INQUIRER Sports

FROM ROLLING-with-the-puncheses to one-miss-you-die, it?s now down to a race-against-the-clock.

They?ve got to get rid of those mounds and mountains of uncollected garbage before it?s too late.

It?s critical, acute as an inflamed appendix that could burst and kill if not removed immediately.

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This comes from a vacationing international adviser on disaster control and recovery, who has been recalled for emergency duty in Manila.

He?s busy, almost sleepless this past week, helping contain the deathly damage inflicted by tropical storm ?Ondoy? on the country.

But before tackling the lurking dangers, the disaster-control expert took time out to commend the city government of Mandaluyong, headed by Mayor Benhur Abalos, for responding promptly to a call sounded by the Inquirer to immediately disinfect the deluge of debris that lay uncollected for days all over the city.

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A check yesterday morning, the day after the warning, showed the mounds of uncollected garbage, mainly along the busy G. Aglipay Street leading to the public market on Gen. Kalentong, cleared.

Left were traces of whitish powder, the lime elements that were obviously sprayed over the debris hours prior to their much-delayed collection.

?You?re lucky out there in Mandaluyong,? he said. ?But please continue your advocacy against the garbage problem.?

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But didn?t you say we?re already safe?

?Yes, but there?s a bigger problem in other areas I had visited, mainly Cainta and Pasig.?

How come?

?The garbage problem there has been magnified.?

How gravely, would you say?

?From 100 to 1,000 times compared to the pre-flood situation.?

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That sounded exaggerated, but the expert claimed it could be far worse than what he stated.

?Actually, they?re all doing their best out there; there?s visible progress in debris clearing,? he said.

He added: ?Other than the regular garbage collectors working overtime, there are Army units deployed to lead and assist.?

But the graver problem is that this mass action could be enough only if they were tackling the usual abnormal garbage situation, like debris dumped in creeks and waterways.

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The amount of debris that emerged, from flooded living rooms and unimagined sources after ?Ondoy? struck, was unbelievable.

The expert said it was not only sickening, but completely monstrous.

?There was already a big problem before the big typhoon struck on Saturday, but I don?t think we will have the capacity to contain another clogging and the accompanying killer floods immediately,? he said.

OK, there are indeed, by this time, additional personnel, more boats, equipment, better preparedness all over, he noted.

But this fight has become a critical race against the clock. He said he?s afraid they don?t have enough time to readily clear out the garbage for the safety of residents in the affected areas.

Another torrential downpour is sure to result in another disaster, what with the deluge of debris spilling back to their hopeless origins, he said.

?It?s hard to imagine what would happen if another storm strikes in two days.?