Volunteer

FIRST PERSON

- ALEX MAGNO

Be assured San Miguel's Ramon Ang has not lost his mind. He is simply hard-nosed.

Last week, several Metro Manila mayors and the MMDA chairman himself assembled at the tycoon's office to see how the nation's largest conglomerate could help alleviate the flooding problem. They were clearly a desperate bunch. Many streets remain submerged and all our hospitals were filled with leptospirosis patients. Nearly all the flood control projects farmed out through the congressional districts were failing.

Yesterday, this paper headlined a story estimating that 60 percent of the hundreds of billions allocated for flood control was lost to corruption. The real toll is even worse. If a dike collapses or a substandard project fails to perform, 100 percent of the taxpayer money invested in them is lost.

Citizens lose everything. Politicians flaunt their wealth.

Corruption has become so severe the past few years that government is paralyzed in the face of calamity. Local executives have no one to turn to in these desperate times except the private sector. In his last SONA, all President Marcos could do was to shame the shameless.

Ramon Ang did not disappoint his guests. He volunteered to help solve the flooding in the NCR and adjacent provinces at no cost to the taxpayer. The offer stirred public hopes that something could indeed be done — by volunteers from the corporate world if not by a shell-shocked government.