MANY Filipinos do not seem to learn their lessons lickety-split, particularly when it comes to the perennial problem on floods.
These past few days we have seen several streets and areas in the national capital region flooded, and have seen the reactions of government officials and the ordinary man in the street.
Authorities in Metro Manila have blamed – for the umpteenth time — some Filipinos for their repeated improper disposal of garbage as among reasons for the uncontrollable rising floodwaters.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Romando Artes said while MMDA’s 71 pumping stations were operating at full tilt, trash in the waterways “reduced the efficiency of the pumping stations to siphon floodwaters off” as rains continued to whack the metropolis where 13 million people live.
It is rather infuriating to have to witness that included in the piles of trash retrieved at the Tripa De Gallina pumping stations in Pasay City, for instance, are old sofas and other furniture, broken refrigerators, branches and trunks of fallen or uprooted trees as well as rubber tires, not to include the constant plastic waste.
Many Filipinos seem to be bloody-minded, if unshakable, given that this country is walloped by six months of the rainy season, characterized by the southwest monsoon, or the “habagat,” which callously brings frequent rainfall and an average of 21 destructive typhoons.
All the same, we never learn to discipline ourselves in garbage disposal, then shout our lungs out when rampaging floodwaters and rising river currents ruthlessly scrub their banks near fastened ramshackle houses.
We heard of course President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordering the scaling up of government response to widespread flooding in Metro Manila, while continuous rains brought by the southwest monsoon whipped hundreds of communities in the NCR which some weather wags said has become the new NCR or National Capital River.
The latest disaster should be a red flag to authorities, who must properly look at the strength of infrastructure projects, and the ordinary Joe to chasten himself on refuse disposal or waste management.
It’s nauseous to have to be comforted by the mobilization of significant resources, personnel and rescue vehicles as well as rubber boats to address what should have been dealt with long time back, knowing the rainy season is an annual, often sad, experience.
