By JC Gaillard, Catherine C. Liamzon, and Jessica D. Villanueva (6 July 2005):
Edited from Gaillard, JC, C.C. Liamzon, and J.D. Villanueva. 2007. "'Natural' disaster? A retrospective into the causes of the late-2004 typhoon disaster in Eastern Luzon, Philippines". Environmental Hazards, vol. 7, no. 1, in press.
Illegal logging was quickly identified as one of the causes of the devastating slope failures and floods. Filipino government officials promptly associated illegal logging with the decades-long armed struggle of the government against the leftist insurgency of the New People's Army (NPA). President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was quoted that "we will go after these illegal loggers. You know a lot of the illegal loggers are NPAs". On the other hand, opposition representatives blamed the government for not tracking down the loggers and considered that "the actions of this administration directly contributed to the national tragedy we have experienced, and will result in similar tragedies in the future". The opposition further suggested subjecting loggers to the death penalty.
Looking for scapegoats in the face of disasters is common and often relieves the accusers of their own, conscious or unconscious, guilt feelings. The scapegoats are usually selected on the basis of latent hostilities or due to their violation of moral standards and basic values. Here, the government used the disaster to further charge the NPA at a time when the conflict with separatist Muslim groups cooled down. The death of hundreds of innocent victims was then a powerful argument. On the other side, opposition leaders who were fighting the incumbent president following its controversial election in May 2004 found new evidence to justify their struggle. The arguments from both sides were relayed by media accomplices. The late-2004 disaster in Eastern Luzon has been politically constructed by the government, opposition politicians and the media, around the alleged responsibility of both Nature and illegal loggers. This political construction is the antithesis of what disaster diplomacy proposes.