Trickles
Trickles
Updated 05:54am (Mla time) Sept 01, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 1, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE PERENNIAL problem of floods is a case of nearly everyone being at fault. A recent symposium at the University of the Philippines featured geologist Kelvin Rodolfo expounding on how fully the blame can be farmed out. The poor with their dependence on artesian wells; the wealthy with their housing developments and the logging they profit from; the middle class and wealthy, too, with their fishponds; and the government, which covers everything, including natural systems of drainage, with concrete, and which cannot (or will not) enforce laws: all these come together to create the nightmare that is the Philippines whenever heavy rains occur.
The surprising thing about Rodolfo's observations was that garbage, according to him, wasn't the cause of the mess that Metro Manila and other areas became during the recent rains. Garbage doesn't help-but there are deeper reasons.
It should be a cause for alarm that our country lost more lives to the recent rains than did Taiwan, which bore the brunt of the typhoon that merely passed in our vicinity. This goes to show how perilous the lives of so many of our people are. For it's not as if we're unused to strong monsoon rains.
If there is one big lesson to be gained from Rodolfo's remarks, it is that the idea that government can do everything, and is responsible for everything, has become increasingly outmoded. While it is true that government has vast regulatory functions and powers, there is still the element of private responsibility. For example, government since the administration of President Ramon Magsaysay has made a fetish out of providing barangays with artesian wells. And yet there are also many private developments and neighborhoods that have also installed artesian wells, and other kinds of wells with pumps. As Rodolfo pointed out, pumping water out of subterranean areas lowers the level of the ground- enough, over time, to make areas more flood-prone.
The real question then, from the recent experience of millions of Filipinos, is, what can we do to reduce the calamitous effects of floods?
One change that can be done at little cost but which requires something more precious-cooperation and initiative-is to restore the system of monsoon alerts that have been scrapped. In general, government and the schools work well together when there are typhoons. But as public indignation echoed by the media during last week's floods indicates, neither the Department of Education nor many city and municipal authorities, nor even private schools, have an organized system for dealing with heavy rains. The result was best exemplified by the government, which called off work the day after the worst of the rains, because so many people had gotten sick or stuck in the floods the previous day.
Another change, of course, is putting an end to construction projects that commence after the hot season. This is simply laziness on the part of local and national executives.
The most fundamental change, however, requires citizens to put an end to the bad habit of passing the buck to government in order to enjoy the self-defeating satisfaction of complaining about officials when it rains. As Rodolfo's observations indicate, there is plenty of blame to go around for flooding. If, as he says, a big part of the problem is, indeed, the negligence of government in enforcing regulations and laws, who will regulate the regulators? The only answer is, the electorate. So what does the electorate intend to do about local and national officials who fail to solve problems that crop up year after year?
The same applies for residents of private developments that have been built in flood-prone areas, or which now suffer from a lower ground level because of unregulated tapping of underground water reservoirs. Those who sell houses and lots have a responsibility to their buyers to ensure that all laws have been complied with, and the viability of the community is assured even after the developers have made their pile.
If we are advocating responsibility and accountability on the part of public officials, we can do no less than demand corporate responsibility as well.
Updated 05:54am (Mla time) Sept 01, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 1, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE PERENNIAL problem of floods is a case of nearly everyone being at fault. A recent symposium at the University of the Philippines featured geologist Kelvin Rodolfo expounding on how fully the blame can be farmed out. The poor with their dependence on artesian wells; the wealthy with their housing developments and the logging they profit from; the middle class and wealthy, too, with their fishponds; and the government, which covers everything, including natural systems of drainage, with concrete, and which cannot (or will not) enforce laws: all these come together to create the nightmare that is the Philippines whenever heavy rains occur.
The surprising thing about Rodolfo's observations was that garbage, according to him, wasn't the cause of the mess that Metro Manila and other areas became during the recent rains. Garbage doesn't help-but there are deeper reasons.
It should be a cause for alarm that our country lost more lives to the recent rains than did Taiwan, which bore the brunt of the typhoon that merely passed in our vicinity. This goes to show how perilous the lives of so many of our people are. For it's not as if we're unused to strong monsoon rains.
If there is one big lesson to be gained from Rodolfo's remarks, it is that the idea that government can do everything, and is responsible for everything, has become increasingly outmoded. While it is true that government has vast regulatory functions and powers, there is still the element of private responsibility. For example, government since the administration of President Ramon Magsaysay has made a fetish out of providing barangays with artesian wells. And yet there are also many private developments and neighborhoods that have also installed artesian wells, and other kinds of wells with pumps. As Rodolfo pointed out, pumping water out of subterranean areas lowers the level of the ground- enough, over time, to make areas more flood-prone.
The real question then, from the recent experience of millions of Filipinos, is, what can we do to reduce the calamitous effects of floods?
One change that can be done at little cost but which requires something more precious-cooperation and initiative-is to restore the system of monsoon alerts that have been scrapped. In general, government and the schools work well together when there are typhoons. But as public indignation echoed by the media during last week's floods indicates, neither the Department of Education nor many city and municipal authorities, nor even private schools, have an organized system for dealing with heavy rains. The result was best exemplified by the government, which called off work the day after the worst of the rains, because so many people had gotten sick or stuck in the floods the previous day.
Another change, of course, is putting an end to construction projects that commence after the hot season. This is simply laziness on the part of local and national executives.
The most fundamental change, however, requires citizens to put an end to the bad habit of passing the buck to government in order to enjoy the self-defeating satisfaction of complaining about officials when it rains. As Rodolfo's observations indicate, there is plenty of blame to go around for flooding. If, as he says, a big part of the problem is, indeed, the negligence of government in enforcing regulations and laws, who will regulate the regulators? The only answer is, the electorate. So what does the electorate intend to do about local and national officials who fail to solve problems that crop up year after year?
The same applies for residents of private developments that have been built in flood-prone areas, or which now suffer from a lower ground level because of unregulated tapping of underground water reservoirs. Those who sell houses and lots have a responsibility to their buyers to ensure that all laws have been complied with, and the viability of the community is assured even after the developers have made their pile.
If we are advocating responsibility and accountability on the part of public officials, we can do no less than demand corporate responsibility as well.
posted by Dante at 5:59 PM
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