Reactive agencies

ONE thing I have observed for several years now and whoever is the president is that officials of our government agencies and leaders of local government units are reactive during emergencies instead of being proactive. The classic example is the recent eruption of Taal Volcano in Batangas where the government officials only reacted after the sudden surge of prices of goods, like face masks, went viral in social media.

The government agencies, like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), and the local government units are supposed to have ready funds for emergencies like this.

Instead of letting the residents affected by the ash fall pay for very high price on goods and items, like face mask, the DOH and the DSWD could have provided them free mask. Also, the DTI’s warning against profiteers is nada unless they act and put value on their warnings. Entrepreneurs who take advantage during emergencies should have no place in our society. They should be prosecuted to the fullest. Some netizens even criticized the call of DSWD for assistance from the private sector when the government has more than enough funds from the tax collection. Agree. But even without the yell for help from DSWD, the private sector, as we always know, renders assistance to those in need during emergencies.

For the past several months and years our nation has been visited and hit with calamities, like typhoons, earthquakes, and now the eruption of Taal, an active volcano, that our government should have allocated huge budget for emergencies, instead of giving the legislators enormous funds in the guise of priority development funds that only benefit them.