NAME: Micka Andre’ T.

Yee

SECTION: Grade 12-St. Andrew

TITLE:‘Worse than Ondoy’

URL: https://opinion.inquirer.net/135292/worse-than-ondoy

Introduction Counterargument
Argument Refutation
Evidence Conclusion

In a year of one landmark crisis after another, typhoon season in the Philippines in
2020 bids fair to be as hard and unprecedented. Seven weather disturbances have
affected the country in only a month, three of which developed into severe storms
with catastrophic results on the population.

“Ulysses,” the latest monster storm, killed at least 14, displaced more than 170,000
people, and caused massive floods that brought back memories of “Ondoy” from
11 years ago. Residents of Marikina, which along with Rizal bore the brunt of the
flooding in the metro, said Ulysses is an experience “worse than Ondoy”—because
this time they also had to worry about the COVID-19 pandemic that could break
out in evacuation centers. As residents escaped chest-deep floods—the Marikina
River rose to 22 meters by 11 a.m. on Thursday, breaching the 21.5 meters during
Ondoy—an overwhelmed Mayor Marcy Teodoro appealed to the private sector to
send rubber boats for rescue operations. “Hindi ito kakayanin ng LGU lang,
kailangan na ng tulong ng private sector,” he said.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year; Ulysses is the 21st, and
three more are expected by year-end. Experts have been warning that such
storms will become more severe due to global warming. President Duterte,
referring to Ulysses as a “stark reminder of the urgency [for] collective action to
combat the effects of climate change,” has called on developed countries to not
turn their backs on the “moral responsibility” to finance and invest in innovative
solutions. Abandoning this responsibility, Mr. Duterte said in a speech in last
Thursday’s virtual opening of the Asean Summit, would be a “great injustice—a
double blow to those who bear the brunt of the adverse consequences of their
past actions and inactions.”

Yet, considering that, according to the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and
Recovery, 74 percent of the country’s population is vulnerable to natural disasters,
the Duterte administration’s disaster response itself has “remained poor,” the
research group Ibon pointed out in January. This year, the government allocated
only P16 billion for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council
(NDRRMC), a P4-billion decline from P20 billion in 2019. In 2017, the Duterte
administration slashed the NDRRMC’s budget by more than half to P15.8 billion
from the P38.9 billion in 2016 under the previous administration. “The
administration’s budget priorities disregard the country’s longstanding
vulnerability to disasters,” Ibon said, noting how intelligence funds for the police,
the military, and the President’s office had instead been increased.

The Department of Budget and Management had to top up the NDRRMC’s budget
this year by P5 billion due to its already depleted funds, according to executive
director Ricardo Jalad. But most of the extra funds would go to the agency’s
COVID-19 response, and the remainder to rehabilitation efforts in areas
devastated by Tropical Storm “Quinta” and Supertyphoon “Rolly.” Jalad said they
have asked for P20-billion funding for next year, which is only P1 billion more than
what the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict is asking.

The persistent failure of the government to provide long-term solutions to help

mitigate disasters and protect the country’s most vulnerable sectors and climate
orefugees couldn’t have been more evident than last Monday, as residents of
Bato, Catanduanes, prepared for Ulysses even as they were still repairing homes
and recovering from Rolly, which had flattened the island early this month.
“Pagod na pagod na talaga… magaayos tapos maghahanda… may bagyo na
naman daw. Mageempake na naman kung saan kami lilipat,” a tearful resident
told ABS-CBN.

As Ulysses battered most of Luzon on Thursday, social media was swamped with
appeals for help. Rescue operations are still continuing as of yesterday morning.
The country is facing immense, extraordinary emergencies on multiple fronts,
from COVID-19 to a record economic slump that has seen millions lose their jobs.
But there is simply no room for “donor fatigue” at this hour of great need; every
bit of assistance from everyone will count.

Let us help through these donation drives: University of the Philippines

(GCash/PayMaya 09278692946; No where to go bu tUP Foundation Inc: BPI
Account No. 0993-0113-39); ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya (ABS-CBN Lingkod
Kapamilya Foundation Inc.: BDO 0039302-14711; BPI 4221-0000-27); Caritas
Manila Inc. (BDO 000-5600-45905; Metrobank 175-3-17506954-3; BPI 3063-5357-
01; RCBC 000-300-090-2216); and the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s own relief drive
(Inquirer Foundation Corp., BDO current account 007960018860,
email foundation@inquirer.com.ph).

TYPE OF EDITORIAL:

The article named “Worse than Ondoy” is a type of Interpretive Editorial because
it describes the occurence of the recent calamity called the Typhoon Ulysses and
compares it to how the Typhoon Ondoy is years ago. Also, the writer did not
criticize nor take sides but instead, the author merely presented the description
of the calamity along with the evidences of the event.

ANALYSIS:

The focus of the entire editorial is how the eventuality of Typhoon Ulysses
impacted the Philippines much worse than the Typhoon Ondoy that occured
years ago. Given that we’re still in the middle of pandemic just made the whole
situation terrible and dreadful. With that, the editorial’s argument appeared to as
the government is expected to handle this nationwide crisis as plethora of lives
were devastated, ruined, and took away. Allude to what the article delves on,
truth to be told that natural calamities like weather disturbances, supertyphoon,
cyclones, and storm surge are truly unexpected and impossible to avoid but the
administration should mitigate its effects and invest their time to actually put
bigger actions so that Filipinos won’t have to suffer badly. The author also
mentioned evidences such as the budget funds that are intended to be used in
dire times like these were cut by President Duterte from 38.9 billion to 20 billion
in 2017, and now down to 16 billion in the present year. Into the bargain of the
depleted funds, Director Ricardo Jalad discussed the major repercussions of it;
this includes the need to top up the NDRRMC’s budget in order to take full actions
of the severe damages that the typhoon brought and how they’re struggling to
make it sustainable enough. The recent calamity was barely sufferable for the
Filipinos because it was considered a hit after hit as the Philippines was battered
by three storm surges in just a single month. Due to the current typhoon like
Quinta and Rolly, the Filipinos were truly concerned and were full of despair as
they were still finding ways to recover from such damages and without a warning,
Ulysses uninvitedly came. The consistent failure of the government to come up
with purposeful plans will cause persistent disasters in the long run. It is this time
when we need the support of the government and to hold them accountable.
They are, in fact, the ones in-charge of addressing these concerns. Cries and
agonies of the victims are truly heard by each and everyone so let’s not turn a
blind eye and choose to have closed-ears when our fellow Filipinos need our
assistance.