What The Government Should Learn From Yolanda (Haiyan)

What should the Philippine government and all Filipinos learn from typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan)? 

A LOT!  

After super typhoon Yolanda ravaged Leyte and other provinces in Central Visayas, everyone was struck with unbelievable images of destruction, famine, death and chaos.  I was speechless at the first sight of people begging for food, cadavers on the roadside and on top of trees, mountains of debris, wrecked homes and buildings, impassable roads, and desperate people looting for survival. I could only pray for a speedy restoration of services, provision of relief goods and support for the victims.

A week has passed and the Philippine government is under fire for the very slow, retarded pace it is taking to scoop the victims out from their sorry and destitute state. The swift move of other countries to fly in numerous boxes/crates of food, clothing, medicines and other basic necessities including cash has rendered the President, his officials, and the military almost inutile in the eyes of the world. This is another blow to the government after the recent hearings and revelations regarding the scam purportedly manipulated by some government officials in cahoots with that blood-curdling heap of a fat swine, Napoles.

Yolanda's message is clear. 

Always be ready.  Don't underestimate what a seemingly simple typhoon can bring to your place.  It can rip you off and flatten your domain.  

Stop taking people's money! Government agencies and officials should render services to the people because they are the masters, they are the boss! After all, it is the people (taxpayers, most especially) who chip in their labor's fruits in the national coffers. 

Don't be divisive.  Unite! Drop any political affiliations in times like this. Moreover, do not blame especially those who are helpless.

Don't take advantage of other people's possessions and weaknesses.  Idiots have been reported raping and looting, running away with appliances and cannibalizing vehicles. 

Save lives, yes! But give the dead a decent burial even en masse.  The week-long stench of death inhabiting the afflicted places speaks of callousness on the part of authorities.

Have faith in God!  Don't relax. People tend to leave him in one corner while they enthrone materialism, greed, lust for power, and immorality at the center of their lives.

Knock all these in your heads, our heads lest another typhoon by another name visits us ( God forbid)


                                         copyright © Ritchelle Blanco Dejolde 2013