WHEN one looks at the front pages of newspapers and watch mainstream television newscasts these days, one could immediately notice that the flood-stricken communities in Metro Manila and nearby provinces and the destruction wrought by Ondoy and Pepeng have already been relegated to the inside pages and to the "by-the-way" portion of the newscasts.

We Filipinos really do have short memories, what with premature campaigning by ambitious politicians and the Pacquiao-Cotto fight grabbing the headlines, even dominating family conversations while we visited the burial places of our departed loves ones last November 1. We are supposed to learn from disasters but it is obvious we soon forget our lessons.

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For instance we are supposed to learn that there is no substitute for preparedness. But the reason why some communities in Metro Manila and the provinces remain submerged is the presence of squatters living along waterways and riverbanks who clog outlets and spillways with their garbage.

We also conveniently forget that we should not rely on the government to do everything for us, that there is something we citizens must do for ourselves and our communities.

Which reminds us: whatever happened to the order of the President to relocate squatters? As expected nobody took heed of this order for the simple reason that the politicians coddle these squatters. Without them there would be no "hakot" vote to ensure the effective functioning of the local politicians' vaunted political machinery in 2010.

The more squatters the more chances for Mr. Politician to top next year's polls.

One really wonders whether what's more important for the local politician is to say mass for the victims of the recent Barangay 19 fire, work for efficient distribution of relief goods, and eventually find means to relocate the displaced families, or let them remain dependent on his support so it would be easy to herd them to the polling places come election time.

Can we expect politicians and local executives to lose their votes with an upcoming election?