“We need a dignified and inspiring leader.”
These times are profoundly traumatic, an episode of life that we want to leave behind as soon as possible. Things have never been the same. I say this with a mix of hope and concern as many of us try to find much deserved holiday respite though still on guard from the evolving risks of these crises. Personally, I have this feeling of great gratitude for all the blessings that I certainly needed to get this far, even as I am still anxious as I anticipate more challenges in the new year ahead.
Just as the country’s COVID-19 alert levels were downgraded to “low-risk” sparking a welcome, though cautious resurgence of economic and social activities, super typhoon Odette wrought a cross-country swath of destruction. As of this writing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council says Odette has reportedly affected well over 3.56 million people in 11 regions of Visayas and Mindanao. Destroyed infrastructure is estimated at P4 billion; another P2 billion in food producing agricultural assets has been ruined. Deaths have reached 367 with scores still missing.
This huge scale of devastation became a “dead spot” as all power and telecommunications facilities were downed, two critical services that are critical to rescue, rehabilitation, and recovery in any calamity situation. These two services, power and telecom, must both be functional on Ground Zero to support all aspects of disaster relief operations.
When we all learned to shift to digital modes of transactions since the lockdowns, it became our virtual connector for continuity and survival. Imagine the situation of millions of our countrymen suddenly cut off from electricity and communication services.
We are now seeing the totality of the calamity and with the private sector and civil society mobilizing to fill in for the expected delays from the government system, relief will reach Odette’s victims. Clearing operations of the local government units will be critical and will need heavy equipment and personnel to open up and quickly repair the roads and bridges damaged by the floods. All relief operation and the pace of recovery of these disaster-stricken regions will greatly depend on how fast transportation, electricity and telecommunications are restored.
Like the pandemic, this new crisis will highlight a set of resilience and sustainability gaps that should have been addressed since Yolanda – which caused an estimated 6,000 (some say thousands more) tragic deaths. Local governments and national agencies like the DPWH must have first-responder capacity that can spring to action during and immediately after a disaster strikes.
Though there was early warning and improved evacuation protocols, the rising death count still shows the need for stricter execution. Sadly, even evacuation centers did not have the structural strength to withstand the gusts of Odette’s winds. The extent of devastation has again highlighted the vulnerability of our country to more frequent occurrences of super typhoons that climate change experts have warned is now at an existential tipping point if the world does not reverse global warming.
Building resiliency and sustainability needs strategic thinking based on scientific data. Since this is a skill that we don’t require, and only wish our political leaders should have, advocating our leaders to seriously invest in the right infrastructure and contracting the competent companies to execute such projects is a challenge in itself.
Modernizing the regions’ transportation, power, and digital infrastructure has been in the development plans of too many administrations and tweaked so many times with every new presiden. It is time for a new democratic leadership that has the thinking power and resolve to flank these linear bureaucratic systems that cannot keep pace and are actually incompatible with the emerging digital economies of the world. We need a leadership mindset that understands the value of harnessing digital technologies in all infrastructure development projects in the context of Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) principles.
A new set of building standards will need to be set and strictly enforced for all new public and private – commercial and residential buildings – that will have innovative designs and stronger materials and not fall when hit by a typhoon signal number 4.
Our country has survived and recovered from so many calamities, many borne by nature, and I would say even more damaging are our calamities in governance. With the pandemic and Odette setting us back with another economic blow, the corruption scandals and rising political intramurals just add to the anxiety of our crisis fatigued people.
As we end another political cycle, we need to look for an enlightened and highly competent leadership. We need a dignified and inspiring leader who can be upright exemplars of good values and character. A leader who knows how to work with and harness the developmental potential of the private industries and all of society as enabling partners to build back better.