‘Yolanda’ tragedy remembered

A year ago today the strongest storm on record hit Eastern Visayas and claimed many lives.

Tacloban City in Leyte province and Guiuan town in Eastern Samar province were the worst hit.

Tacloban City, and the nearby towns of Palo and Tanauan, had the biggest number of fatalities.

Although the government claims “6,000 plus” died in the aftermath of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name Haiyan), the number was probably around 20,000.

This does not include those who are still missing.

Malacañang wanted to bring down the number of Yolanda deaths to the minimum—6,000 plus. For estimating the death toll at 10,000 in the early days of the counting, Chief Supt. Elmer Soria, Eastern Visayas police director, was sacked.

Why President Noy wanted to peg the death toll at 6,000 plus when there were more, only he knows.

*                               *                          *

My team from the ‘Isumbong mo kay Tulfo’ public service program and seven doctors from St. Luke’s Medical Center’s Sagipbayan were the first among the nongovernment organizations to set foot on Tacloban City three days after the giant howler caused indescribable damage and mayhem.

Our medical mission was able to do that thanks to Ramon S. Ang, then president and CEO of the conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and Philippine Airlines (PAL), who dispatched a propeller-driven plane to Tacloban City.

We can never forget what we saw in Tacloban City three days after Yolanda for the rest of our lives.

The sight of so many dead bodies, grieving relatives and injured survivors made even stout-hearted people cry.

*                               *                            *

As expected, Vice President Jojo Binay was a no-show at the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee on Thursday.

His excuse this time was that he was in Cebu province to attend an event of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, of which he is president and has been for the longest time.

Binay said earlier that he would attend the “mother” blue ribbon committee chaired by Sen. TG Guingona if invited, after refusing the invitation of the blue ribbon subcommittee whose members, he claimed, had already prejudged him.

The scheduled public debate with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, which Binay initiated, may also not push through.

The Vice President, through his spokespersons, says nothing will come out of the debate, so why bother.

When one tells a lie in a debate or hearing with television cameras trained on you, one is easily exposed since fabrications can’t stand up to public scrutiny.

*                                 *                           *

Mayor Alex Pajarillo Lo of Mercedes town, Camarines Norte province, has allegedly encroached on a 5-hectare agricultural land without asking permission from its owner.

The owner, of course, is up in arms since he has been religiously paying real estate taxes for the land.

Lo’s excuse is a memorandum of agreement signed between his municipal government and the Department of Public Works and Highways for a road-widening project.

But the roads had not been widened in lands adjacent to the 5-ha property.

*                              *                                 *

Can a regional trial court judge overrule a Supreme Court decision giving ownership of property to a winning litigant?

That’s what Parañaque Judge Rolando How appears to have decided when he ignored a high court ruling awarding the former Uniwide Coastal Mall to Manila Bay Development Corp. (MBDC).

The MBDC won in the Supreme Court after a long period of litigation with former owner Jimmy Gow from whom Uniwide Coastal Mall was bought.