Family Matters.

RIGHT, a bamboo balsa, a common sight during the 2009 Typhoon Ondoy.


When rain raged in Metro Manila, and people got stranded on the roads last Thursday evening, we decided to get ready for flood.

The creek behind us was not yet swollen to dangerous level but we needed to be alert.

We went to Rustan's early Friday morning to buy ammunition: canned goods, bread, fruits, snacks, mosquito coil and Baygon mosquito oil repellent, veggies, chicken.

We charged two emergency light kits with electric fan and radio. We checked battery supply for portable radio.

Then I got the backyard cleaned; all floatables were tied or kept in higher ground. Wednesday and Thursday, I collected the smaller pots and plants that were candidates to be swept away by water, placed them in big basins and on top of a glass table in the front yard, near the resident dog, Shadee. All basins and pails at the Laundry Shed, the garden hose, the "bayongs" used for marketing days, the smaller water containers, the bamboo poles not yet erected for my landscaping project were either stored, tied or loaded into safe nooks.

Shadee whose sleeping quarter is a garden bench underneath a colorful umbrella was not spared from the onslaught of heavy, intermittent rain of Falcon. She would squirm at times when rain caught her off guard, so, I placed a heavy rug doormat on the bench to keep her warm. Her water and food containers were beside her as she would not dare touch the wet floor.

Now, I surveyed the interior of the house. The living room which is the lowest point of the house was the most vulnerable area. There were furniture all around: two large cushioned couches, a huge wooden "narra" divan laced with "rattan" and "embuti," two chairs, a lanai-type narra two seater gallenera. Earlier, I moved the TV to the dining area, and swore never to return it to the living room.

With the remaining furniture nowhere to go, I mounted each piece on plastic chairs and sturdy rattan chairs, and brought the lounge sofa into the storage room. Then, I lifted all cables resting on the floor and fastened them onto walls. Thursday and Friday were also the two days when the ISP guys came to fix the Internet connection.

The lanai, even though it had a ceiling, got a bit soaked from the splash of the rain, so it had to be constantly wiped. The hallway leading to the backyard and the garage was a mini version of a Manila street - victim of flash flood.

On Friday evening, I constanty monitored the street outside for any sign of flood; yes there was already flood brought on by the continuous rain, but it was about five metres away from our gate, and thank God the creek remained below the risk level. Again, anytime the rain raged on, I would swear to buy a rubber boat or the newly popularized light weight banca.

Cleaning the chairs, the lanai, the front and backyard, and safeguarding the furniture took its toll Saturday evening, when my body started to get sore. But come Sunday morn, I felt better.

Having left behind an unfinished project in Bulacan, we looked forward to receiving a call from the construction crew; this materialized last Monday morning, so we drove back in haste to Bulacan.

The weather stabilized on June 27th, so the workers proceeded fencing the property, a task put on hold by the torrential rain of the previous week. Yesterday, during the town Fiesta, dubbed "Manok ni San Pedro," the fencing was completed, and already, there are two prospective buyers.

But the stress of ejecting an illegal settler, of moving back and forth from site to local hotel, of ingesting dust and odour from open sewer took another toll and finally, I succumbed to a bout of hay fever - runny nose, chest congestion, and earth shaking ten-a-time sneezing.

Now, we're back in Manila and savouring R and R.