WHAT was the difference when President Aquino spoke to the press before Yolanda struck in 2013 and when he conferred with disaster managers last Dec. 4 before Ruby came?
PNoy made a fearless forecast of "zero casualty" on Yolanda, which got him burned, prompting a revision of numbers: from his 0 to 2,000-2500 estimate, then, officially, to 6,300, when NDRRMC, the national disaster agency, stopped counting (death toll actually reached more than 10,000, Leyte officials said).
More cautious on Ruby, MalacaƱang didn't junk the "zero casualty" mantra but held on to it as a goal, not a prediction.
Calamities almost always result in deaths and injuries. That's why PNoy's 2013 forecast was crazy, according to a critic then.
As a goal though, it can be a way of life, an attitude of public officials when they prepare for and face a typhoon, flooding or earthquake, and, as Albay Gov. Joey Salceda put it, create "a body of commitments that ensures nobody falls by the wayside due to poverty, exposure or even stubbornness."
It's good management of people and resources. It's inspiring and leading people to get away from harm's way and helping others do the same.
Self-defeating
"Zero casualty" is a good catchphrase but it can be self-defeating if obsession pushes the leader, as it allegedly pushed PNoy, to gloss over reality and get angry when number of actual deaths mocked his prediction.
Townspeople of San Francisco, Camotes Islands, Cebu have also pursued "zero casualty" as a way of life. But that didn't make them fudge on casualty figures, did it?
(paseares@gmail.com)