With heavy habagat rains falling in Metro Manila and surrounding areas in the early morning hours of August 1, many woke up to flooded streets on August 2, Friday —however, classes were not suspended until much later in the day.
We know from birth that for half of the year the Philippines is as hot as a scorched desert and the rest of the year it’s Waterworld. I wonder why we still can’t get the timings of class and work suspensions right a lot of the time.
Sometime last month, there was a day that Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso suspended classes in the wee hours. The that day proved to be rain-free though overcast. That was a waste of a good day, but weather forecasting is an inexact science, so no harm, no foul—it’s better to be safe than sorry.
But last Friday, though the rains kept falling steadily throughout the day, Domagoso did not suspend classes in the city until mid-morning. Also slow on the draw was Makati’s Mayor Abby Binay, who suspended classes for elementary and high school classes only at 12 noon. Quezon City also announced the same mid-morning.
By then, as everyone well knows, students were already at their schools. What an inconvenience for them, the teachers, and everyone who had to turn around and trudge back home again in the floodwaters.
Neither did government suspend work, even if clearly many employees had a difficult time coming to and leaving work given the traffic.
Many students and teachers, though, are griping instead of rejoicing over the free day, because they know they have to make up the missed classes later on in the year.
How can we be more productive given the problem of the metropolis’ drainage and sewage system? It extremely difficult to fix given the complexity of the infrastructure in question. So if we can’t prevent floods, how can we make sure that work still gets done?
The answer lies in technology.
Classes and work can be conducted virtually. The former is being done by many well-off universities and schools already, but for some to a limited extent. The University of Santo Tomas, for instance, uses Blackboard Learn Ultra for blended learning.
Blackboard is a cloud-based learning management system that allows students and teachers to interact in pretty much the same way people do on Facebook. BB enables communication (announcement posting, emails, chat) and content (class lessons, readings, assignments, school calendar, grades). There are other similar LMS applications, one of which, Moodle, is free-to-use and open-source.
When such an LMS is fully implemented by a school, classes can be conducted online no matter how long or strong the rains pound down. No need for makeup classes, and everyone’s comfortable.
Similarly, in relation to government work, perhaps this administration can be the one to implement ‘work from home’ for government employees who perform back-office or administration work.
In December last year, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Telecommuting Act into law. Under Republic Act 11165, private sector employers may offer a work-from-home option to their employees. This law protects the rights of such workers.
However, there is no law nor order that allows government workers to telecommute.
It must be noted, however, that these solutions presuppose that individuals have access to a computer and fast bandwidth – something that is out of reach for many. It’s something to think about and work toward for the future.
Here’s another point I noticed. Apart from the ill-timed suspensions, why are many Filipinos still unprepared for bad weather? One would suppose that the sale of rainboots and raincoats would be through the roof. Yet I don’t see many people wearing them except for some policemen, traffic enforcers, and people who are often out in inclement weather the whole day. How about students and workers, though?
Yesterday I saw a video of policemen helping students cross a flooded area of UST. They had three or so plastic monobloc chairs that they moved, one by one, in front of the students to step on until they had crossed.
The first thing I thought was, how inefficient, because it was a laborious process. Second, how unfair, because the two students in the video were more or less dry, but beside them other people were sloshing in the shin-deep water. Why did only some get the special treatment? Sana all.
Also, why weren’t these folks wearing rainboots? If they were, there would have been no need for the policemen and the plastic chairs. For that matter, why isn’t everyone wearing rainboots? Is is a style issue? Fashion be damned! Leptospirosis is a clear and present danger during the rainy season. Logically one would expect everyone who does a fair to good amount of city walking to have a pair. I do—because it’s common sense. Folks, get your kids and yourself rainboots!
As I write this, the rain still pours down. Our street in a poor section of Makati is flooded ankle-deep. At least there is no school today nor work for many. It’s Sunday; time to rest and leave weighty ponderings for another day.
Walang tigil ang ulan/ At nasaan ka, araw? ~ Apo Hiking Society
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