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A country where natural disasters are an annual experience badly needs dedicated first responders, or those who immediately arrive at the scene to provide aid and comfort to the victims. In October 2011, surging waters submerged Calumpit in Bulacan—the worst flooding the town had seen in 40 years. When a pregnant mother was on the verge of childbirth and an 11-year-old child languished from a two-day-old fever that wouldn’t break, it was Philippine Red Cross (PRC) personnel who waded in, plucked them out—along with 106 others—and took them to a hospital. As always, the PRC was there to help when it was most needed.
Posted: April 20th, 2013 in Editor's Pick,Editorial,Featured Columns,Featured Headline,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
Will 2013 usher in some pleasant improvements for the Philippines, or will it be just a repeat of 2010, 2011 and 2012? The past three years have been about economic gains, some of which can be traced to the previous administration’s initiatives—not new growth, just a continuation from the past. In 2012, the Aquino administration [...]
Posted: January 17th, 2013 in Inquirer Opinion,Letters to the Editor | Read More »
The year 2012 passed into history with a record-breaking number of calamities: floods, droughts, storms, supertyphoons. Calamities hit the planet, all in extreme degrees, sparing no country. The United Kingdom experienced the worst flooding in years. Ukraine and its neighbors went through extreme cold weather conditions; it “stood still” as the winter snow breached -27 [...]
Posted: January 15th, 2013 in Inquirer Opinion,Letters to the Editor | Read More »
By Juan L. Mercado
“Chance favors the prepared mind,” scientist Louis Pasteur taught. Many were unprepared for Tropical Storm “Sendong” and Typhoon “Pablo.” Sendong’s death toll topped 1,450. That made it the “world’s deadliest storm in 2011.” A year later, Pablo proved the “world’s deadliest,” notes Global Catastrophe Recap. It left 1,901 dead plus P37 billion in damages.
Posted: January 14th, 2013 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Neal H. Cruz
Now that the sun is shining, there are no rains and strong winds, the water levels in the rivers are low and flowing gently, the sea is calm and the waves small, and the mountainsides above villages look so solid, the residents who evacuated their homes during Typhoon “Pablo” have started to return. They feel so safe now. They feel there is no longer any danger—until the next typhoon occurs and the same cycle of death, destruction and evacuation is repeated.
Posted: January 8th, 2013 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Featured Columns,Featured Headline,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Leandro “DD” Coronel
It’s been a December that we Filipinos won’t soon forget.
Posted: December 30th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Jose Ma. Montelibano
There are two star performers for 2012. They are President Benigno Aquino III and the Filipino as a people. The combination or relationship of the two carried over a momentum that began in 2011 when the government blocked the attempted, post-haste exit of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. By coincidence or synchronicity, a major shift began [...]
Posted: December 27th, 2012 in Columns,Viewpoints | Read More »
I read with a heavy heart the news report titled “Water rose so suddenly” (Inquirer, 12/6/12).
Posted: December 17th, 2012 in Inquirer Opinion,Letters to the Editor | Read More »
By Michael L. Tan
IN THE Philippines we welcome the “ber” months (September to December) as a protracted holiday season of cheer and festivities, to the point where we probably have the world’s longest Christmas celebration. My interpretation of this “ber” phenomenon is that it’s part of our coping mechanism amid the harsh realities of life in the Philippines. [...]
Posted: November 27th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Leandro “DD” Coronel
In the aftermath of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” in 2009, local government units made a big show of dredging their drainage systems because experts had said that clogged sewers choked off the savage onrush of rainwater.
Posted: September 2nd, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
This refers to the news item titled “Disaster blamed on rapid development of Metro Manila” (Inquirer, 8/13/12). According to this report, it is the view of Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, the CEO of the environmental group Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Philippines, that the “Filipinos, not the monsoon rains, are to blame for the deluge that paralyzed the metropolitan area of 14 million residents” and that the “latest disaster to hit the Philippines was the result of the unfettered and mindless march to urbanization that had replaced soils and trees, which could absorb the rains and reduce flooding, with concrete jungles.”
Posted: August 20th, 2012 in Inquirer Opinion,Letters to the Editor | Read More »
By Jose Ma. Montelibano
My heart skipped a beat when I read what Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson said about presidential instructions to relocate about 200,000 poor from their threatened habitat. These families are all living, if you can call it that after seeing their sardine-like existence, along river banks, esteros and drainage canals. I had written [...]
Posted: August 16th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Viewpoints | Read More »
