The storms the past few weeks were not as bad as those in past years. Some events, however, unexpectedly occurred so as if the Cordillera was directly hit by a super typhoon.
Brownouts immediately happened as soon as the hedges rustled or even when the winds were not really bad, or were not even howling.
Same thing with the rain. Even mild ones sent people scampering for candles or emergency lights being hidden somewhere. In juxtaposition were the disappearance of internet or cellphone signals. And the reality now is people, young and old, would go crazy whenever that happens. We have become so dependent being in touch with the rest of the world that any glitch in our connectivity with cyberspace might result in a revolution.
How about machineries and equipment? When electricity becomes unavailable all this stand still and business processes stop. The remedy is simple. Have some back-up source of power but that again means increasing the cost of doing business in this country for which we are quite notorious and the main reason foreign investors are bypassing us in favor of our neighbors in the far east or southeast Asia. It means we will further be sliding to economic backwardness.
The main reason these are like broken record, or even getting worse, is the usual capturing of our regulatory agencies by vested interests or big corporations, if not politicians. Name one such agency in this country that is functioning independently and you might find none, try as you might until you are blue in the face.
And among so many other things making us inefficient in dealing with the effects of typhoons is the unreliability of the forecasts of our weather bureau. If its forecast is strong rains the next day, it might turn out to be sunny with no scary winds. If a storm is forecast to arrive tonight it might happen after three days. Such is a microcosm of the inefficiency of government.
An end to these in sight? As if there is always a typhoon brewing in the horizon with all the usual darkness.
May pagasa pa ba ang Pagasa? Better still, may pagasa pa ba ang bansa?**