Friday, August 10, 2007 Malilong: Flash floods By Frank Malilong The Other Side
WHEN we reviewed for the 1974 bar examinations, Manila was already notorious for its flash floods. I remember having to sit with my feet on the seat of a DM Transit bus while passing España St. because the floodwaters reached the vehicle’s floor.
It rained when I was in Manila last Wednesday and I discovered that nothing has changed; it still flooded. In fact, the problem has worsened. The floods were not just in España; they were everywhere.
Of course, Manila’s situation is not unique. We have exactly the same problem. The drainage system is bad, if it is at all existent. The difference is that it doesn’t rain as much here as in the capital. Otherwise, the consequences would be dire and unimaginable.
I have written many times about our flash floods and the need to address them as soon as possible, a couple of times just stopping short of wishing that some of our officials would be washed into the sea by rampaging waters in order to prod them into action. My repeated appeals have fallen on deaf ears and I begin to sound like a broken record.
I hope that they don’t have to wait for the day when, God forbid, the floods would claim thousands of lives as they did in Ormoc. The failure to address our drainage problem for such a long period constitutes criminal neglect.
If the authorities continue to stall and, as a result, the great deluge happens, I would not feel sad if I find them, in the aftermath, floating in the sea or shaking their heads behind bars.
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Were they ignorant or pretending to be ignorant of the law?
Those who castigated the Comelec for its supposed “slap on the wrist” of Lintang Bedol ought to have reviewed their law books or, in the case of the non-lawyers, consulted a competent one before opening their mouths. Thus, they would have known that the six months imprisonment and the P1,000 fine imposed on the controversial Bedol are the maximum penalty for indirect contempt.
Bedol can still suffer a higher penalty but only if he is found guilty of an election offense. The trouble is that nobody seems to be willing to initiate the complaint against him.
Those who claim that they have been cheated by, or with the connivance of, Bedol in the last elections should have filed the complaint themselves. It is not only their right, it is their civic duty. Could it be that, contrary to their claim, they really do not have “the goods” on him?
Just asking.
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Here’s a rare treat for local tennis fans: the 1st Cebu Interclub opens this afternoon at Baseline. Sponsored by Gothong Southern Shipping Lines and Smart Communications and hosted by the Baseliners and the Cebu Commericial Tennis Club, the tournament has attracted more than a hundred tennis enthusiasts all over the Visayas and Mindanao.
Some of the out-of-town clubs come from as far as Maigo and Iligan in Lanao del Norte, Dipolog in Zamboanga del Norte and Merida and Ormoc in Leyte. Spicing up the tournament is an exhibition match between Tuburan’s national age croup champion Mark Vince Tabotabo and his nemesis, Chiang Mai Solon of Mandaue.
