ILIGAN City ― “If you have cardboard boxes, mats, and blankets, these can help very much our evacuees from Tubod and Ubaldo Laya who can’t go back to their homes yet because the waters are still inside their houses.”
This statement made in the local language by Vice Mayor Jemar Vera Cruz was a “hit.”
For immediately there were “violent” reactions to the statement. Like “what, our fellow city folks deserve only cardboard boxes?” Or “Where’s the city’s calamity fund?”
The statement of the VM was heard on-air and seen on FB even as these reactions were heard and seen there too. It didn't help that mayor Celso G. Regencia had ordered that Monday last week was to be a local holiday because of the floods that practically submerged many of the city’s barangays.
And then memories of some statement of another city official came back once more with feelings. When city councilor Noli Pardillo said that folks here don’t have to be given outright the 25 kilos of rice for “they might just end up being ‘wasted’ or might just become ‘bahaw.’”
This was at the height of the 2020 lockdowns. So while nearby smaller LGUs had as their “ayuda” outright 25 kilos with matching sardines and noodles folks here just received five kilos of rice each time and the succeeding “ayuda” too were far between!
And now this “karton” ― cardboard talk?
To add to this calamitous story, in Barangay Saray, too, at Purok 11 a fire occurred razing 32 houses to the ground. This was a day after the floods Monday of last week. So, another set of evacuees! What a mess!
And all this time, the city is “still studying” how to go about this “state of calamity” thing.
And one resident posted on FB: “Oh, but you’re very fast on posting bail to your kind.”
It was noted that when Jun Lino Bacus was handcuffed during his arrest for four counts of cyberlibel, the supporters came in full red-colored uniforms, this administration’s color.
One observer then remarked in a cynical tone: “They have superpowers?” Mean they have the ability to immediately don their uniforms in no time at all? There was even a live video posted on FB on the matter. Maybe to generate sympathy in the public.
I kind of think that VM Vera Cruz did not intend it that way. No, but the statement generated a negative message.
And this might affect the outcome of the “red” team under mayor Celso G. Regencia in the May 9 elections, negatively.
Now in the international scene the picture there is different. The Ukrainians many of them are in the “bunkhouse” situation. This is because of a man-made calamity brought about by somebody from Russia called Putin.
Health experts from the West say that the guy is mortally “sick.” With Parkinson’s and cancer. So instead of taking Ukraine slice by slice, he’s taking it in one go! He must see Russia regain its “lost glory” while he still has the time. Can’t you see that the guy’s face is too “puffy” for comfort? Hence, this situation the country is presently in. Affecting you and me because of gasoline prices. And well, other things in our daily lives besides.
(Email: norasorino2@gmail.com)
