THE OTHER day the Department of Health (DOH) reported that there is an increasing trend in the number of new CoViD infections in most of Mindanao and the Visayas.
This as the national government agency proudly claims to have started defeating the pandemic in the National Capital Region as well as in other parts of Luzon covered by the so-called NCR Bubble.
The situation is somewhat bringing serious apprehension for the Mindanaoans because the surge in CoViD cases comes at a time when nature is heaping its wrath in almost all provinces and cities in this southern Philippine island. Imagine the last many typhoons late last year and early this year emanated from the area in the Pacific Ocean East of Mindanao and in all those bad weather conditions the attendant strong rains affected Mindanao!
The latest of these weather disturbances that have brought perdition to the island is tropical storm Dante. And earlier we also suffered the brunt of typhoon Cresing. These two natural weather phenomena brought enormous destruction to government infrastructures, agricultural crops, and even the contours of mountains as well deface some areas of the plains in communities. On the whole, the strong winds, the flash floods and the inundation of huge tract of agricultural land brought Mindanao’s shaky economy due to the pandemic, further down to its knees.
Until yesterday, the government has yet to come up with a rough estimate of the total damage to the economy by the two successive typhoons. What is certain though is that even as the lives of people in Mindanao are virtually choked by the prevalence of CoViD 19, these are further submerged above the head level by the floods, landslides, and destruction in infrastructures causing the island’s economy to almost being totally crippled.
We are just lucky because so far not a single local government leader in the island as well as the local health authorities has manifested any sign of panic which in effect appears to have rubbed in on the people.
What we believe is our drawback in this time of health emergency and weather disturbances is the apparent disregard by the people of health protocols and the blatant assault by some of the island’s residents on the environment causing it to deteriorate thereby inviting nature to exact its revenge.
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It will not take long for the critics of the administration of a Mindanaoan President to make political issues out of what is happening in Mindanao, whether it is about the island’s recent destruction by nature and the CoViD 19 pandemic, or its infrastructure development now clearly visible in almost all parts of this southern Philippines.
Yes, we are sure that the uncontrolled flood incidents in all cities and provinces in Mindanao would be considered by the critics of the President as his failure in implementing effective measures or projects that would prevent the natural phenomena from bringing so much damage to the economy. They may probably instill in the public minds that the destroyed infrastructures could be caused by the unfulfilled campaign of the President to stop corruption. Or, that the people the President has tasked to help him put up a doable and viable plan to improve the lives of the Filipinos including Mindanaoans, are inept and are only after the money they can lay their hands on in government projects under their watch.
In the case of the surging infections of CoViD, again it would be convenient for the critics of the administration to heap the blame on the people appointed by the President to man the health and other related agencies now in the thick of the fight against the pandemic.
Yes, the critics’ minds are busy these days churning out ideas that can be used to destroy the present government even in its most imaginary of sins and omissions. Take this case of a critic’s post: “The fate of the Philippine economy would not have been in its present dire situation had not the Filipinos wrongly elected the present Malacanang tenant and voted for Mar Roxas instead.”
This assumption leads us to ask this question: Why, If Roxas or any other candidate won the Presidency will the pandemic not happen? Will he be able to keep our economy afloat even if the pandemic forces a significant number of industries and other businesses to stop operation?
This anti-administration denizen must have thought of Roxas as god who can stop natural calamities and destruction from happening.
