Political divide in time of calamity
President Aquino took time to visit Bohol and Cebu provinces which were badly hit Tuesday’s magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
In Cebu, he inspected the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, whose belfry did not withstand the powerful tremors, then visited the Capitol, seat of his partymate Gov. Hilario “Junjun” Davide III.
He then went to the new Mandaue Public Market, turf of another political ally Mayor Jonas Cortes.
A vendor was killed there when debris felt on her head as people scrambled out of the new market building during the quake.
Returning to the basilica in downtown Cebu, President Aquino was accompanied by allies like Davide, and former congress Tomas Osmena. Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, who holds office across the street, was nowhere in sight. They are not political allies.
A few blocks farther was the Pasil Fish Market, where concrete slabs earlier collapsed killling four market goers. Aquino didn’t go there.
In the Cebu City Medical Center, over 100 patients from the city’s poorest families were forced to vacate the premises and stay on the grass otuside, or wait in nearby fire station compound across the building.
The President didn’t drop by there either. He instead sent his proxy, Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas to check the area.
Not to be outdone, Vice President Jejomar Binay also visited Cebu and Bohol yesterday. Like PNoy, Binay visited the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, and the distressed CCMC, where he and Mayor Rama announced the bad news – the CCMC building was beyond repair and had to be rebuilt.
In times of calamity, a hands-on President is comforting.
But with his Cebu itinerary, isn’t it obvious that he cared more for areas that mattered to his close allies?
Many quarters would see in this a response to the need to recover from a 15-point drop in national approval ratings.
The Social Weather Station survey conducted on Sept. 20-23 showed Aquino took a beating in the Visayas in particular with a 26-point drop.
While the capital is foused on the Senate’s grand show over theft of pork barrel funds, the issue in the Visayas, particularly Cebu and Bohol, is recovery and survival.
In Bohol, thousands are going hungry, in villages isolated by broken bridges and roads, waiting for relief goods to reach them.
Infrastructure damage in Bohol and Cebu has set back economic gains made in tourism and enterprise.
People can only pray to be spared from more calamities and pray, too, that help from the national government will be forthcoming, irrespective of political loyalties.
