Terrorists? Typhoon?

The Filipino government yesterday (December 8th) decided single-handedly to postpone the Asean Summits due to the threat of a tropical typhoon. As a resident in Cebu, I found it ridiculous. It did start to get cloudy last night, and it did start raining in the middle of the night. The rain continued on all day today. But it has no wind, yep, no wind at all, other than a much needed breeze that is, in fact, quite refreshing after weeks of brutal heat.

Our helper Maris said Cebu rarely is affected by strong typhoons. As someone whom has lived in a typhoon affected area for 33 years, I know what it is like when an area is hit by a strong typhoon, but what we have experienced here in the past 24 hours has none of those characteristics, i.e., pouring rain, strong, gusty wind, and black clouds. If you know anything about typhoon at all, you will know that typhoon cannot survive without feeding on water. Cebu is in the middle of a bunch of islands, there is practically nothing for the typhoon to feed on. I can see how northern Cebu island could be affected, but the Asean Summits are going to be held in Cebu city, which is located in the middle lower part of Cebu island, well shelter by neighbouring islands, how is it possible that the weather will be so bad that they have to postponed the summits?

So the only other reason will be terrorists threats, which is a lot more probable than the typhoon threat. Anytime when there are heads of states gathering, there always will be terrorists threatening to do something, thankfully, those threats rarely come into fruitation. Maybe it is due to the terrorists not carrying it through, or the prevention measures are carried out so good that they were able to stop it from happening. Either way, it is good that terrorists threats rarely affect any major meetings.

I suspect that the Filipino government, i.e., the president, Arroyo, made this decision because she knows full well that her military is unable to provide this kind of protection to the heads of states who are coming to the summits. Even after only live here for about three months, I can already tell corruption in this country has penetrated to the smallest sect of the society. I will not be surprised if I see a coup during the time of the Asean Summit, this is how unstable the government is.

Strangely, the citizens seem not to be affected by any of the above. Coup or a change of government does not seem to affect their daily life. Politicians who are not corrupt seldom get elected, because those who are corrupt will pay the poor to vote for them, and the poor is happy to receive the money and vote for these guys. It is a vicious cycle, yet, it continues on.

Anyway, those who don't live here might see that we are in in big trouble, terrorist threats, typhoon so severe that make the government has to postpone the summits. In fact, we feel quite calm and normal here, typhoon, terrorists, don't feel a thing at all.