Gov’t lies about ‘Yolanda’ casualty figures

Why does the government peg the number of fatalities in the “Yolanda” tragedy at 6,000 when people in the affected areas know that the figures have gone over 10,000?

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) as of Monday listed the number of deaths at 6,057, with 1,779 still missing.

Up to now, more and more bodies are being recovered in different parts of Eastern Samar and Leyte provinces, especially in Tacloban City and in the towns of Palo and Tanauan.

An NDRRMC insider told me the council keeps the number of fatalities as low as possible because it’s what “the President wants.”

The police regional director in the Eastern Visayas was relieved of his post for reporting to newsmen that the number of deaths could reach 10,000.

A government that doesn’t tell the public the real number of Yolanda casualties cannot be trusted.

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Even the NDRRMC can’t put its act together.

The council reported on its website that 90 percent or nine out of 10 Yolanda deaths remained unidentified.

But NDRRMC Executive Director Eduardo del Rosario said the number of those unidentified was “only 33” percent of the death toll.

How can you trust the NDRRMC when its top official and the council have different figures?

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Asked why his figures of the list of unidentified dead persons differed from that of his own agency, Del Rosario’s “palusot (excuse)” was that he would have the disparity in figures checked.

When people cover up for something (read: lie), they tend to make mistakes when they’re asked repeatedly about an issue.

So, Mr. Del Rosario, tell us the truth: How many people really died in the aftermath of Yolanda?

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The government officials’ penchant for giving honorific or highfalutin titles to themselves and their offices has created agencies like the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, or NDRRMC.

The name doesn’t mean anything.

Besides, it’s so long-winded that one runs out of breath just saying it.

The NDRRMC is so inutile it could not prevent or reduce the number of deaths in the provinces of Samar and Leyte as a result of the supertyphoon.

Because it failed in its job of “risk reduction and management” (whatever that means), it’s now reducing the number of Yolanda casualties.

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Why can’t the NDRRMC revert to its former name of National Disaster Control Center (NDCC)?

Of course, the NDCC was also an inutile agency as it did not prevent disasters like its replacement now, the NDRRMC.

But at least the NDCC was easy to remember and pronounce.

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By the way, the change of name from NDCC to NDRRMC was done through an act of Congress!

When legislators are not thinking of ways on how much they will get from their pork barrel, they’re busy mulling over the idea of changing the names of streets and naming them after themselves or their parents.

That way, they impose their names on the public consciousness.