By CPP Information Bureau
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today said the Filipino people should hold the Aquino regime responsible for criminal neglect over its failure to heed warnings as early as last year by several sectors that Cagayan de Oro was bound to suffer Ondoy-like floods. Such negligence resulted in the Aquino regime’s failure to put into place necessary preparations to prevent the loss of close to two thousand lives.
The other day, Malacañang admitted it ignored warnings issued by the Climate Change Congress of the Philippines (CCCP) which specifically pointed out the need to put into place disaster prevention mechanisms in Cagayan de Oro City parts of which form a water basin vulnerable to the swelling of the highly silted Cagayan de Oro river. According to officers of the CCCP, it issued the warnings at least three times since Aquino assumed power last year.
“Malacañang’s justification for such an idiotic oversight is completely unacceptable,” pointed out the CPP. Confronted by the media, Aquino’s spokesman can only claim to be too busy saying “we were really trying to do a lot of efforts at that time.”
“Aquino and his officials cannot simply explain away their inutility by saying they were too busy with other concerns,” said the CPP. “It is totally unacceptable that the Aquino regime does not consider securing the safety and welfare of people among its important priorities.”
“The failure of Aquino and his officials to heed the flood warnings by experts led to its inability to put into place necessary measures to ensure the people’s safety,” said the CPP. “Considering that meteorological agencies of government as well as private weather monitors have already predicted prolonged rains, government civil and disaster officials should have urgently ordered and organized the evacuation of people in the flood-prone districts to higher ground.”
“It is now clear that the Aquino government had all the information to prevent the loss of such a great number of lives, even if the massive destruction of property was unavoidable,” added the CPP. “For the Filipino people, especially those who lost their friends, relatives and other loved ones, the Aquino regime’s failure to act on such information can only constitute criminal neglect.”