It’s the media, stupid.

Why are we so pathetic?  Why is our government so unprepared for Yolanda and defending itself by saying no one can prepare enough for this?  True, no one can prepare enough, but what is pathetic is government has not made the minimum required preparation at all.  Worse, why are many Filipinos picking up the very pathetic government line and even more pathetically saying we should stop blaming and think of ways to help instead? True, in times like these, we need all the help on the ground.  But the reality is, there is no shortage of help available.  Help just can’t get on the ground fast enough precisely because government is not able to direct them!

Now it takes foreign media to expose the crap we are in.  CNN for example is asking some questions that our government officials find discomforting to answer.  But believe me when I say, CNN is merely scratching the surface.  CNN is not the best at it but I have seen them grill their own governments with harder hitting questions.  Meanwhile, when asking our officials, they let pass answers that do not really provide answers.  They, perhaps because not knowing what to make us, or perhaps out of pity as our officials can only blurt out lies while trying to make a straight face, are merely throwing us softballs.

I saw in a CNN interview Roxas saying we are already using the full resources of the government.  Then in one of the questions he reasoned out we are not able to collect most of the dead bodies because we only have 20 trucks.  The CNN journalist surely is itching to ask but did not press on.  That is precisely the question, why do you only have 20 trucks?  Is this already the “full resources of the government”?

And in all these, where is the local media?  While some of them lambast the government for being too slow, they do not ask government officials directly.  And when they talk to government officials, they ask only of generalities, not direct and specific questions like they are meaning to get answers.  Meanwhile, a great number, if not the majority in the local media, amazing as if in unison on day six, are now drumming up the idea of “this is not the time to blame”.

Really, we are so pathetic.  I just hope everyone realizes and does not forget what brought us here.