MANILA, Philippines – Will President Benigno Aquino III’s second visit to Tacloban City, one of the hardest-hit by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), heal political wounds?

Leyte Governor Dominic Petilla hopes so. “Tacloban is the center of the economy of the region,” Petilla told Rappler.

Whatever happens in the city will have a ripple effect on the Leyte province and nearby provinces, said the governor. “Politicians from Samar were calling me, they couldn’t find a place to buy construction because they used to buy from Tacloban.”

Tacloban is witness to the devastation caused by Yolanda, the most powerful storm ever observed to make landfall in recorded history. Storm surges, as high as 20 feet in some areas, leveled much of the city. Yolanda also wreaked havoc in other parts of the Visayas and some parts of Luzon.   

Tacloban also saw what can happen when local and national government doesn’t see eye to eye. Aquino and Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas have an ongoing word war against Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romauldez.

Local vs national

Petilla told Rappler he hasn’t been following the tension between the Tacloban mayor and the national government. Getting news in Leyte isn’t easy, the governor said at the sidelines of a dinner with Visayas mayors and Roxas.

The governor admits the situation is anything but ideal. Petilla is affiliated with Aquino and Roxas’ Liberal Party. His brother, former Leyte governor Jericho Petilla, is Aquino’s Energy Secretary.

The Romualdezes, meanwhile, are long-time political rivals of the Aquino clan. The mayor is related to Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, whose father, former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, put Aquino’s father in jail.

It’s why Petilla is hesitant to step in and mediate. “If there’s a mediation, it should be higher than the secretary. Mahirap siguro kung ako, hindi ako papansinin ng dalawa,” he said. (It would be hard if I do it, they wouldn’t pay attention.)

The latest in the feud between the national and local governments involves a leaked video of a meeting between Roxas and Romualdez. The video was leaked a day after a tearful Romualdez said before Congress that national government did not help them in the aftermath of Haiyan. Roxas supposedly told Romualdez: “You are a Romualdez, the president is an Aquino.”

Politics in disaster

Petilla says it’s impossible for politics to not come into play, even if he doesn’t want it to. “Whatever I say later on, sasabihin nila may bias, no matter what. Kahit na kumampi ka doon sa mayor, sasabihin, biased ka pa rin. Kumakampi ka pa rin sa presidente. That will be the tendency because ka-party ko ang presidente. That’s the perception: I’m biased,” he said.

(They’ll say I’m biased. Even if I side with the mayor, they’ll say I’m biased. That’s the tendency because I’m affiliated with the president.)

Roxas defended his statement, adding that it was taken out of context. The day after an edited 18-second video was leaked online, Roxas said he didn’t want people to think politics was involved when the national government took over the local government unit (LGU).

He wanted the proper paperwork to be done, he said, to avoid the blame game later on. The LGU in the aftermath of Tacloban, was rendered helpless. Tacloban Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin says that out of nearly 2,000 employees, only 50 reported to city hall after Yolanda.

Most of the city’s police forces were also unaccounted for after the storm, leading to safety issues in the city. Peace and order in Tacloban, said Petilla, also affected nearby towns including Palo, where he stayed during Yolanda. The governor’s mother, Matin Petilla, is the mayor of Palo.

Palo was spared from widespread looting and crime, he said. Still, the worry spread from his town to other coastal cities near Tacloban.

Rehab efforts

Relief operations in Tacloban, which served as a transportation hub for Leyte and nearby provinces, were slow in the beginning. It took as long as 5 days for food and water to reach barangays (villages) in the city, and cadaver collection was painfully slow.

More than a month after Yolanda, bodies continue to be collected in Tacloban.

Petilla says there’s a “big difference” in his province now. Three weeks after Yolanda, rehabilitation efforts were already ongoing. In contrast, rehabilitation efforts in other disaster-stricken countries took months to begin. 

Aquino earlier hit the LGU for its unpreparedness in facing Yolanda. Petilla says it’s unfair to say LGUs didn’t prepare. “Ang preparation, andon. Yung surge talaga, hindi lang namin [na-anticipate]. Yung hangin, kaya pa sana eh,” he said. (The preparation was there. But the storm surge, we didn’t prepare for. If it had only been strong wind, we would’ve done better.)

“We got hit by Yolanda and then parang na-trauma, we panicked, we cried and then after that, everything came back. We started working together to rebuild,” he said.

But he admitted progress can and will be hindered if tensions continue to rise between national government and the Tacloban LGU. “I just hope that they can mend things. It slows down recovery but I think we can still recover. It’s discouraging to business. Ayun nga, nagsusuffer yung economy (The economy also suffers). Yes, it will affect also Leyte,” Petilla said.

Romualdez, in an earlier interview with Rappler, said he wants to reconcile with national government this Christmas.

With thousands of lives at stake, the country can only hope it happens sooner than later. –Rappler.com