The security fatalities were never reported in the media. One other unreported detail was that during their three-day visit, Gazmin and Roxas spent part of the time looking for insulin to treat the defense secretary’s diabetes. On their third day, they flew out to Cebu where the medicine was obviously more readily available. On the second day, some 300 soldiers arrived from the 8th Infantry Battalion Headquarters in Catbalogan, Samar. They came not to augment the rescue, relief and debris clearing operations, but to provide security for the President who was coming in two days. When Aquino arrived, the 300 soldiers proved not enough for the purpose, so the city police had to be pulled out from their outposts, leaving nothing to contain the looting and jailbreak when they occurred. Romualdez said his first impulse was to brief Aquino on the situation on the ground as soon as he arrived. But the President refused to even look at him, the mayor said. When he finally got Aquino’s attention, he told him they had already recovered some 1,000 dead. This greatly irritated Aquino, who said, “You shouldn’t be telling me these things.” The President then asked how many policemen the city had. The mayor answered, 293. And how many were around? The mayor said, 29. Before he could explain that most of them had been dispatched to secure vulnerable areas, Aquino flared up, saying the missing policemen should be prosecuted for abandonment of duty. The National Civil Defense chief had no better luck. When Del Rosario told Aquino that the devastation was already running up to 80 percent, the President pointed to the buildings that were still standing, and said, how come they were still there?
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 19:38:25 +0000
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