Mar engages
in blame-game

I had thought the weekend could give me a relief from the blame-game as national government officials tried to toss the responsibility for the mess that had happened in Leyte and Western Visayas on local government officials.

I thought it was over, but apparently, DILG Secretary Mar Roxas has not come to terms with the disaster, not of Yolanda, but the aftermath of it, after he maintained his posture when he recommended to Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez to hand in his resignation because he showed signs of incompetence in handling his job.

He probably forgot that Romualdez is an elected official, chosen by the people themselves to lead them. He also probably forgot that during the early days after Yolanda swept through Tacloban, Romualdez was very visible on the news and people saw how he tried to salvage the situation, even driving heavy equipment to clear roads, because their employees were nowhere to be found.

Roxas worsened things for himself when he hinted on national TV the possible culpability of the local police force who still had not reported for work and the sacking of the Tacloban police chief for failure to recall his men back to work.

In his statement, Roxas lacked empathy for these men in uniform. As the chief of police said, he exerted all efforts to find his men and asked them to go back but how can he when communications lines were down, addresses and houses disappeared, and he has no knowledge at all whether some of the 200 missing policemen were even alive.

Roxas should think twice before issuing public statements unless he wants to bury himself in. Over the weekend, six days after Yolanda, he tried to explain the delays in the distribution of relief goods by saying they only had 16 trucks to serve the entire island of Leyte.

The question – with that fact, how come they did not request heavy trucks from other areas to Leyte? I’m sure Cebu has more than enough of these heavy trucks. But with Cebu also hit by Yolanda, how come they did not ask assistance from Bicol or even those from Metro Manila?

With the magnitude of the disaster, I’m sure no chief executive in his right mind would refuse such a request.

For example, Governor Salceda had dispatched a relief team to Samar and Leyte via Matnog with its own supplies, managing to get though and already performing splendidly while Roxas was talking about the lack of trucks.

I don’t want to engage in blame-fixing but I consider it rather insulting that a key government official tries to downgrade and local official when he himself has a lot to answer for in terms of negligence or bureaucratic paralysis.

Mar should just stay away from Leyte now that things seem to be working well. Lest he forgets, his own Capiz province and other parts of Panay are also wanting of help and relief.

On a lighter note, I’d like to call the attention of Negrenses to the ongoing sculpture exhibition entitled “Variations” at the Negros Museum.

The opening day was delayed for a few days because of Typhoon Yolanda, but early last week, the exhibit opened and I was honored to have been invited to preside over the ribbon-cutting.

The exhibition showcases the works of self-taught artist, Jeffrey Montano. The forty pieces on exhibit, a mixture of wood and stones sculptures make this a show to reckon with.

Montano has had several one-man-shows mounted not only here in Bacolod but also in Davao, in Makati and in Malate.

I have always been partial to wooden sculptures especially those using driftwoods taken from Katungans (marshlands). One has a choice of nature-crafted art works to those crafted by men.

In short, one can hardly find any similar piece to another among these artworks.

For a time, I went crazy over them but later, through the years, I lost most of my collections. I still have a few pieces in my home and they remain my pride and glory.

Montano often gives exotic titles to his works. But don’t get taken in by the esoteric. One can just use his imagination and come up with one’s own definition of the art piece.

Some of his works are crafted from railway ties, the others from katunganan driftwoods and some are stones mounted on wood.

Believe me, these are works worth viewing for hours. One can only be in awe as he imagines the artistry that went into some of these sculptures and the gift of beauty and art that drove Montano to devote his time in making Variations.*

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