It has been raining heavily this past week and Thursday night to Friday morning was no exception.
I was wakened at 3:00 a.m. on Friday by loud growls of thunder, eerie flashes of lightning, and a steady downpour. I’d kept my window open to take advantage of the coolness, and was treated to a barrage of weather effects that alarmed me enough to sit up and investigate.
Water swirled around our residential street. Even that early and into the succeeding hours, photos were posted on social media showing flood waters rising steadily in the main thoroughfares, where most people pass on their way to work and school.
Some cities and municipalities had already advised of suspension of classes. At 4:00 a.m., the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council had posted advisories that Metro Manila, Rizal, and Cavite were under Orange Rainfall alert.
Under the Orange warning, rain is intense and expected to continue in the next two hours. People are warned to be on alert for possible evacuation because flooding is a definite threat.
Yet at 4:00 a.m. that Friday, many cities in Metro Manila still had not issued class suspensions. Along with many other people, I tweeted Mayor Joseph Estrada (@PresidentErap) of Manila and Mayor Abby Binay (@Mayora_Abby) of Makati, but still there was no suspension until around 6:00 a.m.
By then many students and employees had already left their homes. A junior high school student who lives in our compound and studies in a public school in Makati had risen at 3:00 a.m. and was on his school bus by 5:00 a.m. He arrived back home close to 8:00 a.m., telling his mother, “Paikot-ikot lang kami sa kalsada. Tapos pinauwi lang din kami.”
What a waste of time, effort, and money. If only the mayors of those two cities and those others who did not soon enough had perhaps acted in a timely manner, it would have saved so many people a lot of trouble.
As it is, many were exposed to health risks—cough, colds, flu, fever, and leptospirosis, which has resurged with great ferocity in the metro.
The hardest part of going anywhere in bad weather is traveling. There never seems to be enough public transport around and people end up stranded and wading through flood waters. (Have I mentioned that leptospirosis cases are on the rise?)
Are these mayors aware that not everyone has private cars or ride school buses, and that the majority take public transport? Many can’t even afford rain boots for protection against exposure to flood water!
Mayors who fail to respond appropriately to bad weather put people’s health at risk and increase the risk of accidents and untoward incidents on the road. It also is a great disservice to those who earn barely enough for their needs.
The question is, where were all these Metro Manila mayors? Asleep on the job? Torn by indecision on whether or not the weather would clear? Saying “let them wait” while they have their morning coffee?
Bah. They must do better—it’s their job. There was an Orange rainfall warning, by golly, a suspension should have been automatic.
In case these don’t-care mayors don’t realize it yet, their constituents don’t owe them any favors—and they’re likely to remember all these failings come the next elections.
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Workshop season is coming soon, and two top writing programs are now open for application.
The University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing (UP ICW) is accepting applications for the 58th UP National Writers Workshop to be held on April 21-28, 2019.
The workshop aims to help published writers further hone their craft. Writers from the regions outside NCR are encouraged to apply. All fellows are entitled to a modest stipend and free hotel accommodation.
The deadline for submission is Sept. 30, 2018. For details of requirements and inquiries, call the ICW at 981-8500 loc. 2117, e-mail [email protected], or visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/upicw/.
The Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) of the University of Santo Tomas is now accepting applications to the 2019 UST National Writers Workshop to be held April 7-14, at Ridgewood Residence, Baguio City.
Fourteen fellowships will be available to writers 21 years and older. Address all applications to Prof. Chuckberry Pascual, workshop coordinator, CCWLS office, Benavides Building, UST, España, Manila. Deadline for submission is Oct. 31, 2018. For inquiries, call 4061611 loc. 8281.
Dr. Ortuoste, a writer and researcher, has a PhD in Communication. FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO