How I became a U.S. naval aviator (Honorary only, hehehe)

The day of the big flood (Typhoon Frank remembered)

Nobody in Iloilo will ever forget June 21, 2008. It was a day of death and destruction for the entire city and province. It was a day of tragedy. It was a day of heroism. It was a day that put Ilonggos to a big test of will and character. The stories about what happened that day are as many as the people who suffered from nature’s wrath with the worst flood to hit Iloilo in ages.

This is my personal story.

I went to sleep the night before thinking that Typhoon Frank stuck to its projected path and steered clear of Iloilo province. The super typhoon appeared to veer toward Capiz province, the usual path of typhoons in recent years, and there was no indication Iloilo would be hard hit. I treated my media friends, David Sinay and Francis Angelo,  to premium brandy at Ralph’s that Friday evening. We talked about politics, and nothing about the weather gave us cause for alarm. The drinking session ended at about midnight just as the typhoon was building up its full force. But I went to sleep not knowing that trouble was brewing up in the mountains.

When I woke up at 5:30 a.m., I was surprised to find 3 missed calls from Gov. Tupas registered on my two cell phones. This could only spell trouble. At once, I rang up the governor. “There’s flood in Barotac Viejo,” he told me without preliminaries. That shook me up, because I don’t remember the governor’s hometown ever getting flooded.  His son, mayor Raul “Boboy” Tupas, had to go back to his town at 4 o’ clock to personally oversee the rescue and relief operations. Many people were trapped in their homes.

There had been no warning from PAG-ASA the day before, so I figured it was just a day of heavy rains in the northern part of Iloilo. In the seven years that Gov. Tupas served as chief executive of the province, the typhoons that were projected to hit us had somehow changed course at the last minute. We even kidded Gov. Tupas that he must have a lucky charm that the typhoons always spared Iloilo.

I decided to get some coffee at the CoffeeBreak in Jaro before proceeding to the residence of Gov. Tupas at M.V. Hechanova in Jaro.  But power for the entire city was down, and CoffeeBreak staff told me they couldn’t do any brewing. I cursed the power outage for depriving me of my Saturday morning coffee ritual. The rain was then pouring in a torrent. Might as well have coffee with the governor, I said.

By the time I reached the governor’s house, I was already getting a clearer picture of the situation through the car radio. Other municipalities were starting to report flooding. In the city, evacuation from flood-prone areas were being ordered. I conferred with the governor for about an hour as we monitored the field reports of Aksyon Radyo. This is turning bad, I remarked to the governor. I asked permission to leave and get ready to coordinate rescue and relief operations at the capitol.  As it was a Saturday, I decided to drop by Aksyon Radyo and check if I could still do my weekly program, “The Capitol in Action.”

The anchorman, Joel Tormon, looked every bit worried about the flow of reports coming in. “Sir, can you give way to our non-stop broadcast and enable us to coordinate rescue efforts?” he asked. I didn’t have to be persuaded. Of course, I replied. I knew that my place that day wasn’t behind the anchorman’s microphone. I needed to be at the capitol to coordinate rescue and relief efforts. I took up position at the lobby information desk of the capitol where there was a landline phone. The capitol’s emergency generator was supplying power to the building, and it was the single most important thing for me that day. I hooked my two cell phones to chargers.

By 9:30 a.m., the calls for assistance were starting to come, first slowly, then in an overwhelming avalanche that kept at least one phone on my ears for several hours. Municipal mayors were calling me to deploy our dump trucks. Volunteer rescue groups started to stream into the capitol lobby, waiting for instructions. They didn’t have to wait long to get assignments. As soon as our trucks arrived, we gave these rescue volunteers target areas. Our priority areas were Pavia, Tigbauan, Sta. Barbara, San Miguel , Leon and Alimodian. The Philippine Army Reserve, among them Atty. (Captain) Eugenio Original, arrived to help in the rescue operations.

There weren’t enough trucks to meet the rising tide of SOS calls. Through text messaging, I kept track of the worsening situation around the province. Most of the municipal mayors were personally directing the crisis management activities for their towns. It was a moment when true leaders were separated from the boys. The mayors were on top of the situation by being there themselves, seeing the crisis as it was unfolding and giving orders on how to carry out rescue operations. Almost everybody was wet from the heavy rain.

By noon, almost all rescue groups have been dispatched to the flooded areas. But I could see that most of the highways were under water, making it difficult for the trucks to make their way to their targets.  One team led by Atty. Original took three hours to reach Pavia. According to him, his driver decided to take a round-about route, going through the Mandurriao highway, and then making a right turn to the Felix Gorriceta Jr. Avenue in Balabag. “But the road was entirely submerged in two-meter deep water,” he reported by text. The driver drove his truck as if it was a boat, using the power lines as his guide.

Along the way, Original’s team also had to stop every now and then, responding to pleas for help from trapped families along the route. The volunteers worked tirelessly, ignoring personal danger, exhaustion and hunger, just to be able to pull imperilled people to safety. Words are not enough to describe the heroism displayed by these volunteers that day. For Original’s team, the rescue work extended until about 9 p.m. Good thing that McDonald’s delivered enough burgers, fries and coke to feed the volunteers when they got back to the capitol that night. It was their first meal after 15 hours!

Gov. Tupas kept abreast of the situation with periodic phone calls to me. He also obtained updates from the Philippine National Police and the military. Our provincial disaster coordinating council was already busy procuring emergency food stocks that would need to be distributed right away to the flood victims. Disaster relief is primarily the responsibility of the municipalities, but we knew that this was more than the usual flood, and the province had to pitch in to help the municipal governments.

I could see that it was impossible to respond to every request for assistance. I must have received a thousand text messages and hundreds of phone calls that day — many from people I didn’t even know but somehow got my contact numbers. Some came from people trapped in rooftops. “Save us, please.” But as the flood waters swelled, it was becoming more dangerous to send our volunteers to certain places where the surging current could easily sweep them to their deaths. I advised our volunteers to exercise prudence. I also texted back to the people asking for help to just stay put where they were. “We are coming to get you,” I told them. I knew that many would have to wait several hours, cold and wet and hungry, before help could reach them. It was a painful period for me, unable to do much for people pleading to be saved.

The magnitude of the flood shocked me. Almost all towns and the lone component city, Passi, were submerged. At about 4 p.m., I went around to inspect the flooded areas. But to my surprise, the whole length of the Benigno Aquino Avenue (Diversion Road) was totally under water. As our heavy truck rolled on, I saw that we were hit by the worst flood in recent history. In 1984, the island was hit by “Typhoon Undang” and the devastation was also tremendous. I was still a journalist back then, and I was one of the few individuals to fly aboard rescue helicopters to assess the damage in northern Iloilo and Capiz province. The destruction wrought by “Undang” was bad, but “Frank” was worse. It’s hard to believe this could happen to us without warning.

We stayed at the capitol until about 10:30 p.m., debriefing the rescue group commanders. There was nothing more we could do that night. Better to sleep and get our bodies ready for another day. As it turned out, it was more than two weeks before I could finally switch myself off from crisis mode. It was an episode that will never be erased from our collective memory as Ilonggos. For the rest of my life, the events that transpired that day, and in the days ahead, will be etched firmly, and I could always look back as if watching a video in HD format — everything unfolding with crystal clarity!

Flood warning system now in place

A state-of-the-art early flood warning and monitoring system has been installed in the Iloilo provincial capitol. It was inaugurated last Friday, May 15, 2009, by Governo Niel Tupas, Sr., Korean ambassador Choi, Joong Kyung and DOST secretary Estrella Alabastro. The project is just one of three in the Philippines. It was donated by the Republic of Korea through the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

This video shows my talk before local officials and volunteers who will form part of the team that will operate the system during a one-day training conference at the Iloilo capitol on May 18, 2009.

Soroptomists visit the Capitol

Delegates to the Soroptomist International biennial convetion pay a courtesy call to Governor Tupas.

Enhancing productivity in the work place

Remove the clutter from your desks and work place, employees of the Provincial Treasurer's Office urged.

The Iloilo Provincial Treasurer’s office is setting a good example in undertaking a general clean-up of its work place last Tuesday, may 5, to commence implementation of the 5S work productivity program.

Ilolo provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada said the PTO can serve as model for the entire Capitol family that a first step in improving productivity is to remove the clutter from desks and the working environment, because oftentimes, the paperwork and unnecessary files makes it hard to determine which items should be tackled first.

Mejorada said a desk with a mountain of folders and documents might gve the impression of an employee hard at work, but the clutter will cause disorganization and often lead to the neglect of more important tasks.

Hero

Police bomb disposal expert SPO3 Rafael Managuit must have heard the click of the safety lever snapping free from the grenade he was holding, and he had less than a second to decide what to do. Nobody will ever know what went on in the mind of the police officer that early morning of Tuesday, March 31, as the unmistakable click signalled an imminent explosion. He saw his three colleagues on the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in the tight confines of the unit’s office at the Robinson’s Mall, and he knew only he, and he alone, could spare them from certain death. In those milliseconds that transpired, Managuit chose to sacrifice his own life and covered the grenade with his own body.

Just a couple of hours earlier, Managuit and his men on the Explosives and Ordnance Division (EOD) of the Iloilo City SWAT had responded to a crime scene call after two unexploded grenades packed into an improvised bomb were found on the roof of a house in Molo, Iloilo City. Danger is a constant presence in the work of Managuit, but it was his duty to defuse the explosive device and take it away to a safe place. It was a routine-enough procedure for Managuit that when he reached the detachment office, he was confident enough that the bomb presented no danger as to show it to ABS-CBN reporter Regie Adosto. The video footage even showed him tightening the screw on the lock to prevent the safety lever from springing free.

There was nothing out of the ordinary as the interview was concluded. His job done, Adosto and his cameraman went back to their vehicle. Just then, a big blast shook the place. Adosto and his cameraman then saw three injured policemen struggle out of the detachment office. His cameraman drove the wounded to the hospital. But Managuit, the bomb expert he had just interview, was slumped, lifeless, inside the office. His body absorbed the full impact of the blast. As one of the survivors later recounted, Managuit was stowing the grenades for safekeeping when everybody heard a click. “I saw sarge (Managuit) turn towards the wall, placing the grenade on his stomach,” the surviving cop said.

Apparently, Managuit realized the grenade was going to explode, and he acted quickly to cover the device with his body to save his comrades. No doubt about, Managuit was a hero. He could have tossed the grenade outside the door and pray that nobody was around. In that split-second, he courageously decided he couldn’t take that risk, and gave up his own life to spare the others from death.

I join the family the SPO3 Managuit in mourning the untimely death of the police officer. He is a great loss to the police service, but in his death, he showed everybody what heroism is about.

The importance of planning

In the government bureaucracy, planning is almost a constant activity. There are quarterly, semi-annual and annual planning sessions. In between, there are special planning sessions to tackle emerging projects or activities. But does everybody in the organization really know the value of planning? Do they consider the time and effort put into planning as well-spent? And once the plans are completed, are these put to good use?

These were the thoughts that I discussed last Wednesday when I spoke before a group of hospital-based Inter-Local Health Zones in Iloilo province that convened to present their health care investment plans for consolidation with the Province Health Care Investment Plan. The activity will take three days, and will bring together doctors, nurses, local government officials and other stakeholders.

There is no debate that any endeavor will get better chances of success if the people involved, whether individually or as a team, prepare thoroughly on how to get about the tasks to achieve its goals. A plan is a roadmap that will help the individual or team to navigate any path with confidence. It can be simple or complex. The important thing is that the goal is clearly stated, and the resources (people, logistics, etc)  needed are brought together to execute the plan well. Other factors, such as timing, might be considered. There should also be provision for contingencies, such as when a certain course of action fails to accomplish the desired result.

The plan leaves little room for guesswork. Once the execution is underway, the players know exactly what is expected of each of them, what tools to be used, and the methods to be adopted. A good plan makes sure there is no confusion. It helps achieve maximum results with the least effort or resources. It enhances the ability to achieve success.

In every day life, we plans put into execution. In sports, business, schools, or even in ordinary individual lives, plans play an important role. There is hardly a task, small or big, that is undertaken without some planning put into it.

Because of this, every government official and employee involved in planning activities must invest the time and effort to craft a good roadmap for any endeavor.

It’s a sad thing to say, but I have seen many plans just gather dust after so much resources have been put into them. This is a grave sin. Instead of a smooth and flawless implementation of programs and projects, the affairs of government agencies become a hit-and-miss game.

When plans are not utilized, so much resources are wasted. This is also a reason why graft and corruption is prevalent, because the plans usually contain safeguards against the squander of public funds.

No scam in RPTA software package

There is hardly anything that we’re doing at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol that’s not being painted or labelled as “anomalous” by vice governor Rolex T. Suplico. Just recently, Suplico launched another wild missile attack against the procurement of a computerized real property tax administration system (CRPTAS) that was developed by Negros Occidental and marketed by Inzpect Technologies, Inc. The project, with an initial cost of P2.4 million, seeks to replicate the success of Negros Occidental in dramatically increasing its real property tax collections.

Suplico, in his usual irresponsible self, made sweeping accusations of a scam in the project, not realizing that the basis of his privilege speech was erroneous. But accuracy and truth have never been in the vocabulary of the vice governor. All that he desires to do is destroy the name of his uncle, Governor Niel Tupas Sr.

To erase those perceptions, we invited members of the local media to attend a demonstration and briefing conducted by the staff of the Negros Occidental provincial assessors office. We encouraged them to shoot frank and brutal questions based on the untruthful accusations of Suplico. Everything was answered. This is a system that works, and it is a system that is selling like hotcake among provincial and city governments across the country.

Shown below is a picture of myself explaining a few points about the project:

Rainwater harvesting advocates

Ms. Elizabeth Khaka, Programme Officer of the Freshwater and Terrestrial Ecosystems Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) tells the Iloilo media about the positive impact of rainwater harvesting for mitigating climate change and helping farmers increase their production during a press conference at the Days Hotel on Dec. 1. The UNEP extended a $65,000 grant to the Iloilo Watershed Management Council to commence a baseline study on the effects of “recharging ponds” within the Tigum-Aganan Watershed Management Board jurisdiction in arresting climate change. Ms. Khaka said she is “impressed” with the implementation of the project and announced that UNEP will give another grant of $300,000 for Phase II of the Program. With her are (from left) Dr. Jessica Salas of the Kahublagan sang Panimalay Foundation, provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada and Iloilo LGU PENRO Soledad Sucaldito.

Early flood warning system for Iloilo

The next time heavy rains fall on Iloilo province, and the rivers swell to flood levels, the people will get plenty of advance warning to evacuate and avoid the tragic deaths that happened last June 21, 2008 when hundreds were caught unprepared by the sudden surge of turbulent waters.

Governor Tupas accepts the donation of the Korean government for a rainfall and flood warning system at a program held at the Grand Hotel.

This was announced by Governor Niel Tupas, Sr. last week after he accepted the delivery of state-of-the-art rainfall and flood water detecdtion equipment from the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) to be established in strategic locations in Iloilo province.

Tupas said the system will enable the provincial disaster coordination council (PDCC) to closely monitor the volume of rainfall in the entire province and get an accurate picture of the flood hazard situation 24 hours a day. The system will trigger an alarm when the rainfall level reaches critical levels. It will also have a sensing device at key points of the Jalaur river that would measure water current and level. This will send off an alarm when the volume of water flow reaches flood levels to give people downstream at least five to six hours of warning to leave their houses for safer ground.

The entire system is worth more than P8 million.

Dr. Prisco Nilo, chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geographysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA), said the system was supposed to have been established in April this year, but unforeseen problems caused its delay. “We could have prevented many deaths in Iloilo when typhoon Frank hit the province had the system been delivered on time,” he said.