Super storm Yolanda and its horrible aftermath exposes, albeit there is nothing surprising about it, the indecency of national government officials and how ill-prepared our government system is for a natural disaster of this unprecedented magnitude. In fact the day before the worst tragedy in Philippine history would claim thousands of lives and render millions of Filipinos homeless, the Philippine Senate did not even cancel its most-awaited investigation of Janet Napoles, the notorious mastermind of multi-billion peso pork barrel scam. What was the urgency about the appearance of Napoles in a Senate hearing that turned out to be comical and eventually annoying during an impending calamity?

Those precious hours before Yolanda made a landfall in Guiuan, Eastern Samar could have been used by Manila-based politicians to brace for the worst storm to have ever hit our land, to pray to God to protect our people, to share ideas with disaster experts on how to reduce the expected damage, to mobilize government resources in anticipation of a looming devastation. Those precious, crucial hours could have been used by our Manila-based TV channels to explain to the more than 200,000 residents of Tacloban City the ramifications of such a never-been-heard-before term, “storm surge,” that even journalists and TV broadcasters had failed to describe it in a way that would raise the alarm level in the consciousness of our people. But the nation’s focus was regrettably on Napoles. As one of the most popular crooks in government bureaucracy, on that day she became the darling icon of Philippine television channels. Her presence was more important than saving people’s lives.

The failure of the government to respond to Yolanda tragedy did not start in the aftermath of the typhoon; it started a day or two before the monstrous storm had made a landfall. After Yolanda passed by Tacloban City leaving a massive swath of destruction and mayhem in that once beautiful city facing the Pacific Ocean, we expected our Manila-based politicians and government agencies to come rushing to the scene of desolation carrying relief goods and bringing a message of hope for the suffering survivors of Yolanda. But, wait, the DSWD was still repacking relief goods when thousands are already starving. Since access to Tacloban City was not possible right after Yolanda’s onslaught, bringing of relief goods to storm victims was a real headache and in fact a crisis in itself. But even if the airport, pier, and roads were accessible then, it did not matter at all since DSWD was still scampering to repack relief goods. The repacking must have been completed ahead of Yolanda’s feared arrival.

Worse, the declaration of President Noynoy Aquino to place the country under state of national calamity took place only three days after November 8. Malacanang already knew the extent of damage brought about by Yolanda’s wrath, but why would it take three days before the President would come to his right senses? After the declaration of state of national calamity, it did not make any significant impact at all because efforts to bring relief and rescue our people moved at snail’s pace as if nothing catastrophic had just occurred. Days later we learned that the worst calamity in Philippine history did not alter the comfortable lives of Manila-based officials. Vice-President Jojo Binay was somewhere else attending a party. Tacloban Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez’s husband, Richard Gomez, was playing golf somewhere else. And we do not know where our President was. CNN, the only TV channel which has been doing full coverage of this nation’s sad fate starting November 8, has noticed the kind of deplorable Philippine government we have, and how unfortunate the Filipinos to have put into office senators, congressmen, Cabinet officials whose main concern is only their self-interest.