Eye Opener
Discipline officials in Guinsaugon tragedy
The griefs and miseries suffered by families of 104 dead (and still counting) and over 1,000 missing in Guinsaugon, St. Bernard, Southern Leyte, are attributed to illegal logging and deforestation. What Pres. Arroyo did when she visited the stricken barangay in Southern Leyte Wednesday morning, February 22, was to dismiss officials of DENR and Bureau of Forestry who are supposed to safeguard the forest. The disciplined DENR, Bureau of Forrestry and others in Southern Leyte should face charges in court for their negligence after the DOJ and NBI investigators had conducted their thorough probe. If this happens, this will be a good lesson to other government officials tolerating illegal logging and deforestation in their area of responsibility throughout the country.
St. Bernard is reportedly adjacent to Ormoc City in the same province where thousands of Ormoc City residents died, missing and homeless in 1991. Why did the inept DENR and Bureau of Forestry officials not learn their lessons from the 1991 disaster? Despite the pointing fingers directed to officials of DENR, Bureau of Forestry, etc, GMA has not taken action yet. Probably she is waiting for the final report of the total casualties, missing and accounted for. Let's cross our fingers that GMA will make the necessary penalty on government officials responsible for the tragedy in Southern Leyte.
GMA seems to be preoccupied with many problems now. The call for her to resign; the Wowowee stampede; the escape of three Oakwood mutineers, coup d' etat, the explosion inside Malacañang compound, the EDSA demonstrators making noise during its 20th anniversary and now the tragedy in Guinsaugon, Southern Leyte.
What would be the next GMA tragedy? The Filipino people should pray for Pres. Arroyo's safety in these hours on tribulation. God may still have a purpose for GMA that until now she is in control of the country.