Crumbling infrastructure may spark more disasters

Crumbling infrastructure may spark more disasters

By Martin Abbugao

MANILA (AFP): A crumbling infrastructure and corruption are likely to spark more tragedies like the discotheque fire last week that killed at least 154 persons, and could weigh down the Philippines' modest economic gains, analysts here say.

The smoke has barely cleared from the blaze that turned Manila's popular Ozone night club into a crematorium, but Filipinos already betting on when the next man-made disaster will strike.

Never mind officials who are frantically inspecting and closing down night spots deemed to be potential fire traps and filing criminal charges against those who approved Ozone's operating license despite violations of the building code and fire safety regulations.

"I bet you that after several months, the Ozone fire and measures to prevent a similar occurrence will be forgotten until another devastating fire takes place," said former press secretary Jesus Sison last Saturday, reflecting popular cynicism.

"Regardless of the economic growth we manage to post in the next few years, disasters will keep our quality of life low," political analyst Alex Magno warned.

He said that economic progress is not measured only in terms of rising income and consumer spending.

"We speak also of reliable buildings, safe streets, effective law enforcement, reassuring regulations, quality of processed foods and strict enforcement of standards," he said.

Magno pointed to a "steep decline" in the competence and integrity of government workers, who earn low salaries, and the acceptance of bribes as the main causes for slack enforcement of standards laws.

Unless such declines were reversed, Magno said "we threaten to make disaster a way of life for Filipinos."

With the Philippines lying in the middle of typhoon and earthquake belts, Filipinos are veteran victims of severe natural calamities.

But disasters resulting from negligence by authorities who are tasked to enforce safety rules and from the extensive destruction of the environment have also struck the nation with murderous regularity.

"This makes us the most disaster-prone area in the world because we don't follow the rules," said political commentator Amando Doronila.

"In this environment, it is almost certain that we will be leaping from one disaster to the next," he added.

More than 4,000 people died when the ferry Dona Paz, allowed to sail despite carrying passengers way above its capacity, collided with a small oil tanker in the central Philippines in 1987 in the world's worst peacetime sea disaster.

Despite a flurry of investigations, no one yet has been prosecuted or jailed under a cumbersome legal system.

Meanwhile, thousands more have died in disasters involving overcrowded and dilapidated ferries which are allowed to operate by inspectors who have been bribed, or are manned by skippers in possession of fake licenses.

Cinemas with inadequate exits are also potential death chambers, while decrepit vehicles, including antiquated buses and right-hand-drive trucks running on roads designed for left-hand- drive vehicles, are another danger.

One firm whose decrepit buses had maimed or killed several Filipino pedestrians for years was ordered closed only last year after one of the fatalities turned out to be a Canadian executive of the Asian Development Bank.

Television reports earlier this month showed that some fire stations housed in rundown buildings are themselves considered fire hazards due to a lack of budget.