn’t it only a couple of weeks ago that the Vice President made a quick visit on a reportedly reluctant yet magnanimous former vice president Leni Robredo for a photo opportunity? That she visited several barangays in the region and attended the fluvial procession for Our Lady of Peñafrancia, signaling affinity with the province and its people?

The Vice President could have taken the opportunity presented to her Wednesday to refrain from answering political questions and instead appeal for help for Bicol. 

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But the Vice President chose to double down on her attacks, daring lawmaker-critics to undergo a drug test, and  likening herself to the much admired late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago who, unfortunately, cannot defend herself from the Vice President’s rhetorical heresy.

In the guise of commiserating with the people of Bicol, the Vice President’s allies demanded accountability for the billions in flood control projects allotted to the region. Predictably, they refused to engage when asked about the flood control budget for the six years under the Duterte administration, who, following their logic, should also be held accountable for the floods, or the billions funneled to Davao City during the tenure of the president’s son as representative. 

A statement that the amount of rainfall in Bicol far exceeded Ondoy’s was either ignored or denied, data and science becoming casualties of a constricted worldview where a Duterte can do no wrong.

Then we have the unpardonable hostility, with online partisans celebrating the rains, floods, and suffering as punishment from the heavens for being born Bicolano like Leni Robredo.

As a nation perennially traumatized by loss and tragedy, we now have to endure the greater tragedy of insensitivity and callousness among our leaders and their supporters.

All too human

This is not to excuse government and government officials from accountability. 

Flood control plans have existed for decades, but these plans, some of them ambitious, multi-year undertakings, are often discarded or ignored with every change in administration. They suffer the fate of projects initiated by past administrations, dismissed as relics in need of a stamp, a marker of ownership, from the current Palace occupant.

The persistent belief, both on the side of government and the public, is that increasing funding will immediately result in less floods. But one cannot throw money at the problem and expect it to go away, not when we have to deal with topography, climate change, an infuriating bureaucracy, and human failings: greed, indifference, arrogance, and incompetence. 

After the 2009 tragedy of Ondoy, both government and the public were rudely awakened to the reality of climate change and its devastating consequences. 

Ondoy showed the indispensable role of government, local governments in particular, in mitigating the impact of climate change and in responding to natural disasters. Despite limitations, primarily lack of resources, our localities have, as a whole, stepped up the challenge.

Tropical Storm ‘Kristine,’ however, exposed the persistent weak points. 

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Watersheds that are supposed to be protected have long been opened to quarrying and logging. Certain areas that have been historically flood-prone have grown into housing and commercial settlements. Private interests engaged in extracting natural resources, property developers, and urban poor communities have taken over precious land, including danger zones, with the consent or negligence of local and national authorities. 

Many officials cling to the notion that dispensing relief goods and ordering evacuations during calamities constitute decisive action. But addressing climate change also demands stewardship. A proactive government will see its role as tempering if not halting the inroads of private interests on our environment. Laws and regulations must be enforced. Our authorities must stop being accessories, through consent or ineptitude, or both, to the ravaging of our natural resources.

The Philippines is a proud signatory to several global climate frameworks. We are host to the Loss and Damage Fund, a financial instrument for empowering vulnerable countries. Other countries and climate experts have showered praises on our climate action plans. 

Still, accession to global agreements and well-crafted action plans would be hollow gestures unless accompanied by concrete, decisive government action and political will. What government needs to display is the fortitude to stand up to political and economic interests, even, or especially, friends, cronies, and campaign donors. – Rappler.com

Joey Salgado is a former journalist, and a government and political communications practitioner. He served as spokesperson for former vice president Jejomar Binay.