I find it queer that DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon opted to visit Davao City to inspect the damage that the recent earthquake wrought havoc to many places in Mindanao. I do not know whether I should thank him for inspecting the city’s infrastructure first or doubt why the primordial interest is focused on Davao City first.
It has been a season of defacement of Davao City. Earlier, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources refused to open the sanitary landfill despite the corrective measures that the city government has done following the cave-in in one part of the dump after days of heavy rainfall in Davao. Mayor Baste Duterte even went the mile by relocating settlers near the sanitary landfill.
DENR stoically denied the city givernment entry into the landfill area causing households and commercial establishments to place garbage bags in sidewalk and later, in rage, dump them in front of the Regional Office of DENR.
It’s Environment Month and DENR chose the best time to create a smear campaign on online media against Davao City which had been under attack by Malacanang through spokesperson USec Claire Castro who labelled Davao City the “worst city” in the country to live, work, invest, and travel.
After DENR, the Department of Interior and Local Government followed with the threat that it will conduct an investigation on the garbage mess.
Unexpectedly a record-breaking strong earthquake took place in Saranggani Province and General Santos City that wrecked commercial and residential houses, road, bridges and school infrastructures that also claimed unprecedented death toll. The quake which was spawned by the tectonic movement in Saranggani-Cotabato trench affected in varying degrees in all other regions in Mindanao to include Davao.
The newly completed Bucana Bridge, a gift from China, took a hit and immediately the anti-Duterte trolls made a fiesta on it. When the engineers dismissed it as a possitive indicator of a working bridge “shock-absorber” the brouhaha quickly quieted down. But Dizon made it there just the same maybe in search of chips to display to doubt the Chinese engineering feat. But there was none.
Davao City was hardly scarred but even then Mayor Baste Duterte lost no time and promptly ordered the thorough inspections of public buildings and sky skyscrapers which miracurously withstood the temblor. At the same time he mobilized the city’s 911 Emergency responders to dispatch ambulances, a chopper, medical and rescue teams to devastated areas in General Santos City, Saranggani and South Cotabato. These assets were to evacuate and deliver by air and land quake victims needing proper medical attention in various hospitals in Davao City.
Having done that it’s back to normal official business for Mayor Baste. Last Wednesday snooping trolls took pictures of the Mayor lining up in the immigration purportedly leaving for China. It’s as if it was the scene was good enough for a scoop and headliner. Some quarters thought it’s mortal sin for Mayor Baste to be absent in the scene of the tragedy.
Even before the dusts could settle in the scene of perdition, the rabid anti-Duterte watchers that includes the mainstream media and paid trolls made it their objective to find fault in the Duterte siblings. Obviously ignorant of the developments in the temblor ground zero, Raissa Robles obviously in limbo asked anyway where VP Sara Duterte and her siblings where? A certain Jeline Malasig of PhilStar “Interaction” accorded ample space to such a naive and oblivious remarked.
But PhilStar and Robles are not alone. Some mainstream media who covered the Vice President as she directs her relief assistance team feigned ignorance of Sara’s presence in General Santos City including her trip to Cotabato City where she visited places affected by the earthquake and did the same relief operation activities through the OVP’s satellite office.
The Duterte siblings, as a matter of habit and training, respond to emergencies and challenges fast. Quick plan and rapid action through management by objective. Critics find that unusual.
VP Sara and Mayor Baste did everything by precession and move along to another objective demanded by their respective office. If their critics, Including politicians who are now aptly tagged as “the maleta gang”, cannot cope up with them, they wouldn’t care less. They cannot afford to pay propagandists or trolls but they have an army of online enthusiasts who love to see their videos on Facebook! And these groups tells it all. Unedited and innocently factual.
By the way, I have it from good sources that Rep. Polong Duterte flew to the Hague after Congress went on sine die adjournment. It was his turn to look after his father while in detention. He was there before the tremor.
What of Baste? Well, if it is true that he left for China, after setting the assistance for the quake victims in motion, should that be controversial? We all knew that the city has a pending order of 20 additional EV buses from Yutong for its bus modernization project. Davao City also has a dynamic export trade with China that gobbles up all the durian fruits that the growers produce. Kadayawan Festival in August is just around the corner and promoting the event is not a crime.
For everyone’s knowledge, exotic varities of fish grown in fish cages in Davao ambient sea water including fresh and processed tuna are all in the lists of sunrise industries in Davao given the vibrant exports from the City direct to buyers in China.
Paid propagandists will not rest in smearing the image of Davao even at the height of tragedy. There will be more Trillaneses and Claire Castro who will claim that Davao City is a dangerous place, not a safe place to live and invest. There will be dubious attempts to diminish the image of the city as the cleanest city in the Philippines like closing the sanitary landfill forcing the people to dump their garbage in the sidewalk. There will always be threats that will come in various forms. But Davao City leadership and Davaowenyos will overcome.
