THE Palace is looking into reports that some local officials pushed through with their foreign trips last week and this week, defying an order to cancel travel so they could prepare their constituents for coming typhoons.
Among those listed as being in the United Kingdom were Pilar Mayor Manuel Santiago, Poro Mayor Edgar Rama, Tudela Mayor Greman Solante, Liloan Mayor Aljew Fernando Frasco, San Francisco Mayor Alfredo Arquillano Jr., Catmon Mayor Avis Ginoo-Monleon, Compostela Mayor Felijur Quiño, and Cebu provincial board member Andrei Duterte. The DILG list also showed that Borbon Mayor Nico Dotillos canceled his planned trip to London. Borbon mayor did not push through with the UK trip.
And then, the governor of Isabela, Rodolfo Albano, was confirmed to be in Germany supposedly attending an agricultural trade fair when supertyphoon Uwan barreled into Luzon on Sunday and early Monday.
The Palace spokesperson, Undersecretary Claire Castro, hastened to add they are open to hearing explanations of the absences before passing judgment.
For his part, Governor Albano said his presence would not make a difference, that he was not Superman, and that his office already had a system in place in the event of extreme weather systems like Uwan.
Many factors will determine whether the reasons were in fact valid, and whether flying out of or staying away from the Philippines was the more prudent course of action. It would be easy to establish the necessity of the events they supposedly attended on official business, and whether they were already there or in transit when they first heard of the news of the coming typhoons -– Tino for Cebu, and Uwan for Isabela.
Was there a way the officials could have turned back or abandoned plans of leaving altogether? Did they exhaust all means to book the next flight home to be with their constituents?
Did they leave their LGUs prepared to deal with disasters and their people aware of the next courses of action?
And yes, are they coming home anytime soon or extending their stay for a few more days to take a break?
We never expected the governor, nor anybody, to be a superhero. No single person’s presence would deter a typhoon from unleashing its fury. Conversely, no individual could, or should, claim credit for good disaster risk reduction and management.
Instead, a good leader puts in place a system that operates and functions as envisioned in critical times. This means the community is empowered, with various units working on their specific mandates and working together as a whole, regardless of the personalities occupying posts. When we strengthen systems and institutions, we prevent them from relying solely on an individual, and that is always good.
But in a crisis, it matters to be seen.
While performative leadership must be shunned, it is not enough that a government executive works quietly behind the scenes. By virtue of their position, the people look to them for solutions, decisions, even comfort. Being somewhere else means that that other business is more important than the task at hand.
Real leaders are also always present, because presence sends a message – that they are hands on, that they know what is going on, and that the idle, incompetent or corrupt will not get past them. If leaders had their priorities straight, there would be no need to issue a memorandum in the first place, or call them out for their absence.
