My Own Search and Rescue Op.

LEFT - Along the stretch of  Sandoval in Cainta.

Funny how a month into the country of birth could transform people's lives.  I got here last 3rd September with a heart full of anticipation - unsure of how things would shape up in the home front.

Back in TO, days and nights spent composing blogs borne out of inspiration and frustration, became days and nights in Manila composing limited notes borne out of frustration.

People dissappeared and appeared in my life.

Our relatives seen years and years before visited my ailing mother; friends appeared and important people in my life sent signals that either went strong or kaput.

Then "dilubyo" in the form of Ondoy came.  People within my circle got displaced;  I got displaced.  

Thousands of miles from Toronto to Manila -  I have been conducting my own search and rescue operation. And if my heart goes out strong still, I pray that no amount of negative emotional/weather report would dampen this search and rescue op. 

I don't know how this episode would end.  I don't even know if you would be interested in saving or rescuing a person's life. 

It is not just the other person's life on the line; it may also be yours, in the long run.  Think about it.  Seriously. 

Makati Me.

LEFT, with nephew Hens

BELOW, "Frankie"the car, battled it out with the flood in Quezon City and Pasig

After Ondoy, checked in a Makati suite to get a restful week.

Although armed with a map of Makati, I kept getting lost because of the no left turns in several streets.

"Makati me" might be misconstrued as "pornographic line" but actually when texting, it just means " I am in Makati."

Whew! Baha sa Maynila.

PICTURES - At the gate of Greenwoods Village, and approach at Sandoval St.   

I was checking on a relative to see when we'd eat out and she started to say she was worried about the Pasig River which was quickly rising.  Then later, I saw water coming inside the bathroom in the house where I stay. I alerted my sis and she just said " oh it's just rain water and the drainage could not absorb it."  Fine.

Then water started to appear in my bedroom and in the other bedroom of the sunken portion of the house.  Oops.  I said, "there's flood, sis. "  And the rug in the living room started to get wet. Then my sis noticed and my bro in law got out of the bedroom, and we started to ACT. 

It was the first time in the twenty nine years that they've lived in a part of Quezon City that my sis' house got flooded (and their villlage).  The entire village was caught by surprise.  One house had its wall collapsed and water just rushed in.  This family's car got washed down and neighbour's small kids had to be rescued by neighbours.  

It was a bit late when me and my bro in law went to the garage and water was about to reach the floors of the cars.  My bro in law said, "we're late, let insurance pay for whatever damage there'd be."

I saw neighbours pushing a car into the flooded street to a higher ground and asked if they could do the same to the car I was using.  They agreed.  My bro in law decided to have his car moved, too.

The current was heavy and walking through the flood became dangerous.  One neighbour said he saw a dog drowned.

My mother's house in Fairview did not see the wrath of Ondoy.  No flood there.  

But loved ones who live in Cainta were not so lucky.  Their house backing to a creek got submerged earlier, and up to today, water is still inside the house.  But what is so disheartening is that the entire villages of Greenwoods, Mercedes, Parkwoods, etc are totally cut off from the rest of the world.  The streets leading to their villages, Mercedes and Sandoval are still waist deep in water.

The municipal government, it says, is doing all it can to resolve the problem.  I personally saw the misery.

People from the villages have been reduced to refugees -they have to ride on make shift "balsas" and "kariton" just to get out of their villages into the city streets of Pasig to do grocery and to get to the outside world, to work and to other places.

These Cainta villages sit on what used to be rice land, that's why water can enter rapidly but could not recede quickly.  The last time this happened was about ten years ago.  It took at least a week for the water to totally subside.

My heart bleeds for these people.  My relatives had to check into a hotel because they could no longer take riding the "balsa" which could be dangerous at times.  Depression sets in upon seeing their house still submerged in water.

Fortunately, the Pinoy is blessed with a terrific sense of humour.  This afternoon, I saw hundreds of families moving about in the flooded streets of Mercedes, tricycles, heavy trucks, SUVs, jeepneys all jockeying for position, but I was amazed at the calmness despite the tragedy.

I love the Pinoy.  I love our sense of patience and camaraderie.  Bless the Pinoy.