CRISES, on the good side, are opportunities breeding heroes willing and ready to run extra miles to save people in distress and work to enable them rise on their feet, as typhoon Frank shows.

Iloilo province and city have them. We have stories of neighborhood “istambays”, notwithstanding the derogatory connotation, being the first to succor ahead of rescuers, plucking children from certain death by using improvised floaters like empty water containers and “labador.”

Morning of June 21, Saturday, Gerry Bionat, secretary of the provincial disaster coordinating council, stood by at the community affairs’ office, Capitol Building, keeping in touch with the province’s 42 towns and one component city. He stayed three days straight without leaving, to receive damage reports from his municipal that he collated for transmission to the governor and the regional and national disaster coordinating offices.

June 23, Monday a holiday declared by the governor, Bionat appeared at the SP holding a special session to place the province under a state of calamity so to disburse the calamity fund comprising at least five-percent of the internal revenue allotment (IRA).

Bionat was in his shorts at the session, incidentally, the same clothes he was wearing when he rushed to the capitol two days earlier. His own house in Jaro, Iloilo City was submerged on the first day of the storm. His wife, Dixie, and their daughter spent the rest of Saturday afternoon until Sunday morning on rooftop under heavy rains and strong winds.

Late evening, Dixie’s mobile phone ran out of power and could not recharge because electricity in the entire city was out. Even if there was no outage, she and her daughter had to stick on the rooftop, the only safe place for them where the only thing left to do was watch properties – animals, furniture, cars and tires – float on the torrents of what once were subdivisions.

She was still recuperating from a major surgery triggered by a massive stroke. She survived the flood by staying calm as repeatedly instructed by Gerry earlier on phone. No, she not only stayed calm. She and companions were hilarious - they humored themselves, traded jokes and laughed at own precarious state and misery of being on the rooftop drenched by heavy rains, the smelly “lay-on” or sludge all over their bodies. They threw away their undies because the lay-on made it uncomfortable to wear.

The next day, provincial budget officer Elena Lim brought them hot noodle soup which they slurped in seconds.

For two weeks, the capitol bustled with trucks transporting rice and other relief. The drivers from the provincial engineer’s and the social welfare offices worked around the clock. Monday (June 23) through Thursday, soldiers and ROTC cadets transloaded the goods. Friday, they were already exhausted. Provincial employees and the private security guards and janitors, took over the rest – tons of rice, bottled water and canned goods more to be hauled.

The response of the Iloilo provincial government was quick and massive. Gov. Tupas quickly mobilized people for rescue and relief operations using heavy equipment.
Contrast that to Iloilo City which should be ashamed of itself. The city under the watch of Jerry Treñas is inutile. It has no heavy equipment, not even a single dumptruck to respond. Luckily, there were volunteers and other government agencies like the DPWH and the Fire Protection which made up for its shortcoming.

The only tangible sign that the city government is rehabilitating the victims are the countless tarpaulin streamers sprouting all over the city screaming “Bangon Iloilo, Masarangan Ta Ini!” (Rise Up Iloilo, We Can Make It!) and beside it, the cute face of the mayor grinning from ear to ear.

Treñas does not consider making commuting in the city and transporting farm products from the towns to the city cheaper and faster – he does not even think of trashing the public burden called “Perimeter Boundary Ordinance” (PBO) that benefits only his cabal of racketeers.

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