There are two sides to every coin.
When President Aquino stated that our Mayor was unprepared for Haiyan, that was his side of the story. He pointed fingers like a 5 year old child, his middle finger pointing to our beloved mayor. People rallied behind our childish president, and insulted our mayor too.
Let’s flip the coin.
If you’ve been reading my blog for a long time, then you’d know that my first interview as a writer was with the Mayor himself. To say I was in awe by his presence and his train of thought would be an understatement. He was a man with dreams of making Tacloban the best. He took what his predecessor left him and turned it into gold. Tacloban became a model of a great city, a place that boomed with such greatness than it was before. National malls and investors came in, with people moving to Tacloban in hope of a better future. When I was talking to him, he was a man with a purpose, a man with drive. Tacloban became a Highly Urbanized City under his reign.
He was on his final term when Haiyan struck. And it couldn’t have been more of a bad timing.
A week before Haiyan, the officers of Tacloban already began to make plans on how to cope with the storm. They planned out evacuation centers, relief goods and consulted with the mayor about preparedness. On the night before, people were evacuating to the places they were assigned to, complete with the needs of the people such as food and water. Everything was set.
Then all hell broke lose.
After the storm, rumors of the Mayor going around Tacloban in his motorcycle surfaced. His house was practically washed out, his family all in danger. He was a survivor of the storm, and I think a lot of people forgot about that fact.
He then went to his office, only to be faced with other officers and policemen who were still dazed after the storm. Some of them were missing, some were struggling to put a roof over their heads. When he was denied again and again by our president, he was frustrated. When the interior secretary, who is the right hand man of the president, told him to step down and let the national government take over, he said no. He didn’t see the need to step down because as far as he was concerned, the President of the Philippines was also the President of Tacloban. The national government could take over Tacloban without him resigning as Mayor.
And so it began.
The people of Tacloban struggled to eat, as the food from relief went to the provinces where the national government took over. It seemed that the President was leaving Tacloban to fend for itself, all because our Mayor was his political enemy. It was a struggle for Mayor Alfred, as he tried to lift Tacloban on his shoulders. He was either outside his office as he did what he could to save his citizens, or he was fighting demons in the form of out President and his right hand man. It was a feat that no leader had to go through, but he didn’t back out.
Today, there was a hearing to talk about the response to Haiyan. His statements were heartbreaking. Here are some of them: (Mar Roxas is the interior or DILG secretary)
And the reactions of those who were on the President’s side were insensitive. Just like the president. They reacted as if they were there during the storm. Just like the president.
If you can’t understand some of the comments, they’re criticizing the mayor as incompetent. As if they could do better.
So now, the two sides of the coin has been shown to the public and no the public is left to their own opinions. As for me, I stay by our Mayor’s side. I was in Tacloban 8 days after the storm. I can justify to what our Mayor has poured out, as my family and I did not receive any help from the national government the whole time that we were there. If the President really wanted to help, then it would have been felt by our family who struggled everyday to find food for us.
Which side of the coin are you part of?
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To those who want to read about the Mayor’s typhoon experience: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/focus/12/09/13/ghost-tacloban-weeps-recalls-typhoon-horror
Oh man did you hit the nail on the head. People see what they want to see and sometimes there is no changing their mind.
Shakespeare said it all when he said "First kill all the lawyers"–well most politicians are lawyers and lawyers and politicians rarely if ever tell the truth–I am sure your Mayor did the best he could under the circumstances. It is the President of your country that the people should vote out of office.
Wow, there are indeed two sides to every coin. We've seen time and again the mayor or other magistrate of a city during a natural distaster being demonized. Stop the silly finger pointing already and focus on helping the victims!
It seems like there always has to be a fall guy when catastrophes happen, and sounds like he's taking the heat. I don't know any more about it than what you've said here, so i couldn't really choose a side though unless I had lived through it.
In this kind of situation, there are bound to be critics. I am sure the mayor did the best he could with what he had to work with.
What is wrong with people and the finger pointing. I lose all respect for people immediately that do this. This is a time when everyone needs to work together, put differences aside and get things done. It is good of you to share both sides of the story.
It sounds like the mayor is trying his best to help the city. It is a shame the president will not.
There is always two side to each situation and unfortunately sounds like the Mayor was the one to try and pin all the blame on 🙁
That is so sad that government help was not received until several days after. I'm thinking about them and hoping for the best!
Wow, I am so sorry that any of you had to go through this. And now to have to watch all the blame and finger pointing, it must be adding insult to injury. I wish you and all your people well, I hope you can rebuild as soon as possible.
What an amazing opportunity for you, I really loved your blog and what you wrote. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
I think that politicians are usually corrupt and that they aren't always prepared to deal with natural disasters when they occur. It sounds like this one might have gotten into more than he could handle.
That must have been terrible, after all.. the Mayor is only human himself. <br />To be honest, I am not really much into political stuff – it's hard to choose which faction you should take or so. I ofcourse, don't agree to everything. Though I know I am not in the right direction by choosing nothing. I understand both sides but can't judge anyone as despite all that talk, I believe
Wow, what a touching post. I hate when people point fingers
I'm sorry that it's such a split and that people have fractured instead of coming together as a whole. It's not uncommon, but it is very sad.
There is always going to be two sides and there is always going to be others that disagree with him. Sounds like he is doing whatever he can. I would side with the Mayor.
Whether he like the Mayor or not, as a President, he should send help to all the victims of Haiyan- he should think of the people's welfare!.
Hoping that all of the resources are getting to those in dire need after such a huge natural disaster.
After yesterday's post I felt a little bit of hatred toward your president.. Today just make it grow more. The country was hurting and he chose to use his personal problems to decide who was getting help. Not fair and rather disgusting.
I'd say that people need to re-unite again and help each other in difficult situation. The entire nation needs support from President and other political leaders.
Thank you for sticking up for your mayor. Not sure what is going on with your president but he needs a reality check and fast!
Hope things turn around. Sounds bad.