One of the funniest things I heard this week, in fact last night, Saturday, a week after the fact was that this was all a conspiracy by one lady to try to change the subject…here she is:
The person who made that statement, had a few “pops” (Red Horse) in him at the time, but he was serious! There’s a laugh in the midst of this disaster…he believed it and so did a few others about. And I suppose this was all hatched by:
Oh, please! Why do Filipinos see conspiracies everywhere?
And one of the best things I have read during this whole time was this (a very sad commentary on the politicians in this country – always first in line with their hands out for a payoff):
And one of the most shameful things I have read is this (this is a ‘food pack’ which is distributed to disaster survivors to help keep them fed and watered…):
People are suffering more than ever in their lives, they’re starving and get this food pack to keep a family of 4 going for 2 days and this fool, the Vice-President of the country is politicking. He is campaigning, trying to suck up and buy people with their own money to secure his election as President in 2016. People have to remember this in ’16 and send him packing! This is so sick. It’s disgusting! And it’s not even his own money – IT’S THE PEOPLE’S MONEY!
Just check out how relief goods from the USA are labelled:
And then check out how relief goods from the Philippines are labelled:
Anyways, that’s for another time and place. Now, a week later the relief teams are arriving from around the world and I’m proud to say that in Iloilo and Capiz Provinces, among the first rescuers to arrive were the Canadians.
[left click on any photo to view it in larger format]
But that’s not all. The Israeli Defence Forces, is here. As are the Australians, the Americans, Japanese, Koreans, Malaysians and Pakistanis and scores of other nations from around the world. It is an unbelievable sight to see what disasters can do for cooperation around the world.
There’s more. All the big international media stars were here, including:
And finally, many have criticised, good ole Benigno III and his government for the pitifully slow response to the disaster brought on by Yolanda. They deserve a whole lot of criticism. Witness the statement made by Secretary Roxas when he said: “sure it’s been slow, but I have only 3 trucks in all of Leyte”. Whoa, where are all the trucks? Surely there is more transport in the province available than just that. Where are they all?
I’m not particularly a fan of the President, but I will say this in his defence, the country has been hit with three successive calamities in the past 6 weeks alone, including:
- The Zamboanga Revolt,
- The Earthquake in Bohol, and now,
- Yolanda.
How you can possibly plan for three tragedies such as these happening in the space of 6 just weeks without being literally completely overwhelmed is beyond me. Three world class disasters in a row, all within 6 weeks, would bring almost any government in the world to its knees.
ANYBODY EVER HEAR OF MR. MURPHY AND HIS LAW? This is Murphy’s Law:
“No matter how well you plan and organize something, if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.”
So GIVE THE GUY A BREAK, this time! Yes, it was slow, no question; and it was disorganized (still is), without a doubt, but that too is the Philippines.
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