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150 die in Benguet landslide

Published by Ellen on October 10, 2009

Metro Manilans have not yet recovered from “Ondoy”, “Pepeng” battered other parts of Luzon and left more devastation
Pangasinan residents in ‘virtual ocean’

Baby’s body in sack moves mayor to cry

By Delmar Cariño, Vincent Cabreza, Frank Cimatu,
Inquirer Northern Luzon
Philippine Daily Inquirer

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Gazing at a mountainside that had collapsed, La Trinidad Mayor Artemio Galwan was moved to tears on seeing the ruins of houses swamped by mud.

Then he asked what was inside the sack being carried by a trolley. He was told it contained the body of a baby. It was killed in the landslide that smashed into the community of Little Kibungan.

The mayor’s eyes moistened, he bowed his head and uttered a prayer. On a normal day, the trolley would have been carrying vegetables from highland farms.

Galwan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday more than 20 houses were swept away by the mudslides that occurred on Thursday night, and he feared around 150 people might have been buried in the avalanche that hit his town.

“Kakaasi da piman [They are pitiful],” Galwan, who was supervising rescue operations, said as the first batch of bodies were brought in from the other side of the mountain.

Entire village gone

“I really feel sad. It’s an entire village that was washed out,” he said.

Rescuers yesterday struggled through mud and pounding rain to clear mountain roads and retrieve scores of people dead from the landslides that buried villages and cut off towns in the rain-soaked Northern Luzon.

Reports from the regional Office of Civil Defense and the Cordillera police placed the death toll at 122. Estimates of the number of missing ran as high as 70.

The latest calamity brought the death toll to more than 450 from the Philippines’ worst flooding in 40 years after back-to-back storms started pounding Luzon, including Metro Manila, on September 26.

Rescuers buried

The Associated Press, quoting provincial officials, said more than 160 people were killed in the landslides in Benguet and Mountain Province.

Romy Neri’s home strafed

Published by Ellen on October 9, 2009

by Abigail Kwok and TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Neri inspects bullet holes in his house. Photo from Philippine Star

Social Security Systems president Romulo Neri’s Quezon City home was peppered with bullets by armed men reportedly wearing fatigues and bonnets Friday morning, police said.

City police director Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego said in an interview that authorities recovered some 100 spent shells from M16 rifles in and outside Neri’s home at #28 Palali Street, Sta. Mesa Heights.

President Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday condemned the strafing of Secretary Romulo Neri’s home in Quezon City, and ordered the Philippine National Police to increase the number of his security men.

A semi-permanent state of emergency?

Published by Ellen on October 8, 2009

Malaya editorial:

Gloria Arroyo appears to have turned truly insane as she counts the days to her exit on June 30. Is the declared policy of prolonging the nationwide state of emergency in the wake of the devastation of typhoon “Ondoy” her perverse way of exacting retribution on the people for hating and distrusting her?

A deliberate policy of prolonging an emergency does not make sense. After the initial declaration, national and local government units have been freed to release their calamity and contingency funds. Relief and rehabilitation work can now be bidded out without going through stringent requirements for the duration of the emergency. Assessment of damage and drawing up of appropriate rehabilitation programs can be done within 60 days, the duration of an emergency unless otherwise extended.

But all of 365 days and counting to get these things done? Truly it is the hopelessly incompetent who cannot the job fast enough. We have been saying for a long time that Gloria, for all her self-proclaimed expertise as a manager, is at core an incompetent. Many were dazzled in her early years by the image she projected of being a modernizing politician cum technocrat. We were among the few who saw through her posturing early on. And proven right later on.

Rock the vote!

Published by Ellen on October 8, 2009

Reminder to first-time voters and those who will be transferring voting places: please don’t wait until Oct. 31, last day of registration.

The Commission on Elections said they will not be extending the deadline because they have to finalize the voters’ list. Remember that the 2010 elections will be the first supposedly nationwide automated elections.

The Smartmatic/TIM computers that Comelec will be using (Precinct Count Optical Scan or PCOS) are precinct-specific so it’s important that the voters list is finalized early.

After you have voted, pray that the PCOS that contains your name does not get misdelivered to a wrong precinct, just like what happened to many bunches of ballots and ballot boxes in the past elections.

The Samahang Magdalo, Taguig chapter, will stage “Rock the Vote” tomorrow Saturday, with a core message of encouraging first-time voters to register. “If we desire genuine changes and reforms from crooked governance, we must begin these steps at making sure we are legitimate voters before the Comelec,” said Lt. (s.g.) James Layug, head of the Samahang Magdalo in the city that organized the concert.

‘Twill be Manny-Noli

Published by Ellen on October 7, 2009

by Lito Banayo
Malaya

A highly reliable source informed this writer that over the weekend, Manuel Villar, presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party, was able to seal a deal with incumbent vice-president, Noli de Castro, to seek re-election for another term, this time as the former’s running-mate.

For a while, Villar was having a difficult time getting a vice-presidential partner. He had banked on being able to convince his fellow senator, Francis Escudero, to agree to run with him as his vice-presidential candidate. But sometime in late August, Escudero gave short shrift to the possibility. He said that he could not “in conscience” join up with someone who, on the basis of what had been uncovered in the C-5 investigation in the Senate, does not represent “good governance.”

Villar then tried to get Sen. Pia Cayetano to agree to be his team-mate, but she thought better than to eschew sure re-election as senator (based on surveys) and risk the same for a one-on-one contest. Then, Cebuanos thought that their governor, Gwen Garcia, could be persuaded by Villar to run as his vice-president. There were talks about a Villar-Binay ticket, but the latter decided to cast his lot with Joseph Estrada. On Wednesday next week, unless another feng shui expert re-schedules it, the political marriage of Jojo of Makati and Erap of San Juan will be announced, to be rent asunder only by a Supreme Court decision, after Erap files his certificate of candidacy on or around November 30, and not before.

Bagay sina Villar at De Castro

Published by Ellen on October 7, 2009

Ayun sa kolum ni Lito Banayo ngayon sa Malaya, pumayag na raw si Bise- Presidente Noli de Castro para magiging bise ni Sen. Manny Villar para sa 2010 eleksyun.

Maganda yun. Gumaganda na ang tambalan.

Sa administrasyon, Gilbert Teodoro-Ronnie Puno; sa mga hindi administrasyon (ayaw ko sabihing oposisyon dahil ang iba, hindi naman talaga laban kay Gloria Arroyo) nandiyan na ang Noynoy Aquino-Mar Roxas ng Liberal Party.

Si Chiz Escudero ng Nationalist People’s Coalition ay magiging 40 taong gulang na sa Sabado, Oct. 10. Ang plano, sa Lunes nya ipahayag ang kanyang kandidatura sa pagka-presidente. Hindi pa yata sigurado kung sino ang kanyang magiging bise presidente.

Finding missing loved ones

Published by Ellen on October 6, 2009

One of the heart-rending surviving- Ondoy stories I’ve read was Agence France Presse’s account of Rojanie Asuncion and her Alzheimer’s stricken mother, Flora Geronimo.

The story tells of Flora, only 69- years old, who went missing on Sept. 26 amid floods that swamped 80 percent of Metro Manila. Since Because of her condition, she was unable to tell rescuers her name, where she was from and how she got to the center in Marikina City.

For three days Rojanie, 37, her family members and friends searched for her mother “across the disaster zone, trudging through mud, climbing over debris and checking mud-streaked faces of survivors.”

Iba na ang maganda

Published by Ellen on October 5, 2009

Ay naku, balik na nga tayo sa normal pagkatapos ng hagupit ng bagyong “Ondoy”. At balik intriga na naman tayo.

May kumakalat ngayon sa text at Facebook yung sinabi ni Kris Aquino noong Sabado na, “Aminin natin. Mas masarap tumanggap ng relief goods pag maganda ang nagbibigay sa iyo.”

Sabi nga ng isa sa Facebook, “Kaya mga panget exempted sa volunteer relief work.”

Sinabi kasi ito ni Kris bilang reaksyun sa mga kumalat na batikos sa kanila na minsan daw matagal naghihintay ang mga bao sa evacuation centers kahit na nadun na ang mga relief goods dahil hinihintay daw ang mga artista na siyang mamimigay habang kinukunan ng TV.

Arroyo must make good on radar systems pledge

Published by Ellen on October 5, 2009

Editorial of South China Morning Post
Oct. 5, 2009

A government’s priority is to protect the well-being of its people.
There is no better test of its commitment than when disaster strikes.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration has, in
this regard, failed time and again. It did so spectacularly with
Tropical Storm Ketsana, again revealing how little it cares for its
constituents.

The Philippines is pounded by as many as 20 typhoons a year. Dozens,
sometimes hundreds, of people are killed and many millions of dollars
of damage is caused. Nature cannot be tamed, but in the case of severe weather events, technology means its wrath can be anticipated. Arroyo for the past five years has repeatedly promised to have advanced forecasting radar systems installed; politicking, corruption and government waste means they remain a pledge.

What happens when such systems are absent was demonstrated by Ketsana. (Ondoy)

The many ways to help

Published by Ellen on October 4, 2009

Fundraising for the victims of typhoons “Ondoy” has turned creative.

On Friday, “Bagong Sigla”, a concert featuring the country’s top bands will be held simultaneously in Manila, Dagupan,Davao,Iloilo and Davao for the benefit of the victims of typhoon “Ondoy” and “Pepeng”.

In Manila, it will be “Bamboo” at Liwasang Ullalim ((beside Folk Arts Theater) at the Cultural Center Complex starting at 7 p.m. It’s “Imago” in Dagupan at CSI Stadia.

In Iloilo, it’s “Cueshe” at the Freedom Grandstand and “Spongecola” in Davao at the Damosa Market Basket parking lot.

It’s a free concert in the sense that you don’t have to buy a ticket to watch the concert. But to enter the concert venue, one has to drop an old shirt or canned good or one peso. If you can give more, the better.

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