“We did not expect this” (Why did the National Disaster Coordinating Council not expect a disaster?)

By Siesta-friendly

With 3 tv stations, thousands of soldiers already stationed within or nearby affected areas, the necessary manpower, equipment and transportation, and all its power and authority, government rescue efforts were glaringly absent in any of the oral and video reports within the first 24 hours of typhoon Ondoy’s arrival. Not even the rumour of any soldier, army truck, personnel carrier or helicopter actually helping out.

NDCC Member-Agencies

The NDCC is not some small government agency mind you. It is composed of the following government agencies:

1. Department of National Defense (DND)
2. Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
3. Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
4. Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)
5. Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)
6. Department of Health (DOH)
7. Department of Education (DepEd)
8. Department of Agriculture (DA)
9. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
10. Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC)
11. Department of Finance (DOF)
12. Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)
13. Department of Budget and Management (DBM)
14. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
15. Philippine Information Agency (PIA)
16. Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC)
17. Office of Civil Defense (OCD)

Where were they all day of Saturday, September 26, 2009? 48 hours after the typhoon struck, people were still hungry and stranded in their homes.

And we’re not talking about some far-flung province. Hardest hit was Metropolitan Manila where all said agencies are headquartered and where the seat of government lies.

Setting up an excuse, Defense Secretary and National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) Chairman, Gilbert Teodoro, over the radio said that they did not expect what happened. The National Disaster Coordinating Council does not expect a disaster? The government is unprepared for the effects of a typhoon in a country hit by several typhoons annually? Government efforts conspicuously missing despite repeated pleas from people trapped and stranded by flash floods?

What if an earthquake occurred tomorrow? It will also be so easy to say: “we did not expect this”. And yet, the NDCC has a National Calamity and Disaster Preparedness Plan.

The National Calamity And Disaster Preparedness Plan (NDCPP)

Perhaps the NDCC Chairman can be reminded of the NDCPP’s Introductory Statement that reads:

“The Philippines, being in the so-called Circum-Pacific belt of fire and typhoon, has always been subjected to constant disasters and calamities. The great ocean and seas around her … also serve as the spawning areas of destructive typhoons and monsoons. In whatever part of the country we are located, the possibility of our experiencing the gloom and the stark reality of disasters such as floods, typhoons, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, drought, flashflood and man-made disasters such as land, air and sea disasters, civil strife armed conflict, etc., their resultant toll in lives and properties, is always present ...” [emphasis supplied]

You can speak of disastrous typhoons and floods in your National Calamity and Disaster Preparedness Plan yet be shocked to immobility when it does occur?

NDCC Functions

Or maybe the Chairman can be made to re-visit the functions of the NDCC:

“At the national level, the NDCC serves as the President’s adviser on disaster preparedness programs, disaster operations and rehabilitation efforts undertaken by the government and the private sector. It acts as the top coordinator of all disaster management and the highest allocator of resources in the country to support the efforts of the lower DCC level. In the discharge of its functions, the NDCC utilizes the facilities and services of the Office of Civil Defense as its operating arm.” [emphasis supplied]

Your organization’s stated function is to prepare for and operate during disasters yet you do the exact opposite?

NDCC Chairman’s Message

Or maybe the Chairman can be shown his own message on the NDCC website:

“The development of this website is in line with the NDCC's vision of "A Prepared Population and A Safe Nation." This website aims to be an effective tool in information management in support of the implementation of our country's programs in the areas of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and rehabilitation. While our country's system covers the entire spectrum of disaster management, let me emphasize that mitigation and preparedness remains to be the most effective strategies in minimizing the adverse effects of both natural and man-made hazards.” [emphasis supplied]

Lip service. What else?

Its one thing to suffer from a typhoon, even flash floods. The whole world is suffering from the effects of climate change. But it is revealing of the kind of government we have when the immediate rescue efforts and emergency help to disaster victims are provided only by their fellow citizens and not by their government.

How many soldiers and boats were actually deployed? How many helicopters did more than just reconnoiter? How many of those stranded on rooftops were the helicopters able to save? How may NDCC meetings were necessary to act? When disaster strikes, it should all be a matter of deployment.

No wonder the more than 750,000 displaced last year as a result of the government’s attempt to relinquish sovereignty in some areas in Mindanao (remember the disaster that was the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD)) talk of hell in describing their situation. The NDCC is in charge of their plight too.

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