Super Typhoon to hit Philippines

I had to think for a moment about where I had seen Congresswoman Torres-Gómez before.

She's on billboards all over the country, with her equally good looking husband, advertising Lux.

It is fair to say that her husband is running for Mayor of Ormoc in the Liberal interest.

But - my prejudices against showbiz politicians were confounded - she is no airhead. She is a capable politician.

What she did not spell out is that her husband is running for Mayor of Ormoc.

Highly doubtful, Filipinos tend towards subservience and will simply re-elect the same officials.

Not so much that, more, "The devil who paid for my vote last time and will pay for it again next time. I don't care that he/she got the money that was paid to me for voting by stealing it from the public coffers, because only rich people pay taxes, and I never see any benefits from the Government, but Congressman X / Mayor Y paid for the road repairs from his/her Pork Barrel and that's fine by me. Government happens in the expensive parts of Manila and I have never been there. But my family got two square meals at election time, for free... "

No sooner had HMS Illustrious taken over from HMS Daring that the British government announced that the carrier and the RAF's C-130 would cease operations in the Philippines at the end of the month (ie this coming weekend). According to a source on Cebu, the DfID personnel assigned there believe they will be returning home this weekend also; their role has been somewhat crucial in getting aid shipments unloaded, cleared and handed-over to the aid charities. The American C-130s and Ospreys have already returned to their base in Japan and with the departure of Britain's C-130, aid charities will in future be forced to use the ferries and pay commercial rates - assuming they can hire trucks which are in great shortage. This will make delivering aid to the more remote islands even more difficult.

The Philippine Air Force's two C-130s are apparently grounded - there's no budget for the fuel bill - but their sorties were purely to deliver government aid from the repacking stations in Manila.

Before Yolanda arrived in the Philippines, Aquino gave a televised address to his countrymen promising that all the country's military assets - including its aircraft, helicopters and naval ships - were ready and would be deployed to the disaster zone(s). In the event only two assets were used: two of the three C-130s, the third was undergoing its 100 hour service; its helicopters only flew dignitaries and its navy remained in port.

There continue to be reports of 'maladministration' with regard to the delivery of emergency aid. A number of foreigners, including several Brits and a Canadian friend, have been refused all forms of aid - even water. And those refusals extend to their partners and families too. Filipinos without voters IDs are also routinely refused aid as they are unable to prove that they voted for a given mayor or baranguay official and those who voted for other candidates are also being refused aid. Whilst those abuses are very much at the local level, discrimination against foreigners (and OFWs) and their families is routinely being used by government agencies such as Pag-ibig in the refusal of loans to rebuild. Ferry companies are charging foreign charities a hefty premium to transport aid and there are unconfirmed reports that foreign aid is being sold by unscrupulous local partners (of UK/US charities). The government announced a price freeze on quite a range of commodities such as food and hygiene products for the entire affected region but this is apparently being ignored at the local level. And the government has announced that schools are to reopen next week: fine but this edict ignores the fact that any schools still standing have become temporary accommodation for the homeless. A good percentage of the repackaged government aid consists of tainted rice and unlabelled, out-of-date canned goods.

The Philippine Star published the following tasteless photo as part of its story that the death toll has risen to 5,500:



Yes, that is a garbage truck and those are human cadavers.

Been a week or so since I logged on as we've been a bit busy since I got home. Just read the last few pages here catching up on things and I've got to say I actually feel sick in my stomach.

Now obviously there are some small number of people out there trying to do the right thing in response to the typhoon but it seems that they are far far outweighed by the selfish scum who pray on other peoples misfortune and their desire to make a dishonest buck. I thought it was all a little cynical before but I can now see how power, no matter how little corrupts out here. Forget the land of smiles and all that nonsense when dealing the prasites in power / office that hold the survival of thousands of peoples in their greedy mits here. Its all for them and the lucky few that can prove they happened to vote for them last time. Those that didn't, well tough luck and better luck next time.

The small mindedness of all of this beggars belief, repackaging aid, vastly inflating prices etc. Not very Christian if you ask me but maybe I missed the part about ****ting on your fellow man if he didn't vote for you / works abroad / lives in a reasonable neighbourhood.

I wonder how much of the 60million quid raised in the uk will actually make it to where its supposed to go? 80%? 60%? I think the people will be lucky if half makes it!

Trouble is peoples memories are short and when its election time again they'll forget how bad it was and only remember the bags of aid (if the "qualified" for one) with the mayor / barangay capts face on it and vote for them again.

I hope I'm wrong and the good far outweigh the political point scoring, profiteering scum that seem to find it easy to prey / gain financially from all of this.

I'm rapidly losing my will to stay here and I think we'll be out of here as soon as we can in a couple of years. The way I feel right now that can't come soon enough. I of course know that this sort of thing is not limited only to the Philippines but its the whole two faced nature of it that really gets on my wick

I can contribute a Subic-related "bureaucratic nonsense getting in the way of relief efforts" story.

Robert Rayner at IDESS had the idea of contributing ten time expired 25 man life rafts, given to the training centre by Holland-America, to a medical relief team being organised from Subic, for use as tents and medical stores. They were very glad to have them...

...anyone spotted the snag yet?

They are being moved from a Freeport zone into the Philippines proper so Customs duty is payable!

On ten time expired liferafts1

There was a bit on this on BBC news last night.

But of course - Bureau of Customs is mandated to impose import duty (and VAT) on all imports. Was it wise, I wonder, for DfID to ship 8 Land Rover Defenders, 3 JCB backhoe loaders and several JCB rough terrain forklifts as part of the UK's aid contribution? And if so, who will pay the Customs' Fees and taxes which could be up to 150%?

Here's what the Bureau of Customs states on its web site:

Not forgetting that the vehicles would not be allowed on Philippine roads until after they have been registered with LTO and not at all if they're right-hand drive.

Because of my doubts about corruption, we sent money directly to my mother-in-law so she could buy rice from the mainland, bring it back and distribute it to the families in her sitio.

I don't know if this interview of PNoy by the BBC was aired:

Absolutely unbelievable. On a side note is Robert originally from Nutec in Aberdeen do you know?

I think this is the only way to do it to be honest. Charity begins at home after all. Atleast this way you know the money you send is getting used accordingly and not getting sidelined into the pockets of those that don't deserve it. This obviously works for those with connections to the phils but for those generous people that are donating their hard earned to charities for the typhoon and earthquake victims there is absolutely no way they can guarantee where the money is going or how much will even get to where its supposed to be going to. That is what pisses me off.

He seems to come up with the right sounds, but like all politicians never really seems to properly answer the questions

Philippine Corruption Magnifies Effects of Typhoon

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/aid-flowing-philippines-typhoon-zone-20920476

Nutec. I used to live just down the road / around the corner from them.

PH residents struggle to rebuild their lives after Yolanda


"Reconstruction has started in the provinces of Samar and Leyte, which bore the brunt of the devastation, with basic services back up and running.

However, experts have said the Philippines' post-typhoon reconstruction could take as long as 10 years."


http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/focus/12/08/13/ph-residents-struggle-rebuild-their-lives-after-yolanda