The Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas
was not spared in the scrutiny of impatient international news media about his
slow response to the relief operations.
Andrew Stevens, a CNN Correspondent had the chance to interview Mr.
Roxas on the issues surrounding the typhoon victims. From the series of direct
questions thrown by Stevens, Mar Roxas was very defensive on each issue pointed
at him and he tried to portray that the government is doing right in handling
the disaster and recovery operations. Despite the real evidences seen
personally by Andrew Stevens from the ground, Mr. Roxas maintains that they are
responding very well.
Stevens pointed to Roxas their observation on the apparent lack
of relief goods being given to the people, the Secretary responded that the
government could not handle the initial response. Stevens had to remind Roxas
that it has already been a week and yet the victims of the typhoon still beg
for water from him and his crew. He further stressed that all warnings has been
given several days prior to the typhoon’s fateful day and they could have
prepared very well in their structured emergency response. Again, Mr. Roxas
stressed their policy that the local government units are the ones in-charged
to provide immediate response.
At some point of the interview, Andrew Stevens gets confrontational
with Mar Roxas. For instance, on the issue of collecting dead bodies. Stevens
claimed that he is seeing the same decomposing bodies not being collected but Mar
Roxas was quick to correct the CNN correspondents that they are collecting the
bodies on a daily basis. It’s ironic, that they’re just seeing the same field,
the same disaster zone but seeing different view.
Lastly, Andrew Stevens asked Roxas if there is an effective chain of
command in the ground and if the government has the right structure in placed when dealing with the disaster. Again, Mr. Roxas's response was, “every effort is
nothing as big, nothing as fast in the situation like this… it’s chaotic….”.
That’s the only answer we can get from the Interior Minister in a disaster that claimed thousands of lives and more thousands of people
suffering at the moment. Nothing more, nothing less.
Nothing can be fast enough in this situation. Do you agree?
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