Unbreakable

CRISES often bring the best—and worst—in us. In Ilocos Norte, Gov. Ma. Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos has set the standard in responding to emergencies. And by this standard, it means the public officials should be more than hands-on as she leads the response efforts herself.

Typhoon Mario (international name Fung-wong) took the province by storm—literally. With almost P500 million in agriculture and infrastructure damages, the governor personally went to the hardest hit areas of the province. Wading through floods, braving the torrential rains and biting winds, the governor took public service to a higher level by personally taking control of the situation—from evacuation, to repairs, down to distribution  of relief goods. And if this wasn’t enough, she also steered the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to immediately declare the whole province under a state of calamity to facilitate the release of calamity funds and to freeze prices of basic commodities in the province.

To top it, she also called on all agriculture stakeholders in the province to a meeting as typhoon Mario pounded the province to immediately set into motion recovery and salvaging plans. True enough, the province suffered massive damages in agriculture but this was mitigated by the governor’s immediate action to salvage what can be salvageable and to put forth an immediate recovery plan for those badly affected.

In hindsight, however, she may have believed that the provincial government would not be able to provide all that are needed, especially for the victims who had to be evacuated. So she soldiered on and requested Malacañang’s support. And lo and behold, just a day later a C130 landed on Laoag with a plane load of relief goods. The next day saw the arrival of Interior and Local Government Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II along with other high ranking executive officials. It was on this day when Mr. Roxas pledged the national government’s full support for the rehabilitation for the damages and assistance for the recovery of the calamity’s victims.

As the governor’s actions were expected since these are her duties and responsibilities, the way she took bigger steps forward to personally be where the action was make her stand out more and sends a direct message to her constituents that she does care. And all the public speeches and pronouncements are not mere lip service but a sincere vow that would be realized should the time and place for them come.

But as Ilocos Norte stands on the typhoon super highway, we could only wish that the governor would still have more strength and internal fortitude to continue what she is doing and to create more concrete plans to mitigate the effects of these calamities.

And we as her constituents should be thankful that for once we have elected the right official for the job.