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Climate change is a convenient culprit and an excuse for certain tragedies, but we do not remember that climate change is caused by human activity and can also be mitigated by responsible action.
It is literally and painfully obvious — especially to survivors of natural disasters — that skewed public policy can also lead to the creation of disasters and the loss of life and property.
Residents of the Cagayan Valley were shocked when massive floods, reaching more than 13 meters in height, struck their province during Typhoon Ulises, leaving thousands of them stranded on rooftops and in need of rescue.
The usual questions were raised again: Who was really responsible for the floods? What steps could have been taken to avoid the calamity? How could it be prevented in the future?
Despite all the questions, discussions, even blame, we cannot begin to understand the loss and suffering of those who have been victims of the tragedy. However, we should at least listen to the survivors. Energetic national attention must be paid to their complaints and demands.
Farmers belonging to Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and DANGGAYAN Cagayan Valley blamed illegal logging and mining for the floods.
The governor of Cagayán, Manuel Mamba, admitted that the floods could not only be due to the spill of the Magat dam, but were also caused by the “denudation of forests” and “sedimentation of rivers.
In fact, the problem goes beyond dam protocols. If the forests of the Cagayan Valley weren’t bare, they could have acted as a natural barrier against floodwater caused by the rain from Typhoon Ulysses. Elementary school science taught us that trees also prevent soil erosion. They would have reduced the sediments that enter the Cagayan River and increased the absorption of water into the soil. With few trees acting as a front-line defense, rainwater running down the bare mountains raised the river and raised flood levels.
President Duterte quickly ordered cracking down on illegal logging and extraction activities in the province, even as lawmakers are ready to investigate possible non-compliance with laws, rules or regulations that may have contributed to the floods.
Is this a serious case of déjà vu?
The country has suffered one tragedy after another as a result of rampant logging and mining, but government officials have done little to prevent the next tragedy. Administrations, both past and present, have responded in a reactive way that did nothing to prevent further disasters.
In 1991, massive floods and landslides caused by a strong typhoon killed nearly 8,000 people in the town of Ormoc, Leyte. The Ormoc tragedy, as it came to be known, was largely attributed to logging and deforestation. Calls for a total logging ban echoed loudly in the halls of Congress and Malacañang at the time.
In 2004, hundreds of people died in floods and landslides in Quezón, Aurora and Nueva Ecija after a series of storms. Again the blame was placed on loggers who have left forests bare and turned lowland villages into death traps. Politicians spoke again of enforcing a total logging ban.
In 2017, after massive floods devastated northern Mindanao, President Duterte ordered the then Secretary of the Environment, Gina López, “to stop all logging operations without exception.”
Former Presidents Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had also ordered similar crackdowns on logging following similar flash floods.
What do they say about people who don’t learn the lessons of history? They are condemned to repeat their mistakes. And so we did. And we will keep repeating them with the same unfortunate results unless we learn to do better.
We know what we have to do, what we must do. The really hard part is doing it.
The main obstacle, of course, is widespread corruption in the bureaucracy. Profitable mining and logging companies have tentacles that find their way into and out of government.
Furthermore, for many people from poor communities, mining and logging are the only way to feed their families. So, definitely, political solutions must provide for the creation of jobs and alternative livelihoods to encourage the support of the people. There must be incentives for compliance that are more attractive to logging, mining and other illegal and environmentally destructive activities.
The problems of applicability and economic viability tell us that being able to pass a law or regulation as a prohibition is one thing and that it is respected is another.
However, there is no alternative but to do what needs to be done and undo the damage that our inaction and negligence has already caused to the environment.
