Condemn Maguindanao Massacre

Sadly, I live in this country...

…. where women, human rights lawyers and journalists are killed like criminals - (this is an understatement)

…. where women, accompanied by lawyers and journalists, on their way to Shariff Aguak to file the certificate of candidacy of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu for governor of Maguindanao, were slaughtered like animals by cold-blooded killers in broad daylight.

Like most of you out there, I am terribly shaken to the core. These women, lawyers and journalists were all there as believers of our democratic process and why such high price to pay for doing so?! I pray for the victims and their families. I pray for this country. I pray for justice to be served.

“We seek justice for the victims, we seek justice for our rights to freedom.”

Things I learned from Ondoy

1. Complacency is bane during moments of disaster

It came as a surprise, one minute my family was sitting around the dining table having pleasant lunch, the next minute I was moving around like Dash rummaging on whatever I could get my hands on like the bottle box and milk can of my children, canned goods, medicines etc. My husband hurriedly carried my kids to the 2nd floor as they began shouting, “Mommy, look the water is getting inside the house!” Luckily I have a quick helper who snatched all the other valuable items away from the brown water gushing inside our house and positioned our things on top of every elevated structure available (dining table, countertop, etc.) We never anticipated the flood to reach our house since it is elevated 4 feet from the ground/garage. Our area never got flooded even when most of Metro Manila is flooded during incidents of heavy typhoons. Our neighbors thought the same since most of them overslept on a Saturday morning, unmindful of the continuous downpour that started on Friday evening, we were all confident that we were safe from the flood. Next thing we knew, our cars were submerged in deep brownish water. Too late, the water may have gone through the circuits as one car started off its alarm when the flood rose rapidly seeping in each and every crevice, the sounding off was like a call for help while we all watch helpless as the brown water monster swallowed them all.

2. Our government could not afford rubber boats but could afford fine-dining at luxurious restaurants abroad

All of us have been witness to the amount of help the Ondoy victims got from the private sector. Once again, our government showed its helplessness amidst major calamities such as this one and on how it cannot be dependent upon by its needy citizens. There were not enough rubber boats to rescue those who were trapped on their rooftops particularly residents of Provident Village in Marikina, subdivisions along Imelda Avenue in Cainta and other areas in Pasig. I get a headache every time I recall that Pres. Arroyo and her cohorts dined at Le Cirque in NY for $20,000 and at Van’s Steakhouse in Washington for $15,000, wow that’s a whopping $35,000, if you take out your calculator and convert $35,000 to P46/$1, you get P 1.6 million (P1,610,000). That for me is big money to buy 35 to 50 additional rubber boats that cost around P32,000 to P45,000 per unit. To top it all, the government announced that their contingency fund is running low, the reason again is, it has been authorized for used in the previous foreign travels of Pres. Arroyo.

3. Material things are well just material

We have a friend who lives in Vista Verde, one of the badly flooded subdivisions in Cainta, realizing that the flood was rising fast, she and her family left their house and drove their new SUV to a neighboring elevated village. She and her husband thought that they could do nothing more to rescue the contents of their house since they live in a bungalow. They had their essentials with them, she reasoned, they have their kids strapped at the back-seat and they drove as fast as the rising waters would permit them during the height of typhoon Ondoy.

4. Bayanihan is well and alive

If there is one great thing brought about by this massive flooding, I need not say more, the amount of support from every Filipino inside and outside of the country is overwhelming. The donations and the volunteers are outpouring like Ondoy’s outpouring rain, our efforts to ease the pain and suffering of our countrymen is ever present and alive. We all should learn from rival networks like ABS-CBN and GMA 7 whose race to become the best network in the land in terms of raising funds/donations through Sagip Kapamilya and Kapuso Foundation is working well towards benefitting thousands of lives. We are also grateful to the aid extended to us by foreign governments and international organizations. Much of this assistance has gone a long way to help those who have lost their homes and lives and basic right to live a normal life especially the children. I hope and pray that long-term solutions for those displaced from their homes be made possible. Maybe a village donation would be a good start for the communities tossed in evacuations centers, a village with reasonable location wherein displaced families could still have access to their source of income. Another concern would be to beef up funds and info-campaign, re-organized and strengthen the disaster management system and program of the government including the private sector. It is time that we all take disaster preparedness and management seriously, ours is a disaster-prone country, aside from lying in the circum-Pacific seismic belt, we received about an average of 19 cyclones per year.

5. Be prepared like a boy scout and a girl scout

Ondoy the big floodmaker shook the core in each of us. I chat with my friends and officemates about it and evidently most of us have taken the issue of disaster preparedness more seriously than before. Someone even mentioned that he’s going to purchase a rubber boat, lifesavers and lifejackets for the family and renovate the 2nd floor of the house for an emergency exit door and evacuation area in case of another massive flooding. I on the other hand became more conscious on the contents of my kitchen cupboard. I make sure that we have adequate stock of canned goods and first aid medicines. The picture of harried masses lining up in the grocery on a Sunday after the big flood receded in our place stuck with me. For the first time I did my grocery at Puregold Shaw, I found its shelves almost empty of sardines, corn beef, canned tuna and meatloaf. People around me, like me, were all pouring canned foods into our carts our hands and arms could amass.

6. What is Climate Change?

One needs not be an environmentalist to understand the global impact of Climate Change. Environment experts warned that cyclone Ketsana (Ondoy) is just a taste of what it is to come in the future. According to the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), human activities have contributed to climate change; activities that led to the increase of the 4 principal greenhouse gases like as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons. The release of carbon dioxide emissions have greatly contributed to global warming which is a significant factor in the increase in intensity as well as frequency of typhoons. For a friendly detailed discussion on Climate Change and Global Warming, you may visit IPPC and Noble Peace Price environment activist Al Gore.

Photos: Globalnational.com, Travelpod.com

Impt!

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My source: Ondoy Tumblr

Active dot in the blogosphere

Okay I’ve moved on. I’m done grieving for Pres. Cory’s passing from this world but of course the inspiration she has stirred among us lingers. Her death affected multitudes and I’ve never felt my Pinoy blood flood my consciousness as vigorous as the way it did while witnessing the outpouring of love and respect for an icon of democracy. I hope these emotions would be translated into concrete manifestations of our love for our country’s gift of democracy. I hope that we would all take the responsibility of keeping it unscathed and protected.

Long live Pres. Cory!

Source: Definitely Filipino

Thank you Tita Cory

My father bought a copy of this magazine when I was in grade 4 and this is how I got to know more about Mrs. Corazon C. Aquino aside from the media feed at home while witnessing the 1986 EDSA Revolution. I am very sure and a lot of people will agree that “Tita Cory” will always be an icon of democracy not only to Filipinos but the whole world as well. She was our instrument of faith that finally ended the dark days of the Marcos dictatorship. Our bloodless revolution in 1986 has put our country back in the world map of consciousness and has inspired various democratic movements worldwide. Imagine guns vs. flowers… people vs. tanks… deception vs. prayers… and finally an unassuming widow dressed in yellow vs. a strongman from the north, that for me is FAITH.

Image: Time.com

More on Pres. Aquino

Murmurs

I feel a different kind of sadness today. The sort that won’t leave no matter how hard I’ve diverted my thoughts into work. And now I resort to writing about it. Recognition is a sweet surrender to this “thing” as it finally gets thrown into the air and earns an identity somehow for now I am forced to name it.

Triggering pt

It started when I read an e-mail from a dear friend. Many times, our exchanges were limited to family, best practices on motherhood and parenting and our respective work. Our closeness started way back in 1999, we were both involve with agricultural research and development at the prestigious SEARCA.

She sent me a forwarded message about the Philippines, on why it has now became a not-so-hot country. I believe that the not-so-hot list has generated the same breed of feelings from the both of us since we’re used to thinking the same.

We share a similar bond and a passion to build our lives and future around and for this country. We remind ourselves of this, more than a responsibility but a commitment, as my History 1 Professor puts it - we are UP students, a privilege made possible by the Filipino taxpayers. I believed him and so does my friend and we take it seriously that our talents and knowledge would always be utilized properly and appropriately for the country. Of course, I am not talking about world peace and total eradication of poverty but at least something close to it, something to contribute.

“Not-so-hot” list

I’ve read the not-so-hot list and felt a stab of pain. I wanted to agree with some, I also felt strongly against the other points. However I was taken aback by the last point which went like this - the Philippines is a country where everybody wants to get the hell out of it.

Cruel and true

It’s a cruel statement but it‘s partly true. Statistics indicate that we are one of the highest in the world as source of immigrants for popular countries in the OECD*. Personally, I have plenty of friends and relatives who found better jobs and lives in a foreign land. And now this “thing” is disturbing me.

Honestly, I am beginning to entertain the possibility of exploring the horizon on the basis of a desire for a sound environment – social, political and natural- not only for myself but also for my family. I am hesitant with this idea of pursuing long-term security for it makes me feel like I am turning my back on my country. My husband has a different perspective on this; he says that being a Filipino is not confined to the geographical boundaries of the Philippines. More than our birthright, we become Filipinos from our personal and genuine decision to be one.

I may feel like packing my bags too and its tough and its breaking my heart into pieces.

*Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development