When party affiliation shouldn't matter: Governor
George Pataki,
Mayor Rudy Guilani,
and Senator Hillary Clinton, head to Ground
Zero the day after the 9-11 attacks.
Post 9-11 U.S. Leadership a Model for Philippines - Cebu Daily News,
Philippines
"The model for solidarity among public officials of opposing
political parties remains the September 11 terrorist attacks, when New York
City Mayor Rudy Guilani, a Republican, stood shoulder
to shoulder with then-U.S. Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat, as they
went to Ground Zero. ... That would not be the case with Filipino officials and
politicians, who each go their separate ways and go to great lengths not to be
seen with one another."
This
is no time for politicking. That much is evident witnessing the complaints
raised by Medellin
Mayor Ricardo Ramirez and Liloan Mayor Duke
Frasco about the distribution of relief supplies
by the Cebu Provincial government in northern Cebu towns hit by supertyphoon
Yolanda.
Both
mayors lamented being bypassed in the distribution of assistance from Manila to
their constituents who lost homes and are now surviving on assistance extended
to them by local officials and the capitol.
Mayor
Frasco, in particular, was emphatic when he accused
Cebu Governor HilarioDavide III of
ordering the Provincial Social Welfare Office not to channel relief supplies
through to the mayor’s office, and admonished the governor for not following
protocol.
We’ve
seen this pattern before among local and national officials when a natural
calamity strikes their constituencies. The practice has been rooted and has
been rotting the country’s political culture for so long that it has become a
sad but accepted reality.
President
Benigno
Aquino III perpetuated that reality after the Oct. 15 earthquake, when he
visited Governor Davide at the capitol, escorted by
former Congressman Tomas Osmeña - all Liberal Party
comrades - and ignored Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.
This
practice of political selectivity must stop. The model for solidarity among
public officials of opposing political parties remains the September 11
terrorist attacks, when New York City Mayor Rudy Guilani,
a Republican, stood shoulder to shoulder with then-U.S. Senator Hilary Rodham
Clinton, a Democrat, as they went to Ground Zero, speaking to and encouraging
firefighters and police, and comforting families of the victims.
That
would not be the case with Filipino officials and politicians, who each go
their separate ways and go to great lengths not to be seen with one another.
We
couldn’t care less whether they talk to each other, much less play mahjong or
sing karaoke songs in front of a paid audience. For that matter, few would care
if they posed for group shoots, flashed plastic smiles and otherwise presented
a pretend show of solidarity for their constituents.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
But
in the case of a catastrophe like this, caused by a super typhoon, what people
really care about, especially victims and their families, is receiving the
assistance they need to survive.
Everyone
sees that the Aquino government is overwhelmed by the humanitarian crisis in Tacloban City, Samar, Palawan, and northern Cebu.
Were
it not for the assistance of the international community, they would be in over
their heads by now, not unlike the typhoon victims themselves.
Survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan
make a religious procession
on the
eastern Philippine island of Leyte, Nov. 18.
Local
officials should check their egos at the door and make sure that social welfare
offices, private volunteers, and aid groups, do their jobs right providing
assistance to their constituents.
Nobody
will stop to ask which party they belong to.
