By Eva C. Visperas

 

DAGUPAN City is in distress. For several days now, relentless rains, habagat, high tide, have caused widespread flooding that submerged homes, destroyed livelihoods, and displaced families. The people are wet, weary, and waiting for help.

It is in these critical times when leadership should be defined by compassion and swift action — not by long-winded speeches, political posturing, or grandstanding disguised as fiscal guardianship. Yet, in a moment that called for immediate unity, one legislator saw it fit to play the obstructionist card.

We shall no longer name the councilor, but the people know. The councilor appears to act like a self-declared guardian of public funds, even when the rest of the SP members, frontliners, and especially the mayor herself — Mayor Belen Fernandez — were pleading for immediate passage of the resolution declaring Dagupan under a state of calamity.

Mayor Belen did not speak based on assumptions. She walked the flooded streets. She talked to evacuees. She saw the devastation firsthand, every hour, on the hour, in barangay after barangay. Alongside her were department heads and responders who had no time to sleep, eat, or go home, because the city needed them.

In that special session, there was no time for delay. No room for excuses. Yet this councilor insisted on more numbers. More data. As if her air-conditioned detachment from reality was more valid than the sight of soaked families in evacuation centers or children wading through waist-deep waters.

Councilor Joey Tamayo, who chairs the disaster committee, made it clear: more than 15% of residents are affected, over 30% of livelihoods disrupted. “Kung kayo ay umikot,” he said. That’s the point. Go out, see for yourself, and then maybe, just maybe, you’ll realize what this city is truly facing.

Vice Mayor Bryan Kua presided over the session and quickly sensed the delay tactics. “Kung mayroon kayong complaints sa aking pag-preside, pwede kayong magtanong sa DILG. Kailangang-kailangan na ito,” he said. That’s leadership.

And yes, Vice — tama na ang dada nang dada. The people need action. Not noise. Not rhetoric.

Less than an hour after the resolution was approved, five barangays immediately received assistance. That’s how fast things can move — when politics does not get in the way.

This column stands with the frontliners who gave everything they could and more. They didn’t ask for applause. They didn’t seek attention. They simply did the job. Soaked, tired, and unrecognized — yet undeterred.

To the councilor in question, talk when needed, but don’t be a barrier to hope and help. This is not the time for posturing. This is a time for unity, for swift decisions, for concrete action. If you truly care, then stand with the people — not above them.

Dagupan is fighting two floods — one brought by nature, and another brought by political noise.

Only one of those we can’t control. The other, we can vote out.

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