Instead of fighter jets…

Along with instituting a uniform, universal or nationally mandated system for distribution of aid and disaster management—that would acknowledge and adjust to each local government unit’s (LGU) ground conditions—the national and local governments should upgrade their capabilities to deal with every calamity imaginable.

Thus it was no small surprise when we heard of news that the Aquino administration purchased several jet fighters as part of its efforts to modernize the country’s air force.

The modernization of the country’s armed forces was long overdue. The program was announced by Aquino’s predecessor, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who’s now under hospital arrest for several graft cases involving her and her husband.

One need to only ask Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV what became of unlamented Arroyo administration’s modernization program. He led some of the mutinies against her government.

At any other time, the purchase of the South Korean jet fighters would have been welcomed.

The spate of natural calamities, however, and the Janet Lim-Napoles scam had cast serious doubts on the wisdom of the purchase given the government’s ongoing territorial dispute with China over the Spratlys Islands.

Relief operations in earthquake-battered Bohol province is an example. While some media outlets, civil society groups, nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and national government agencies took to the seas to transport relief goods, the distribution would have been a lot faster if they were airlifted.

Instead of jet fighters, would it have been better if the Aquino administration had bought more and bigger helicopters and hovercraft for disaster relief and rescue operations?

Despite its use as military landing vehicles, hovercraft have the built-in advantage of being able to traverse both land and water. They are especially useful in floods and even earthquakes.

While its use can be limited in stormy weather, helicopters don’t need runways to take off and land. A TV network’s ability to identify hardest-hit quake areas in Bohol was augmented by its helicopters.

If bigger helicopters were retrofitted to serve as mobile “flying ambulances” or just to transport relief goods, think of how fast and how many people would have been helped.

While we continue to pray that earthquakes won’t ever happen again, the findings of geologists say otherwise. The Philippines has a 1,200 kilometer fault line from Luzon to Mindanao.

And we’re not even talking about floods.

With the damage inflicted by natural calamities running in the billions of pesos, enhancing disaster management, rescue and relief operations should top the Aquino administration’s priorities over mere flexing of military muscle.