MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 24, 2014) – The latest Social Weather Survey which supposedly shows that typhoon Haiyan survivors are “more satisfied” with the Aquino administration’s performance as compared to other Filipinos, is a deliberate spin to cover up both the criminal negligence of the national government and the continuing ineptitude of relief efforts in areas devastated by the calamity last year, the youth group Anakbayan said.
It said government press releases are selective with their facts – for example, government propagandist conveniently forget to mention that among the typhoon survivors supposedly interviewed by the SWS, only 13% said that they suffered “serious damage.”
“What is the significance of this fact? It means that only 13% of the survivors interviewed come from Tacloban City and other areas with similar levels of devastation. On the other hand, the Palace is quick to spin the survey results is proof that Haiyan survivors are satisfied with their performance.”
“Much of the criticism against the Aquino administration is precisely how it has abandoned and neglected the worst-hit areas by the super typhoon. But the image being manufactured now is that the storm survivors, in general, are satisfied with the national government’s performance,” Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan national chairman, said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
He said for a real picture of what typhoon survivors think about the Aquino administration, instead of hiding behind deliberately misleading surveys and press releases, “we dare them to conduct their press conferences in Tacloban, especially in the evacuation centers where victims of the no-build zone policy are currently residing in. Or in the hinterland communities of Samar and Leyte which have barely been reached by relief goods.”
Crisostomo said the government should end all its political propaganda and begin the job of actually helping the people of Samar, Leyte, and the Visayas which were ravaged by Haiyan.
He said the Aquino administration can start by heeding the demands of various peoples’ organizations for continued relief, rescinding of the no-build zone policy, immediate financial help of P40,000 for every affected family, financial assistance for farmers and fishermen, free tuition for affected students, among others.
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