Typhoon Haiyan victims to be showcased to European delegates as ‘poster children’ of ‘resilience’

So now the disaster left by supertyphoon Haiyan (a.k.a. Yolanda) that struck central Philippines in November 2013 will serve as a platform to “showcase” Filipino “resilience” to European delegates visiting Manila next month. From the 4th through the 6th of June, the Philippines will be hosting the Asia Europe Meeting’s (ASEM) Manila Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM). The initiative, organised by the Philippine government, reportedly aims to “draw lessons from Super Typhoon Yolanda.”

The star of the show will, of course, be Filipinos exhibiting their world-renowned “resilience”…

“We are the poster child of resiliency and we have been cited for our resilience and other international conferences have referred to the Philippines because of our determination to rise up again and again,” Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Asec. Maria Zeneida Angara Collinson, chair of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Manila conference, said in a press conference Thursday.

I wonder what it is like being a victim of a supertyphoon like Haiyan and being spoken for by bozos like these — being made a “showcase” to a bunch of foreign delegates. Indeed, when citations are made by foreigners, Pinoy Pride quickly wells up. Indeed, it is true. Filipinos “rise up again and again” from disasters — because the same problems keep beating them down again and again.

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The Philippines chronically lacks a domestic capability to help itself.

The Philippines chronically lacks a domestic capability to help itself.

One wonders what it is exactly Filipinos need to learn about disaster risk reduction management from all these foreign delegates when there are enough people on the ground who have had direct experience dealing with the aftermath of devastating typhoons. Indeed, a lack of will amongst the powers-that-be in Philippine government to listen to real experts was exhibited in full living colour to the world at the height of the Haiyan crisis when no less than Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III insisted on grossly underestimating the initial death toll estimates in the days following Haiyan’s exit…

According to President BS Aquino, the original estimated death toll of 10,000 “came from local officials who perhaps were ‘too close’ to the center of destruction to make an accurate guess.” That official, Elmer Soria, the chief superintendent for the central Philippines province of Leyte, was reportedly fired for “sharing the alarming estimate, which was quickly a focus of reports from the local news media and international news organizations.” The official explanation issued by the Philippine National Police (PNP) was that Soria was “relieved from his post” because “he might need to go through a stress debriefing.”

The Philippines isn’t lacking in experts in the field of managing the handling and processing of large numbers of dead bodies following a major calamity either. Yet, Filipino officials broke all the rules nonetheless. Many of these competent disaster management professionals, like Soria in the above example, were swamped by the triumph of all the wrong arguments and the views of the ill-informed.

President BS Aquino reportedly responded to criticism his office had been receiving regarding the snail-paced release of reports of the death toll with this doozy: “It’s because you have to make sure that there is the certification or a coroner’s report before it is made official,” apparently ignorant of the fact that there is no such thing as a Coroner’s Office in the Philippines. Noted forensic expert Dr Raquel Fortun cited this demonstration of the President’s astounding ignorance as just one among other appalling instances of the Philippine government’s ineptitude that left her feeling “burned” from the whole experience of trying to directly contribute to the relief effort.

Fortun and her group started on November 18 but had to pack their bags after five days. This was after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) questioned their mode of identification.

NBI officer-in-charge Medardo de Lemos already apologized, noting it was only a misunderstanding between the two camps. Fortun was with experts from the Department of Health and World Health Organization, while the NBI sought the help of the Interpol.

And no amount of money and other resources thrown into the relief effort could beat the institutionalised thievery and renowned doctrine of incompetence-as-state-policy that characterises everything about the Philippines…

Official incompetence has also been painfully evident in this government’s phlegmatic response to super typhoon Yolanda and its disastrous aftermath. Slow and inefficient in bringing relief immediately after the storm, the government has also dragged its feet in rebuilding the typhoon-battered areas.

Today, seven months after the storm killed more than 6,000 people and rendered half a million more homeless in the Visayas, the administration has yet to come up with a master plan for the rehabilitation of the affected areas. And, despite the generous outpouring of aid from all over the world, the government has not spent a single centavo for temporary shelters needed in Tacloban City, which suffered the most from the typhoon. The ones that exist in the city today have all been built with privately donated funds.

The prospects for a full rehab of the areas devastated by Haiyan has long been recognised as being dim and much of the relief goods and funds donated all but going to waste. This is in considering the Philippines’ mediocre track record of taking full advantage of otherwise abundant resources at its disposal. Early reports on the snail-paced and disorganised disaster response mounted by the Philippines immediately following early revelations of the full extent of the devastation wrought by Haiyan were quite telling. Even as vast sums of money and resources came pouring in to aid the relief effort, the astounding inefficiency of the Philippine bureaucracy was all but fatal so much so as to bring to serious question the recovery prospects of Tacloban City and other affected areas.

To now organise and host — likely to the tune of millions of dollars — an international conference to “learn” from the Haiyan experience would have come across as laughable if it weren’t for the mind-numbing tragedy that frames it. An abundance of lessons and local expertise to champion these lessons are sitting right under Filipinos’ noses all but under-appreciated. And in this age of readily-accessible knowledge, flying in delegates from Europe for another talk-fest about Yolanda is just plain dumb.

[Photo courtesy International Business Times.]

8 Replies to “Typhoon Haiyan victims to be showcased to European delegates as ‘poster children’ of ‘resilience’”

  1. The delegation of the European Union/Commission had a master-plan to rebuild 2 weeks after the disaster. The Philippine Government stubbornly refused it, as Filipinos of course, know everything better. It is not plain just dumb benign0, it is OBSCENE! This is nothing but an opportunity to show open hands begging for more money to be stolen.

  2. The typhoon Yolanda victims should be a showcase for the Incompetence of the Aquino administration…they should be ashamed of themselves…they lied to foreign press; they lied to us; their relief efforts were tained with political overtones and corruption. They were slow to act…many people are still without shelter…

    Showcase of resiliency is a Bad Joke, from the Aquino administration. Foreign delegates will be entertained again by Aquino…however, people have eyes and brains. You will hear their feedbacks, after they see this showcase.

    1. Or, with a similar spin, Yolanada survivors can be showcased as ‘poster children’ of ‘resilience’ from their own inept government… Nah, it doesn’t have that much “wham” I think.

      “Buhay pa rin naman kayo, di ba?”

      Can’t wait for November.

  3. One would wonder if a foreigner came in and wanted to lift a community through development would that community even want it or would it be looked upon as a silver spoon?

  4. Filipino’s ‘rise up’? What does that even mean?

    Has anyone seen the disaster area lately? The place is still a mess, the funds have been ‘re-allocated’ (most likely to foreign bank accounts under shadow Corporate alias’s), the food stores as well as clothing were never delivered to the victims and were sold by kilo at auctions in Manila which is what happens with ‘donated’ clothes all the time. Never mind that when people drop clothes into the ‘donation box’ in the Western countries, those people believe that the clothes will be given away to poor people who need the clothes. BUT in the Philippines they are sold at auction, by the ton, and sold as ‘oki-oki’ at local sori-sori stores and other markets like them nationwide, for a profit….

    If the truth were ever to get out about the disgraceful practices going on inside the Philippines about what actually happens with ‘donations’, no more would ever come.

    As far as the Filipino ‘resiliency’ and ‘rising up’…it is just a BS story.
    Isn’t one of the prerequisites of meeting the criteria of ‘rising up’ that repairs need to be made, people need to be fed/housed and the donations must be utilized to do this?

    the fact that the Gov’t. can even make these claims to anyone, never mind at an international conferences, is proof positive of telling the big lie often enough and it will somehow pass for the truth.

  5. 4 yrs ago nobody LISTENED, CARED and UNDERSTAND my vision. I’m glad that our Government finally realize what I have been suggesting before.

    COMMUNICATION
    To avoid PANIC, LOOTING & CHAOS – it is necessary to convey messages or instructions BEFORE, DURING & AFTER any disaster. It is also vital to receive/transmit informations & news in the community in times of crisis. And to warn occupants of impending danger. Hence. The following items are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

    1. PA/GA system – Public Address / General Alarm allows emergency page or announcement via any speaker-equipped street lights.

    2. ALARM or SIREN – warning device incase of Flooding, storm Surge, Tidal Wave, Fire, Earthquakes, etc.

    3. SATELLITE PHONE (w/c cannot be damage by any Typhoon) enables local officials (mayors/governors) to communicate with our National Government.

    4. RADIO BASE STATION w/c cannot be damage by any Typhoon) enables Barangay officials with mayors/government and amongst themselves.

    http://s969.photobucket.com/user/Dale_Gozar/story/30927#

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPN73eHi5M0

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tmdk7zZGrC0&feature=youtu.be

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MeuZc6AUw1Q#

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