Kneejerk policies crafted in haste had brought undue punishment upon victims of the devastation wrought by super typhoon Yolanda. It came as castigation upon the fallen victims who could hardly get up from the ruins upon their lives, homes and livelihood. The ban to rebuild structures within forty meters from the shoreline came as a protective measure aimed at promoting the welfare of the people. The policy appears lacking deliberation particularly on its consequential effects upon the lives of the people who remain struggling from the ruins of the super typhoon Proscribing people from building back their homes that were erected in what were considered danger zones for being too close to sea waves.

Policymakers were motivated with what to them are good intentions to protect the people from prospective waves they foresaw rushing to the shores in magnitudes that may surpass the wickedness of super typhoon Yolanda. But the policy was formulated akin to a class legislation that selectively took for its subject the people who were toppled by the storm surges. Knocked down if not out, these people must be barred from returning to the place were they were caught by the onslaught of tall waves lambasting homes, chiefly those that stood near and along shorelines.

But the reactive policy unduly placed the fallen Yolanda victims scampering to nowhere. We know too well that most of the people living along shorelines, especially in urban areas, are those who do not have lands for their abode. These people took the risk of living too close to the perils of the sea not by their own convenience but due to the push of their impoverished condition. Many of the people in coastal communities live in such areas to sustain their lives from fishing and other livelihood activities at sea. In some instances, these coastal communities are located in zones that are classified as timberlands which are by law inalienable and could never be owned privately.

The ban from getting back in such coastal areas where they were felled by the storm surge had practically pushed them to a hopeless situation. The marching order that followed for these people to relocate to higher grounds for their safety. But even higher grounds could not be considered hazard-free as there are other perils aside from sea waves and storm surges. People living in coastal areas are usually not owners of lands on mountains and hills. Victims as they are, these people are struggling for survival to fill their basic needs, chief of them food more than shelter. They remain powerless to locate for themselves, any alternative place which they could consider safe for their abode.

Ironically, government, with all its powers and resources, could hardly pinpoint relocation sites that it commands typhoon victims to go to as best alternative from where they had declared as “no build zones”. The tough task had been passed to the local government units that are victims as well and are in limbo responding to the multifarious needs of tis constituents. Amid the ruins, victims of the super typhoon are stills living in tents that had started to wear out from over eight months under the heat of the scorching sun, the downpours of heavy rains and the forces of the stormy winds. People in the devastated areas continue to ask the nagging question . . . where to?

Since childhood we are pounded with the warning, “A winner never quits, a quitter never wins.” Apparently, it is the rule of thumb but conversely this dictum admits some ironies. Like the rules and some provisions of law in Philippine legal system, the maxim is with exception that is indulging in vices and unhealthy lifestyle, and engaging in illegal or immoral acts.

Take for instance the widely popular habit of cigarette smoking, which although discouraged by health authorities is ceaselessly loved, seemingly hardest to break. In spite of the caveats that the Dept. of Health publicize through the quad-media and IEC sessions, smokers continue to spread the dangerous second-hand all over town. Worse, even without checking on the stats, smokers are getting younger down the age of two, as in the case of Chinese Tong Liangliang and Indonesian Ardi Rizal in separate 2009 report.

The 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) results disclosed that twenty-eight percent or 17.3 million Filipino adults age 15 years and older are current tobacco smokers. It added, “Almost half (48 percent or 14.6 million) of adult males and 9 percent (2.8 million) of adult females are current smokers. Moreover, 23 percent of Filipino adults are daily tobacco smokers: 38 percent for males and 7 percent for females.

Further, the result stated, “Filipinos mainly smoke cigarettes, which include manufactured cigarettes and hand-rolled cigarettes. Cigarettes are smoked by 47 percent of men and by 9 percent of women. On the average, male daily smokers consume 11 cigarettes per day while female daily smokers consume 7 cigarettes per day.”
DOH identifies three most common components of cigarettes and cigarette smoke which are harmful to human body. These are carbon monoxide, which impairs the capacity of the blood to supply adequate amounts of oxygen to the vital organs of the body; nicotine that creates dependence on tobacco and exerts its effects on the heart by raising heart pressure and heart rate; and tar that coats everything it touches especially the body’s air passages.

Besides cancer of the lung, smoking causes cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive lung disease (emphysema), chronic bronchitis and cancer of the other body organs. Pregnant women who smoke run the risk of depriving the baby of oxygen, premature detachment of the placenta and premature rupture of membrane resulting in spontaneous abortion.

Smoking is not just among the habits that one should quit doing to be called winner in life and regain health and get the chance for longer life. There are many other habits than one should quit like poor health lifestyle and the worst of all, procrastination. Quit now to be sure winner in the coming days.

Legislators were already at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives at 3 o’clock in the afternoon patiently waiting for the President of the Republic to arrive who will deliver his 5th State of the Nation Address. The SONA is an annual official duty of the Chief Executive to inform the Filipino people, the state of the nation under his leadership – where it is now in the area of economic development, peace and security, etc. to include where it will going in the last two years of President Noynoy Aquino’s reign of power and responsibility.
That was Monday, July 28, 2014.
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Another very important aspect for the head of state in our democratic nation to deliver a state of the nation address is to urge and to seek filing and approval from the law making body to pass laws for legal support to proposed projects of the President that will benefit the nation.
While waiting for the President’s SONA we already had our tv sets at home on as early as 2p.m. The SONA was delivered at 4pm right on the dot as announced by both Malacañang and Legislature. This by itself is an impressive sense of value on the part of the President who came on time.
A few minutes before the President entered the session hall seven Congressmen/women representing Party List groups staged a dramatic and surely a shameful walk out right in front of the Congregation of lawmakers before the podium where the Senate President and the Speaker will jointly preside.
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To me it was nauseatingly of real bad taste. It was an ugly expression of disrespect that can only be done by people who have not gone to school. It was the highest level of insult to the highest official of the land. They displayed unwholesome bad character.
They should have employed other strategies to express their sentiments. The Legislature is the right venue for it but not on special occasions like hosting for the President. They could have simply delivered Privilege Speeches, which in the first place they are entitled to, in one of their daily sessions that regularly lasts 100 days.
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Come to think of this. What have these Party List representatives really done to the party lists they represent? That to us is more relevant. They should spend time in telling their groups that they represent, what they have done and will still be doing for them.. Grand standing like they did is abhorrent. Think Party List rep!
By the way they are the prime movers to impeach President Aquino. C”mon!