Earthquake, Tsunami in Japan

A 9.0 earthquake struck northeastern Japan Friday, unleashing an apocalyptic chain of events. Video showed buildings violently rattling for over 5 minutes, and sirens blaring over coastal towns warning of a coming tsunami. Aerial footage showed a clean line of waves barreling down on Japan's coast and tiny cars trying to get out of the way.

I found a picture today online of parents who had found their daughter trapped in the wreckage of a car. The caption said that the 18-year-old girl had been on a driving lesson when she was caught in the tsunami. Her mother gently touches her head while her father looks on.

The rescue of an elderly man who was swept nine miles out into the sea also made the news. The man and his wife had returned to their home after the quake to retrieve some belongings when the tsunami hit. The man survived by clinging to the roof of his house. His wife was swept away.

There are many more stories of narrow escapes and lives lost. Today, it was reported that 2,000 bodies had been discovered as they washed up on the shore.

Ampatuan Massacre 2

Andal Ampatuan Jr., the prime suspect in Monday's massacre, is currently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation after "submitting" himself to authorities. In the meantime, more bodies have been unearthed in Barangay Salman, bringing the death toll to 64.

In the past few days, witnesses have begun to come forth with their accounts of what happened, coloring the landscape, which was alien to our imaginations. All the women were raped, one gunman said. They were merely following orders, another said. Their orders were to kill everybody.

Justice chief Agnes Devanedera said the women were discovered with their pants down and with shots fired into their genitals. Based on some tissue reactions observed in autopsies, a forensics expert suggested that some of the victims may have still been alive when they were thrown into the shallow grave and covered with earth.

It's very difficult to process all the information that is coming out.

Ampatuan Massacre 1

Mindanao Massacre

I'm trying to react to the massacre in Mindanao of women, journalists and civilians.

It's been described as the worst incident of political violence in the country and the bloodiest day for journalists in world history. Bodies are still being dug up from a hillside grave where over 50 women, journalists and civilians were killed and buried.

The convoy, led by Buluan Mayor Esmael Mangundadatu's wife and sisters, was waylaid on its way to Sharif Aguak to file Mangundadatu's certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor. The mayor had received threats from a rival clan that he would be killed or kidnapped if he filed the COCs himself. Believing that the Amaptuans, adhering to Koranic code, would not harm women or civilians, the group was dispatched.

I try to imagine the convoy of seven or eight vehicles traveling through the lonely road before being ambushed by a small army of 100 or so armed men. How the group might have been forced out of their vans and what the victims might have been thinking as they watched their colleagues and relatives assaulted, killed and dumped in a waiting grave prepared by a government backhoe.

It's difficult to imagine. But it happened, in broad daylight.

Deadliest Country For Journalists

It's no secret that journalists are regularly killed in the Philippines. International groups have tagged the Philippines as one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists. Monday's bloodbath probably pushes us to the top. It's also no secret that election-related violence and clan wars are common, particularly in the country's south.

But Monday's incident is mindboggling in the sheer brazenness in which it was committed.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has of course issued the obligatory vow to pursue the killers and bring them to justice but like so much else that spews from her mouth, they seems like empty promises. It's probably more difficult to take her seriously when you know that the Ampatuans are her political allies who are largely considered to have delivered her Maguindanao in the previous election.

The incident is disturbing on so many levels, but maybe our outrage also reveals that for too long we have been complacent about the situation in Mindanao. Monday's bloodbath revealed a level of savagery that is simply incomprehensible and I think frightens us all.

Certainly we have been aware that the south operates according to its own laws and certainly we have heard the outcry of journalists clamoring for justice for colleagues killed in the line of duty. Maybe we became desensitized to news of a provincial journalist being ambushed by motorcycle-riding gunmen here and there.

Certainly, the degree to how much the masterminds believed they could get away with was influenced by how far we have we turned our heads in the opposite direction in the past. I think for this, the scale of the carnage is even more disturbing.

* photo belongs to rightful owners

At The 'Global City'

Was headed to Market Market a few days ago. While waiting in line to enter the parking lot, this is what I saw:

A modified tricycle had been pulled over by a security guard. The tricycle was driven by a man wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Inside the carriage were three or four women, a child and another man. The middle-aged women were dressed in jeans, colorful blouses and a touch of makeup. The child with them might have been about 10 or 11 years old. He was a bit chubby and wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The women leaned out listening to the guard speak, their eyes wide as they clutched their purses to their bodies. I couldn't hear what was being said.

This is what I thought:

I imagined that they were out on a family day trip. Perhaps the women work in blue-collar jobs and had spent the morning dressing up and applying makeup, excited for a day out at the mall. Maybe it was an excursion they had been planning for a while. Perhaps the tricycle was the only vehicle they had. Maybe it's used for their husbands' delivery business. It is a very functional vehicle – the type usually used for delivering water or LPG canisters. Unfortunately, I don't think it's the sort of vehicle that is allowed inside the Global City. I thought that perhaps the family felt embarrassed as car after car passed by them to enter the parking lot. Maybe the security guard was telling them that they had to leave the premises and they were trying to convince him to just let them park as they were only meters from the parking lot.

The whole thing just made me sad.

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."