First posted here at 5:49am Nov. 14, 2013. Emergency powers for the President in the next 48 hours to transport food & water: here is the procedure
If the President does not exercise all of the powers he has in the next 48 hours to transport body bags, food, water, and personnel to Tacloban, Ormoc, and other devastated areas in Eastern Visayas, thousands more will die .
Next week is not good enough. It’s 48 hours. He has one remaining power that he has not exercised. I think it’s time.
Here’s the procedure:
Emergency powers. Procedure. The President should call up the Speaker of the House and the Senate President in the next five hours. Siguro nagbabakasyon ang mga senador at congressmen at tinatamad sila, WALA AKONG PAKIALAM, bumalik kayo dito at tumulong kayo. Tell the Speaker and the Senate President to convene in the next 12 hours, I don’t care if they are in Geneva or the Bahamas, get your a_ _ _ _ here; tell them: I am asking you to convene a special session – I am not just asking you, as President of the Republic, I am authorized to order you to convene a special session. Convene the special session in the next 12 hours. Tell them: I will announce it on TV in the next five hours that i am calling on the Senate and the House to convene a special session in the next 12 hours, so you better convene. If you don’t, i will order you. i am authorized.
Call the DOJ secretary and ask her to get ready.
Here is the provision (I hate for any President to use this power, but… there are dead bodies lying in the streets of Tacloban, and thousands more will die of dehydration, if not of crime, in the next 48 hours), here it is, use it well for the limited time of 48 hours:
Article VI, Sec. 23, par. 2: “In times of war or other national emergency, the Congress may, by law, authorize the President, for a limited purpose and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe, to exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national policy. Unless sooner withdrawn by resolution of the Congress, such powers shall cease upon the next adjournment thereof.”
48 hours lang po ang gusto kong ibigay kasi medyo drastic ang mga kelangang take-over of facilities and utilities.
Call up the DOJ secretary; if government lawyers don’t know how to craft this, ask private lawyers.
You need to pay for the following utilities, facilities, and companies, pay for them. You have donations from many countries. Take over the facilities: carriers, private planes, airline companies, shipping companies. For the next 48 hours. But pay for them.
Clear all roads leading to Tacloban, Ormoc, and other areas. Pay heavy-equipment companies. Ask the lawyers to write it in the resolution. Take over all nearby heavy-equipment companies for their equipment and facilities in the next 48 hours. Tell your DPWH secretary that you will use all the powers you have at your command — and you can, you are authorized by the Constitution: Tell your DPWH secretary, I’ve used all my emergency powers, if you cannot supervise these heavy-equipment companies and clear the roads in the next 24 hours, you’re fired.
The residents need electricity. Use your emergency powers to acquire generator sets in nearby regions for 48 hours only, I know it’s drastic, but it’s necessary. Compensate the companies.
Another one. Sorry talaga. This has to be done.
Tell your DOJ secretary who will draft this: I need all the food items and drinking water available, in addition to the relief supplies that are held up here in Metro Manila. The nearer to Tacloban and Ormoc, the better. Just enough supplies, not all. Don’t cause a food run. Specify amounts. Please write it in the resolution, Ms. DOJ Secretary: grant of emergency powers. Government will acquire the required amount of food items, bottled water, and other supplies from the following food warehouses (be careful in the enumeration, don’t cause panic-buying in the nearby areas), bottled mineral water companies, grocery houses. It’s an emergency, we will pay them and take over them for 48 hours only. LET’S SAVE LIVES.
The government relief operations too slow, not enough volunteers. Tell the DOJ Secretary: I will pay for manpower agencies, send me 5,000 personnel. Tell them it’s an emergency, if they are unwilling, I can order them, I have been authorized. REPACK ALL THE SUPPLIES IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS, NON-STOP, we will pay for all of their hours, ALL RELIEF ITEMS SHOULD BE READY FOR TRANSPORT AFTER THE 24TH HOUR THAT I’VE CONTRACTED YOU.
Body bags, services of doctors, nurses, hospitals, medicine, medico-legal officers: Tell them: I need those body bags and your services. The government will compensate you.
Another one.
I hate to say this but…
Hotels, inns, housing facilities. There are thousands injured. Tell them: Government will pay for all of your personnel in the next 48 hours and for your rooms and facilities. Please do not refuse the injured, the sick, and the dying. I will be compelled to use force if you cannot help them, I am sorry.
The PNP and AFP still lacks the necessary security forces. Ask them how many more they need to maintain peace and order. A thousand more… Tell them you can deputize and contract security companies but they have to be screened well and supervised well.
Give instructions to the Defense secretary, the DPWH, DOTC, DILG, DSWD, NDRMMC: tell them: I have taken over all the utilities necessary (airplanes, ships, trucking companies, heavy-equipment companies) If you cannot transport the food and water that’s held up here in Metro Manila in the next 24 hours, you are all fired. Get moving.
This is good only if done in the next 48 hours to prevent the loss of more lives.
When life hangs on the balance and the reporter is the first to arrive (Covering earthquakes and other tragedies)
(continued from yesterday’s post on covering earthquakes and other tragedies. This section explores ethical issues arising when a journalist is confronted with a situation where life hangs on the balance, and the reporter is the first to arrive at the scene even before the police and paramedics could respond)
From: “Tragedies & Journalists” published by the Dart Center, a project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, written by Joe Hight and Frank Smyth (Joe Hight is the president of the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma’s Executive Committee; led a team of The Oklahoman reporters that covered the 1995 Oklahoma bombing; the coverage won several national awards; Frank Smyth is a free-lance journalist , contributor to “Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know”, edited by Roy Gutman & David Rieff; Washington representative of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.)
“VII. Journalist as First Responder
“ XXX XXX
“Ethical issues include the question of whether to provide aid to injured victims or help in the evacuation before emergency responders arrive. Simply doing your job and ignoring the victims’ plight might be considered morally wrong by the public.
“Besides the ethical issue of helping victims, reporters or photographers must consider the dangers of covering violent attacks. First responders should be aware of their safety and surroundings when they first arrive at a scene.
“These risks include whether:
• The perpetrator is still in the area.
• A threat of violence continues or anything dangerous is near.
• An area is still contaminated in the event of a biological accident.
• Terrorists plan for a secondary bomb or attack.
“During an address to UNESCO in Jamaica , Rodney Pinder, director of the International News Safety Institute, said journalists must be more willing to accept training to protect themselves from both physical and psychological harm.
“ “Many still behave like cowboys, putting themselves and their associates at risk,” he said.
“Supervisors also must face the responsibility of sending reporters and photographers, especially younger and inexperienced ones, into potentially dangerous situations. They should seek ways to protect their journalists and advise them of appropriate precautions.
“Newsday and the Washington Post have bought safety equipment to help safeguard their reporters and photographers who cover dangerous situations, according to a March 2003 story by Newsday’s James T. Madore. Also, several journalists at the “Homeland Terrorism” conference said that they had received special safety training.
“Howard A. Tyner, editorial vice president of Tribune Co. publishing division, told Madore that its newspapers wouldn’t force journalists to cover dangerous events and would advise them of safety precautions. Those newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday.
“ “Remember, not only is no story worth a reporter’s life, but a dead reporter isn’t going to report anything,” Tyner said. Finally, and maybe most importantly, journalists and their supervisors must be aware of the psychological effects. Debriefing and even counseling may be necessary to offset the possible emotional damage caused by being a first responder.
“As officer Hagen noted (Los Angeles police officer, participant at the June 2003 conference, “Homeland Terrorism: A Primer for First-responder Journalists”) today’s journalists must realize that being first to a violent or terrorist attack carries significant risk – both physically and psychologically.” (Hight and Smyth, 2003)
