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…and I am still stuck in traffic

I admire the patience of the President.

P-Noy, as he now prefers to be called according to his newly-minted Press Secretary, bravely declared in his inauguration “wala ng wang-wang, wala ng counterflow”, and his statement was instantly picked up by a press ravenous for news bites.

In the succeeding days, we heard about how P-Noy was late for a presidential appointment after getting stuck in traffic, and how his Vice President brazenly disregarded his most recent popular statement by doing a counter-flow in a one-way street and ignoring stop signs. Still, P-Noy chose to forego the perks with being … Continue Reading

A ray of sun in a rainy day

On June 30, 2010, President-elect Benigno Simeon C. Aquino II was sworn in as the 15th President of the Republic. A day earlier, the PAGASA forecasted that it would be rainy that day but many defied the warning and still went to the Quirino Grandstand to witness the inauguration ceremony. The ceremony went well and the weather was cooperative – no rain, just a bit cloudy and humid. The extremes would have spoiled the whole event.

People from all walks of life joined the incoming President in Luneta for the event. Many came from the provinces, … Continue Reading

Who should bear the brunt of disasters?

As I’ve said in my previous article, one of the missing links in our disaster risk management efforts is the involvement of the insurance market in ensuring faster recovery and reconstruction without necessary impinging more financial harms to victims of disasters, both for individuals and communities. Based on our experiences, poor victims – farmers, small and medium enterprises, and poor families – are left at their own to rebuild and restore their damaged physical assets. Even government’s destroyed infrastructure facilities suffer much from inadequate repair and maintenance assistance to the point that they pose abnormal and inefficient community … Continue Reading