Reaping the whirlwind

THE FULL brunt of the habagat brought about by Typhoon Henry may have largely spared Angeles City, but city hall – notably acting mayor VM Bryan Matthew Nepomuceno – found itself right at the eye of the storm of denunciation from its citizens.

July 18, 5:54 a.m. ADVISORY: Good morning po. Considering the 4 a.m. forecast of PAGASA that there will only be light to moderate rain showers in Angeles City, and the advice of our Disaster Risk Reduction Monitoring Team that there are no threats of flooding, classes in all levels have NOT been SUSPENDED. Please be advised to still bring umbrellas and rain coats to stay dry and safe. Thank you.

So, with a deep sense of duty, Nepomuceno posted on Facebook. Hands on as acting chief executive, if we may add. Unexpectedly --

Diluvial was the torrent of comments viciously unleashed upon Nepomuceno, running the full gamut of human emotions, social stratification, and political fallout. Hence:

Pitiful pleadings --    

Be human in times like this...hope you won’t regret not suspending classes kahit sa kinder to high school man lang sana.

Hindi lang naman baha ang iniintindi namin. Sana naman konsiderasyun lang. Nung di umuulan suspended, ngayong umuulan di suspended. Magbibiyahe pa kami. Di bali sana kung walking distance lang yung school.

Nasty nincompoopings --

Aydo gewa you lang waterproof ding tau king Angeles.

Murit kayu talaga! Yan mu ing asabi ku!

Kaya kayo naba-bash kasi tanga mag-announce. Pag umuulan, may pasok. Pag di umuulan, walang pasok. Ayaw niyo may nagrereklamo pero ganyan dapat ninyo.

Itatanong ko lang po kung immortal po ba ung mga taga-Angeles.

Tagal namin naghintay ng announcement. Hindi sa ayaw namin ng walang pasok pero ba’t gano’n? Kaka-iba ya talaga ing Angeles. #AgyuTamungMabasa

Tindi mo naman Vice. NOT SUSPENDED? Pero hayan, mga school principals na ang nagsuspend ng classes dahil sila ang nakakaalam na mahihirapan ang mga bata sa ulan o baha!

The great social divide --

Ipagmalaki pa na malakas ang Angeles City. Yan ang dahilan kung bakit maraming namamatay sa lower class ng social hierarchy. Iba talaga kapag may power eh. Social stratification nga naman.

Paano ba naman maiintindihan ng mga yan e rich kid sila e, di naman nababasa mga yan na nagko-commute kagaya ng karamihan. Laging naka-service, kulang nalang buhatin ng mga kasambahay nila.

Ano’ng sense po ng post nyo na to? It's a must for us to bring such things sa lakas ba naman ng ulan. What we need is the SUSPENSION. Because umbrellas and raincoats can't save us from sickness. Isipin nyo din po sana yung mga batang naglalakad lang. So, feeling nyo concerned na kayo nyan? Stop being apathetic.

Napaka-unfair nyo. Nakaka-inis kayo, palibhasa kase sarap ng buhay nyo! Mga anak nyo kasi nasa magandang paaralan! Kapag nag cancel kayo may araw! kapag bumabagyo na dun may pasok.

Palibhasa kasi pane yang makasake Vice Mayor ketang sports car ng BMW kaya eya mababasa keng uran.
Stay dry kanu! Di niyo kasi alam yung struggles namin pag umuulan, e kayo naka kotche kami naka-jeep o motor. Kahit naka-jeep nga tsaka motor nababasa e, tapos stay dry sasabihin?

Di naman lahat may kotse, may kapote, may bota at may pambili ng maayos na paying. Yung iba naglalakad nga lang, sira pa ang payong. Pag nagkasakit naman ang studyante yung check-up sa ONA pa Wala naman libreng gamot. Pipila ka pa ng bongga. Naiwas ba yung ulan sa Angeles at para sa inyo mahina? Nasaan ba kau ngayon? Nasa comfort ng condos or mansions or hotel? Napaka-inconsiderate nyo po ...

Inevitably, the political backlash --

Acting mayor ka pa lang di ka na marunong magdesisyon para sa mga safetiness ng mga estudyante. What more pa kapag naging mayor ka? Di ka naman siguro bingi at bulag, no? Nakikita mo naman lakas ng ulan

With this kind of stupidity from our government officials, alam na natin kung sinong HINDI natin iboboto sa susunod na election.

Next election, isa sa basis ko yan: yung may sariling judgement na sensible at inuuna ang constituents. Hindi yung puro pagpapapogi!

Magandang gawin niyan, lalo na sa mga taga Angeles: Kausapin nyo na mga magulang nyo, sabihin nyo huwag nang iboto yung mga namamalakad ngayon sa Angeles sa susunod na halalan, tutal sarili lang naman iniisip.

Will you expect us to vote you again Atty. Bryan, if ngayon pa lang you show na wala kang pakialam sa mga tao? You dwell so much sa forecast ng PAGASA na alam naman natin nagbabago any time, and opposite ang sinasabi ng PAGASA sa pangyayaring ulan ngayon. Kahit konsiderasyon nalang sana sa mga nakatira sa lugar na inuulan at binabaha. Tsk. Argg.

Eka karapatdapat.

Hay naku. Muli nakayu pu Mayor Edpam..ena pu balu ing panyaptan ning Vice yung magmamagaling.

Eka karapatdat. You are not worthy (of the mayorship). Come to think of it, this is not the first time that Nepomuceno seemingly failed – so miserably -- as acting city mayor.

Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan was in far-off Rome, advising the GRP panel in the third round of peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDF, at the time the Jee Ick-Joo abduction and murder came to light and a pall of doom descended upon the Korean community in the city.

Here is a part of the Zona headlined “Mice of Men” published January 31, 2017:

Acting

AS [Mayor Pamintuan] was in Rome, it was Vice Mayor Bryan Matthew Nepomuceno that assumed the mayorship, per operation of law, di ba? Or did he?

Anyways, to be fair now, where was acting mayor Nepomuceno when Angeles was taking its Warholian 15 minutes of notoriety, internationally, as crime city?        

He did not act the mayor any in addressing the fears of the Korean community. Aye, Nepomuceno did not act at all.

As a matter of public record, in media that is, not a single word was read about him, not a single squeak was heard from him pertaining to Jee’s kidnapping and killing, to the shakedown of the Korean golfers, to the terror that gripped Koreatown, as we put it in this paper’s banner headline last week.

The famously articulate Nepomuceno suddenly losing his voice over the crisis that impacted the city spoke volumes of his leadership, nay, screamed deafeningly of his utter lack of it.

Scion of a political clan, a lawyer of substance, and aesthetically-unchallenged presentability – besides being already vice mayor to an end-terming mayor – Nepomuceno is already being billed as “the next mayor of Angeles City.”

That bright political promise that is Nepomuceno now may have been dulled, if not dashed, by his assumption of the silence of the dumb.

I can’t help but be reminded here anew of my seminary Latin readings, of Horace particularly: Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Translated: The mountains are in labor, a ridiculous mouse is born. Interpreted, freely: The promise of greatness fulfilled in mediocrity; the highest of expectations birthing absurdity…

INDEED, Eka karapatdapat.

Twice tested, twice failed. Miserably, your next mayor.  It does not augur well for the city of angels.