By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
El Nino had been declared in the Philippines. It was supposed to have started last July. We were supposed to be experiencing lower amount of rainfall. Fact is, water level in most of our dams were already way below the normal during the month of July.
What we got instead during the last week of July was not only strong winds but a rainfall that was unexpectedly too much. Rains poured like there is no tomorrow. Everyone was taken aback. It was crazy.
Northern Luzon bore the brunt of typhoon Egay’s fury but it also wrought havoc in CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, Western Visayas, Soccsksargen, CARAGA and the Zamboanga peninsula. It was almost nationwide.
Damage to agriculture and infrastructures was quite huge, amounting to more than PhP5.0B. Actual damages in agriculture in the various affected regions were not yet fully determined, though. In CAR for instance, agriculture losses per town and per province are still being verified as of Aug 4 because of the continuing bad weather due to typhoon Falcon that immediately followed Egay.
It is said that Egay affected at least 170,510 farmers and fishers, and 195, 539 hectares of agricultural areas. It resulted to more than 152,000 metric tons of losses in agricultural production. That is very significant locally by any stretch of imagination.
The effect of Egay in CAR was immediately felt in the market. Vegetable prices soared in NCR and elsewhere due to the destruction of standing vegetable crops and the various landslides in different places impeding transport of available harvests.
It is good that the DA is ready to extend rehabilitation measures such as providing rice seeds and fertilizers, corn seeds and pesticides, assorted vegetable seeds, fish fingerlings, etc. Who the beneficiaries are, have yet to be ascertained though. It is hoped that the rehab aid will go to those who are really affected.
While Egay was wreaking havoc nationwide, our good senators were busy telling the President of the Republic what he should do in relation to the West Philippine Sea. It is a case of dipping their fingers where it should not be. They are supposed to be crafting laws, being in the legislative branch. But they are crossing over to the executive side. Were their brains so battered by Egay, that they became so confused of what they are supposed to do?
The senators could make their recommendations to the president quietly but they were so boisterous that they are making it appear that the president does not know what he is doing. That is an insult, pure and simple. It would have been enough that the senate committees on foreign relations, and national security tackled the concerns that they wanted to be heard about-then present their recommendations as a collegial body without fanfare, and not making it appear that they are more cerebral than the President.
Their main recommendation about the Chinese actions in the WPS is for the Philippines to bring the matter to the United Nations General Assembly as if that body can deter China from doing what it is doing, whatever that is. Magsumbong ang gusto ng mga magagaling na senador. And they were unanimous? They are absolutely portraying themselves as cry babies, helpless to do anything else. That is also to say that our government is inutile, incapable of defending our sovereignty. In short, we will become the laughing stock of the world. In my non-legal mind, bringing the issue to the UNGA, would definitely lessen whatever respect other countries have, to our own country
Gone really are the days when senators were really looked up to as statesmen. I would like to believe that our current senators are that good but they are swayed only, albeit temporarily, by social media pogi points.
They could have done something more important to the struggling Filipinos affected by Egay. For example, the typhoon’s onslaught could actually engender agricultural product smuggling. What could they do about it? They had earlier enacted a law seven years earlier, about anti-agricultural product smuggling that had not been applied yet, they want to amend it already. They should make a more thorough study of whatever law that they want to enact; a law that is implementable instead of dabbling in the executive prerogatives.
I hope it will not happen but if necessary courses of action are not undertaken, smuggling of vegetables like carrot may become again an unwelcome reality. An immediate rehabilitation of Benguet’s vegetable gardens should commence without delay.
By the way, typhoon Egay, internationally known as typhoon Doksuri, bombarded Northern and Central China after it exited the Philippine area of responsibility. It reportedly brought the worst floods in those areas, especially in Beijing, in the last 140 years when records of such occurrences started. It brought almost 800mm of rain in just 24 hours. At least 850,000 people were evacuated because of the typhoon. Much more deaths were reported there than here. We can just imagine the widespread damage it did to that part of China. We also commiserate with them.**
