Politics vs Public Service

Have just read an article reporting that Teodoro was advised as early as February of the urgent need to purchase rubber rafts to assist during flash floods. Teodoro opted to submit the purchase to public bidding and hence no rafts.

Teodoro would seem like the most educated of the presidential aspirants, with his Masters of Laws from Harvard. As chair of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, the recent events would have given him a platform to demonstrate his leadership abilities. Instead, he has played his hand meekly, being only good for probably downplayed figures of deaths and damages.

I listened once to one of his press conferences over the radio. He took literally five minutes to say that PGMA had given him authority to seek international assistance. He began, "In my capacity as NDCC chair serving under PGMA... PGMA has given me, as chair of NDCC, which serves under Malacanang and PGMA, the authority as NDCC chair, which serves as the disaster coordinating arm of the Palace..." jeezums...

The elections are next year. Noynoy and Mar, Erap and Binay, Villar, Chiz and Loren... those are the ones who I know are running as of now although Escudero and Legarda have not made a formal announcement. I'm not sure who Villar's running mate is yet.

There was a lot of clamor for Noynoy to run in the wake of Cory's passing. My take was that if he had no plans of running before Cory's death, then he should not have run for president. However, if Erap did decide to run, then I would have hoped that Noynoy declared his candidacy. If Erap's appeal is as strong as it was when he first ran and we have still not matured politically, then I think it might only be countered by unifying behind Noynoy and the Aquino mystique.

One tandem that dropped out of the race to throw their support behind Noynoy was Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio and Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca. I was excited about the idea of their running. For me, they represented a new brand of politics. Public service.

I'm not so dissuaded by arguments of lack of experience or lack of visibility. I think Panlilio and Padaca have concrete achievements in their provinces. I think it's also important to remember that a president has to be the president of the country and not of Manila. But they're not running anymore so...

I don't need a president with a postgraduate degree from an Ivy League school. I don't need a president whose achievements are based on how often they're in the newspapers. I just want a president who's honest and who has the Philippines' best interests at heart. For once.

Teacher Rose and Teacher Melorine

There were some aspects of our visit to Pasig that I was not able to include in my story, but stand out to me.

The first is Teacher Rose. Teacher Rose is a day care teacher at Liberato Damian Elementary School. She was stranded during the floods but took charge when hundreds of families flocked to the school for refuge.

She got the families settled into the classrooms and registered each of them herself. While some evacuation centers are marred by fighting over relief goods, Liberato Damian is quite well managed. When relief goods arrive, Teacher Rose calls on family representatives to receive the goods. She is also the go-to person whenever the evacuees need anything.

I mentioned Teacher Melorine. She handles preschool and Grade 2. The teachers were asked to wait for the arrival of UNICEF Executive Director Anne Veneman. Teacher Melorine entertained about 100 displaced children and mothers in her preschool classroom before and after Veneman's visit, reading to them and playing games. Before I left, she was leading them in a dance rendition of "Nobody" (clap clap). Her husband is also a teacher at the school.



At one point during the visit, two boys also began playing with empty donation boxes. I wished I could have included that in my story. I imagine that those boxes were filled with cans or other relief goods at some point. The children have nothing to do as they wait to get back to the lives they knew and no matter the circumstance, a child's natural propensity for play will emerge.

I also met Fortunata Serrano. She has two grandchildren. Carlo has down syndrome and only came to the evacuation center that day. Her other grandchild, Nicole, was involved in a hit and run accident about a year ago and still experiences involuntary seizures. Fortunata's 89-year old mother was still at their home. She had been bed-ridden ever since she had a stroke. Relatives take turns at the evacuation center and their house so they can watch over her.

the girl in mcdo

i was standing in line for breakfast at mcdonald's yesterday. a girl in the other line was speaking on her cell phone through a bluetooth headset. something about a child who was hit by a car and suffered fractures. i don't know if the girl was the driver. then she said "hold on, i'll call you back. i'll just order."

Ondoy and Pepeng

Landslides up north and Pangasinan is under water. Pepeng and Ondoy really did us over. Many breathed a sigh of relief when Pepeng decided to spare Manila, which is still recovering from Ondoy's floods, but the damage up north may be even more severe.

Officials operating the San Roque Dam are in hot water for indiscriminately releasing waters without warning. NDCC chief and presidential aspirant Gilberto Teodoro demanded an explanation, but I think the buck stops with him. Government has not shown at all that they are on top of disaster response and relief efforts.

In Manila, MMDA chair Bayani Fernando declined to discuss technical aspects of their flood control system which reports say were operational but obsolete and left to deteriorate. A few months ago, Fernando had announced that Manila's flood problem was solved.

Brgy Sta Cruz, Pasig

They are in school, but they can't attend classes.

The flood waters that still inundate much of the Philippines' capital have become black with human waste and garbage, which seem to reflect the fear and hopelessness that many felt when Typhoon Ondoy struck the country on Sept. 26, 2009.

"We felt it was hopeless," said Jennifer Cortel who lives in a classroom with her six children, along with eight other families. "The water rose so quickly, but I knew I had to be brave for the children." Family members and neighbours helped Jennifer carry her children, who range from 12 months to 11 years old, to safety in waist-high waters and biting rain.

Jennifer's family is among 116 families who were evacuated to classrooms on three floors of the Liberato Damian Elementary School in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Pasig City. The city, in the eastern part of the metropolis, was among the worst hit by the killer floods. Many of the barangay's residents fought their way through rising waters and strong currents to the upper floors of the five storey building, and have been unable to return to their homes, which they left as quickly as the waters rose.

At the school, potted plants and chairs divide the hallways into the operational classrooms and those housing evacuees. In the hallways, children and babies sleep on sacks and cardboard while their mothers boil rice on pots and pans that their husbands were able to salvage from their homes. From the balcony, they watch as trash floats in the black shin-deep water. The rooms, which would normally seat 20 to 30 students, now house up to 14 families each. Almost every room has two or more infants. Many school-age children sit listlessly, waiting for the hours to pass and eyeing the sky nervously whenever the clouds begin to rumble.

The government ordered the resumption of classes a week after Typhoon Ondoy hit, but life is anything but back to normal, especially as many schools have been converted into evacuation centres.

Jennifer's son, 8-year-old RJ Carl Ashley, sat crying softly on the cold concrete floor of Room 19 on the fourth floor because he wanted to attend classes. A Grade 3 student at the school where he has been living for almost two weeks, RJ, like many other children in more than 500 evacuation centres throughout the capital, escaped the floods with only the drenched clothes on their backs.

"All his clothes were destroyed. His uniform is gone and his bag and notebooks are covered with mud," Jennifer said. She has offered to do the laundry of fellow evacuees in order to pay for just a few notebooks and pencils so that RJ and the rest of her children can study again. This means having to brave the brackish water to a barangay hall around the corner to fill a pail with clean water, and then making the trip back.

Jaime de Venecia, a 6th grader at Liberato Damian, fled to the school on Saturday morning with his parents and three siblings. His dream is to graduate from school and get a good job so that he can help his parents. He spends the days anxiously waiting for the waters to recede.

"When the flood waters go down, I really want to go back to school already but I can't also go back because I don't have school things and clothes which we were unable to save in the rush to save ourselves from the onrushing flood waters."

Typhoon Ondoy's aftermath ushered in a great wave of volunteerism and goodwill toward those affected by the deadly storm. However, while most efforts have understandably gone toward filling the immediate and material needs of affected families such as food, shelter and clothing; the specific needs of children must also be met.

"In times of emergencies, concerns of children are not given enough prominence," said UNICEF Education Chief Ma. Lourdes de Vera. "From the point of view of children, what they need is normalcy. We need to ensure that they have creative experiences. That's their world. Without it, their world crumbles."

Although classes have resumed, teachers and school officials fear that it will take some time before any sense of normalcy can return. On the first day back, teacher Melorine Gallardo, who handles preschool and Grade 2, said none of her students were able to attend. On the second day, two students managed to come to school. In addition, many teachers were also affected by the floods and some have become evacuees themselves.

Principal Arsenia Soriano said that overall, only about 7 to 10% of the school's 1600 student population have been able to go back to school. Although they are a safe refuge for many evacuees, many school buildings were also damaged in the storm and several remain flooded. In Pasig alone, 34 out of the city's 40 schools were affected by Typhoon Ondoy, with 21 serving as evacuation centres. At the Liberato Damian Elementary School, nine classrooms were devastated and hundreds of books and basic school supplies such as chalk, were destroyed. School officials estimate that it may take months before things get back to normal.

"We know school performance will go down whether we like it or not," said Ms. Soriano. "Many of the students come from poor families and we're afraid they might stop coming because they can't afford to anymore."

While the streets remain flooded, even children who were not displaced by the storm are struggling to resume their studies. Many now have to pay 20 to 60 pesos for one trip on makeshift boats just to travel the few hundred metres from their homes to the school – precious funds that many of the daily wage-earning families must also set aside for food.

However, damage to buildings and roads can be rebuilt. Typhoon Ondoy's psychosocial effects on children may be more permanent and difficult to repair, if not properly addressed. Aside from losing their homes, belongings and even nearly their lives; the first sounds of raindrops falling on tin roofs now trigger fear and panic in many children. However, regaining a sense of normalcy does not mean going back to business as usual and sweeping the traumatic events under a rug.

"The more it's ignored, the more it stays with them – the scar, the trauma. We need to help children unload their fears or you don't know what might happen to them," de Vera said.

In line with its advocacy for a more comprehensive disaster response, UNICEF has not only replaced damaged school supplies but is also addressing the psychosocial needs of child victims of Typhoon Ondoy. Aside from distributing early child care and development (ECCD) packages consisting of books, toys and other learning materials to affected schools and evacuation centres, UNICEF is also providing stress debriefing and psychosocial counselling through creative modes such as art and play therapy to affected children and encouraging the creation of child-friendly spaces in evacuation centres.

Despite their ordeals, Typhoon Ondoy has not dampened people's wills to survive or the children's resilience. By continuing to nurture the children's creativity and valuing their education even in the most extraordinary circumstances, they will realize that when the waters finally clear, their dreams have not been washed away and that they can weather any storm.

Ondoy In the Words of Jaime de Venecia

Ang Bagyong Ondoy sa Aking Buhay(translated)
Undoy, the storm and my life

It was Saturday morning and I was dressing up to go to the church for the soup kitchen . I was part of their Bible study class . It was starting to rain quite hard and my siblings and I did not proceed anymore. By ten am, my family and I were starting to get scared because the water was rising swiftly .

One by one, my Mama gathered us and we hurried to this school, in Liberato Damian. The first night we were here, we had a hard time adjusting – so many different kinds of people, noisy and troublesome. I could not sleep so what I really want to happen is for everything to normalize. I wish the flood waters would subside so that we can go home, go to school and go back to our life.

This is my Ondoy experience

My name is Jaime de Venecia of 6-3. There are three siblings in the family and we are all studying here at Liberato Damian where we are temporarily housed due to Ondoy.

I really wish the flood waters would subside so that our house will not be totally destroyed. You see, this is made of flimsy material – just stuff that my Papa asked for from his boss at the construction. It was wood and stuff just patched up together , this is how we got to have a house. If the house gets destroyed all the way, then we will no longer have a home.

When the flood waters go down I really want to go back to school already but I can’t also go back because I don’t have school things and clothes which we were unable to save in the rush to save ourselves from the onrushing flood waters.

My big dream is to graduate from school so that I can helpmy parents and siblings . I can see my father having a very hard time, his body is not as strong. My ambition is to have a really great job, even as a janitor so that his work will not need to be so hard. He and my mother are so hardworking and they really take very good care of us, especially our schooling so we will not end up like them, uneducated, without a nice home.

But still I am grateful that we are together as a family even if we are poor and lacking all the necessities in life.

thoughts

Any help is good. I will begin by saying that. But I have some observations. I have been trying to find ways to articulate it fairly because I already anticipate some of the offended reactions. Generally, I am irritated with what I think is a superficial approach to volunteerism in the wake of Saturday's floods. While FB has been useful in mobilizing people and informing them where donations can be made, which areas are dangerous, etc., I think we can do without the self-aggrandizing status updates.

I found some comments, although innocuous, disturbing upon further reflection. Many people have talked about how "good it feels to help" and that those helping should feel "proud" of themselves. First of all, I don't think one should feel good after helping. One should feel upset and concerned that there's never enough that can be done. To say it feels so good to help seems to me a bit self-satisfied, re-directing focus on the person giving rather than the calamity and those in need of help. It's a bit sickening. There's no reason to pat ourselves on the back for giving someone a can of sardines when they've lost everything.