National catastrophes

“Killing of journalists a national catastrophe” shouted the Inquirer’s banner headline yesterday.

Is that surprising?

The handling by the Aquino administration of the relief and rescue efforts in the first few days of the “Yolanda” tragedy was also a national catastrophe.

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All the good things the President did in the aftermath of the Bohol tragedy and the siege of Zamboanga City—like sleeping with the people in the affected areas—were erased from the public consciousness because of his mishandling of the Yolanda tragedy.

Expect P-Noy’s popularity rating to plunge in the next few months because of Yolanda.

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The stars have not been cooperating with the administrations of the Aquino mother-son tandem of Cory and Noynoy.

During the Cory administration:

Mt. Pinatubo, dormant for 500 years, erupted in 1991 changing the landscape of Central Luzon and the lives of its people.

The MV Doña Paz, en route to Manila from Tacloban City, sank bringing down with it to the bottom of the sea about 5,000 passengers.

The earth shook in Luzon toppling down a school building in Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija province, sinking Dagupan City by several meters, and destroying the Sheraton Terraces Hotel which killed many hotel guests.

During P-Noy’s time (so far):

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake devastated Bohol and Cebu provinces causing the collapse of several churches, bringing down thousands of houses and killing several hundreds of people.

Supertyphoon Yolanda, the strongest storm on record, devastated parts of Leyte, Samar, Cebu and Capiz province killing more than 10,000 people, although the government pegged the casualty rate at a much lower number.

Another supertyphoon, “Pablo,” cut a wide swath of destruction in Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley provinces, also killing hundreds of people.

It will take years for the areas badly hit by the earthquake and the monster storms in all three natural calamities to recover.

Why are the heavens not cooperating with the two Aquinos despite the fact that Cory was a very religious woman?

Probably the heavens want to send a message to P-Noy: Stop being vindictive.

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Leo Inosante, 25, a houseboy, is a hero. He saved his employers, Jack and Sally Faelnar, from drowning at the height of Yolanda.

Inosante lived with his employers at Villa Corazon, in San Jose, Tacloban City.

When the waters started rising fast, Inosante convinced his employers, both senior citizens, to climb the roof of their house with him.

“If it took us a minute longer to heed Leo, we would have drowned,” said my friend Sally.

A flying roof struck Inosante’s leg causing a deep, gaping wound. He was flown to Manila by Jack and Sally Faelnar for treatment.

But the wound would not close despite efforts of doctors at a public hospital.

Philanthropist James Dy, owner of the Chinese General Hospital, was told about Inosante’s condition.

The hospital has special equipment that can treat seemingly untreatable wounds.

On Dy’s instructions, Inosante was fetched by an ambulance from the public hospital to the Chinese General Hospital where he is now confined.

Cheers!