Atienza: Cebu’s new frontliners
by Gina Atienza
Chatroom
It’s probably difficult to imagine being caught in the eye of a catastrophic storm, within, an ongoing battle against a cataclysmic, constantly mutating, Covid-19 pandemic.
So, try to imagine yourself instead, attempting to balance a see-saw. You are alternating between two personas on opposite sides of a teetering beam, trying to achieve equilibrium.
Covid tells you “Stay in quarantine.” Odette whispers, “Queue up for water with the rest of humanity or die.” Covid advises, “Stock up on food. Don’t go out on the streets every day.” Odette shrugs, “No electricity. No refrigerator to store your food.” Covid insists, “Stay indoors. Keep dry.” And when you do finally get a chance to have your inner voice heard, all you can say is, “Where did my roof and my walls go?”
That says it all.
In the blink of a storm’s eye, the critical situation moved from hospital emergency rooms to the streets of Cebu. Dozens of homeless people congregate on sidewalks as roofs literally blew off their heads, and kilometric lines of citizens in need of water continue to snake around the city streets, with no regard for wearing masks or social distancing.
It’s Day 6 since Typhoon Odette. The fallen trees, the debris and electrical posts still clutter many streets. But it’s not for want of action. Since Day 1, the LGUs (local government units) and the private sector have sprung into action. They have been sleepless. They are weary. They are tired. But the damage done is simply too staggering and too enormous to solve in a day, in a week or in a month.
From the onset, Aboitiz Power, through Visayan Electric Co., galvanized its linemen in Cebu and sent for back-up from Davao Light and Power Co. and from Subic. Yet, as of Dec. 22, 2021, Visayan Electric Co. was able to restore only 17 percent out of the 544 destroyed power line segments within its franchise area and energized only 4,175 out of 474,182 affected customers.
The destruction wreaked by Typhoon Odette is simply so overwhelming that additional reinforcements from Manila Electric Co., Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. and Cotabato Light and Power Co., are being deployed to pinch hit for exhausted Visayan Electric Co. linemen who worked practically 24/7 over the past six days.
It goes without saying that Cebu’s latest front-line heroes are the linemen, the street cleaners, the garbage collectors, and the plucky volunteers distributing food, water and materials for shelter at the risk of contracting Covid. The monumental and feverish task of bringing Cebu City back to life is now in the hands of humble and mostly ignored workers who barely deserved a second glance from the tinted windows of our air-conditioned sedans.
Our new front-liners are the fearless men and women hanging on electrical wires, working 24/7 after the storm to restore power; and our welcome kababayans who have come to Cebu from different places, probably sacrificing some of their precious Christmas vacation leaves, in order to bring our daily lives back to our old “new normal.” Our new front-liners are the smelly garbage collectors, the dusty street cleaners and the besieged street volunteers.
The next time you see them on the street, honk your horn and give them a thumbs-up.
