Inclusive relief, please

By Cong Corrales

OUR family, having been survivors of a devastating calamity, has seen both the best and the worst in people after a seemingly hopeless aftermath.

We saw neighbors, who have lost almost everything to the great deluge in 2011, still managed to distribute to the neighborhood whatever they had left. I remember a neighbor who gave away his bread and rice cake (puto) instead of selling them as he normally did before the flood. Some neighbors opened their doors to people whose houses were swept away by the rampaging floodwaters.

However, there is also a dark side to the altruistic nature of man after a calamity — greed. Yes, we all needed relief aid at that time still others were not content with what was given to them voluntarily.

We saw neighbors looting a UN relief truck on its way to the relief distribution center in Consolacion Elementary School. They couldn’t wait in line and so they hijacked the relief truck while in transit. We saw people hoarding relief goods and then opening up instant sari-sari stores months after “Sendong.”

The Sendong experience both humbled and opened my eyes to certain realities. No matter how many times you tell people not to panic, they will. No matter how many times you tell people to fall in line for the relief goods, some of them will not.

That’s why I understand the government’s drive to organize relief distributions. It ensures that all survivors get their share of the donations. This is to avoid pandemonium in relief distribution centers or in the calamity-stricken areas.

Our barangay chairman then, the late Cesar Pagapulaan Sr., ordered that all donations be centralized in our barangay hall for proper distribution. He is, after all, the village chief and would know who needed the donations most.

I understood that order. However, despite that order, he did not physically deter anyone from giving directly to the survivors. I guess he understood that some people are wary of how the government distributes relief goods (e.g politically motivated lists).

Although he didn’t make one except for the official list of our barangay’s residents, he knew somewhere above his station some people are riding the relief operations with their own political agenda in mind.

This is the reason why I was perplexed with the latest order of the martial law administrator issued on All Souls’ Day in the aftermath of the series of earthquakes that rocked North Cotabato, Davao del Sur, and other neighboring towns.

“The (checkpoints) shall control and screen the ingress and egress of the people in the evacuation center that only legitimate and authorized relief workers are granted access to evacuation centers and receive relief goods and supplies for distributions for the evacuees,” reads part of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.

Apparently, according to Lorenzana, there is such a thing as illegitimate and unauthorized relief operations after calamities occur in the country. If so, the martial law administrator didn’t elaborate on why this is so.

First, people will help people. You don’t need a license or authorization to help people. That puto vendor who distributed his wares free of charge after Sendong didn’t have to go to the city hall to ask for permission to do so.

I can’t believe the audacity of this administration to refuse getting “upstaged” by private citizens who want to help. Relief is a relief. It should not have any political color — be it yellow, red, green, brown, or blue.

Lorenzana goes on to say that Cotabato province has welcomed the putting up of checkpoints, or should I say relief clearinghouses, to “avoid duplication or concentrations of the distribution of relief goods.”

As documented by reporters on the ground, most of the quake survivors have resorted to begging for relief along the national highway. So, I don’t understand the duplication Lorenzana is trying to avoid when most of the survivors have not received relief goods yet.

Everybody’s help is needed, sir. A “legitimate” and “authorized” relief operations sound so exclusive. The quake survivors need inclusive relief right now. Now is not the time to be insecure about the people’s capacity to help.

Also, the last time I checked calamities, whether under the preparedness aspect or relief operations, are under the purview of the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, respectively. So, why the order, Mr. Defense Secretary? Pfft.