?Nobody listened then. And nobody listens now.? As floods from serial typhoons recede, foresters and scientists on the Net gripe about the ?incurable deafness? of officials who are supposed to institute reforms.

Viewpoint?s ?Post mortems? (Inquirer, 10/8/09) cited the 1991 Ormoc flood as more devastating than ?Ondoy? or ?Pepeng.? United Nations officer Jess Rola cites ignored studies on the Ormoc deluge. The same teams also analyzed the disasters that hit Guinsaugon, St. Bernard (Leyte) and General Nakar, Infanta (Quezon).

Does this blindness stem from greed? Here are excerpts from their report bouncing on the Net:

In Ormoc, the rainfall topped more than 600 mm in just three hours?from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. In contrast, Ondoy dumped 400+ mm in one day. PNOC rain gauges toppled over after 600 mm. Pagasa readings on Ormoc bear that out.

One family owns Ormoc?s watershed (4,100 hectares). State forest land is a sliver of 100 hectares. In the 1920s, the whole watershed ?was classified alienable and disposable. A study of titles and tax records show larceny, land-grabbbing and corruption that?d fill volumes.?

In Ormoc, the water ?rose from zero to seven meters in 10 minutes.? Among the eyewitness was a bank president who clung to a telephone pole for three hours. Among the 4,000+ who died were squatters residing on a sandbar in the middle of the final tributary of three Ormoc rivers.

Old maps revealed the river was diverted, in the 1950s, to favor government infrastructure. That included a famous resort, in the original riverbed.

?Incurable deafness is that of the mind,? Victor Hugo once said. And in the Congress probe of the Ormoc disaster, the chairman?s first order was to deny the DENR panel permission to present documents on who owned the watershed lands. ?After that gag, we could only drink to drown our frustrations,? the experts said.

Rola also cites Internet exchanges made by foresters who argued for the publication of the names of illegal loggers. Congress earlier dared then DENR acting chief Ricardo Umali to produce the list of legislators who were into illegal logging or he?d go to jail ?for dishonoring our names?

Umali, now president and chief executive officer of Sustainable Ecosystems International Corp., presented the list. Congressmen quickly tucked tail. ?Don?t read it into the records,? they whined. ?Just submit and we will evaluate.?

After that, Umali got phone calls: ?scrub my name or else.? The list remains basically the same today. Only, more military officers, who?ve gotten choice concessions, are now on it.

Publishing the name of officials who log in vital watersheds is an essential component of any reforms in the disaster management program that Malacañang and Congress tout, the e-mails suggest.

Viewpoint?s ?Resurgent hope? (Inquirer, 10/22/09) means little in the remote towns of Mindanao, writes Ricardo Martires (name changed for security). Kahit ilang Noynoy Aquino o Manny Villar pa ang mag-presidente, if the same crocodiles rule the towns, there?ll be no change.

Convicted but pardoned rapist Romeo Jalosjos? daughter, Lana, will contest the rule of the Yap family in Baliangao, Misamis Occidental. ?The Jalosjos dynasty, through the Alliance of People?s Party, spreads in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay and part of Misamis Occidental.?

Since birth in the ?60s, Martires says his town has known no officials other than the Yaps. Mayor Rodulio Villanueva Yap was gunned down in the late ?80s in Zamboanga. His vice mayor and brother Agapito took over. He too was shot in 1995, this time in Cagayan de Oro. His son Agapito Yap III, who was the vice mayor, took over. Then, his uncle Agne Yap was elected. He then slid to vice mayor when his term expired. He thus gave way to his daughter for the mayorship.

The Jalosjos challenge means: ?There are no real choices between these two, even an iota of what we call ?lesser evil?,? Martires asserts. All over the Philippines, people, at the grassroots, are not seeing change.

?Boto mo, Ipatrol mo? or other groups that advocate political change cannot match the intimidation from the goons of the trapos. Pagdating sa liblib na mga localities, even Namfrel or the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting are voiceless, helpless.

Citizens like us try to teach our people the need for change. Help us tell Comelec and the military: protect the true will of the people. The press must report that this kind of politics will still be rampant kahit wala na si fake president Gloria.

Retired US Army captain James Hughs e-mails from Dumaguete his reaction to Viewpoint?s ?Ear to the ground? (Inquirer, 10/15/09): The power of this land to be much greater than it seems: ?I?ve never met a Filipino parent not trying to raise children ?the best way they can.?? Dumaguete?s academic community works hard to mold responsible young men and women.

Still, we need direct action. People have a voice. They have a vote. There is the path to change. The engines of change must be Filipino. But I will hold your coat and protect your back while you bring change to the land.

From Butuan City, Carolina Camara, M.D. reminds Speaker Prospero Nograles: ?Sixty-nine days ago, you vowed that all 28 congressmen, who junketed through US restaurants with the President, would refund advances.

?Not a single centavo, so far, has been returned to us taxpayers,? the lady-physician notes. ?Are all 28 deadbeats? The Speaker didn?t listen then. And he doesn?t listen now??

(Email: juanlmercado@gmail.com)