‘Yolanda’ may be game changer

The tragedy caused by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in Tacloban City and neighboring towns dramatized the need for the “resilient,” “forgiving,” “patient” and “fatalistic” Filipinos to learn lessons that tend to be swept under the rug and eventually forgotten.

The near future may show Yolanda’s savaging of Leyte to be a game-changer.  It exposed how local and national officials were so unprepared in responding to a typhoon of unprecedented strength that their first knee-jerk response was to play the blame game, in effect forsaking obvious priorities like rescue, relief and rehabilitation. In treating the disaster as just one more PR challenge, Philippine officialdom (if not the whole society) was exposed to the world as shallow, incompetent and heartless. Fortunately, heroes from other parts of the country and the rest of the world stepped forward to focus on the real priorities. Despite a horrendous, bungling start, recovery is now gaining momentum. But the initial lapse has already shown how preparedness can’t be just a matter or slogans or intentions.  It requires that public servants be competent and committed, which our spoiled and greedy leaders are not.

Equally significant is that the Tacloban tragedy hit just as public anger and citizen action was building up on the PDAF scam (Napoles plus “Tanda,” “Sexy” and “Pogi”) and on DAP (Drilon, Abad and P-Noy).  Desperate disaster survivors and repatriated overseas Filipino workers will further stretch the limits of urban support capabilities, creating a sense of hopelessness that could erupt into mayhem if not a full-fledged replication of the French revolution.

President Aquino should not allow insensitive public officials to divert him from the “Daang Matuwid.”  Instead, he must rally his “bosses” toward positive programs rather than destructive vengeance.  The 12-round unanimous decision win of Manny Pacquiao may have bought P-Noy a bit more time, but that was no program.

BalikProbinsiya Inc. is one program ready for implementation.  We will present this at the Asian Institute of Management with the Center for Philippine Futuristics Studies and Management Inc. this coming Dec. 13.  Anyone interested in taking immediate steps to rise from the Tacloban tragedy to accelerate Philippine progress can join us.

—JOSE OSIAS,

jzosias@gmail.com