Marvin Isidore "Sid" Macatol Weblog

Relief goods in the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) allegedly gathered dust in four warehouses, one month after typhoon Ondoy. There was indignation about this in blogosphere lately. The October 29, 2009 post entitled " Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo " at ellaganda.com lambasted DSWD for alleged hoarding of relief goods in DSWD warehouses. Overzealous people in Facebook and eGroups circulated the link to this post. But earlier, on October 26, 2009, DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral has already made a statement on these relief goods , admitting that the DSWD "warehouses are indeed full" but that this was . . . "inspite of the fact that we have distributed 500,000 food packs and 200,000 clothing packs as well as thousands of sacks of rice, blankets, beddings, and items of personal hygiene in the past almost 4 weeks." Let me say my piece.

Ondoy came and went, with catastrophy in its wake. Clearly the typhoon itself was an "act of God." But were the damages unpreventable? Not so, says Urban planner and architect Felino Palafox Jr. Palafox said a 1977 World Bank-funded study identified Marikina Valley, the western shores of Laguna de Bay, and the Manila Bay coastal area as among development areas that should prepare for flooding, earthquakes and possible changes in topography. (Source: Yahoo! News Philippines ) Such remark was hard to swallow, given the magnitude of heroism displayed by people to save lives of loved ones and to deliver relief goods to those whose lives were ravaged by the flood. In the light of what could have been done in the last 50 years, were those damages, sufferings, and heroisms totally unnecessary then?

The fury of typhoon Ondoy came like a "thief in the night" in broad daylight. How else can I describe the emotion that goes with what "Ondoy" means to Filipinos these days? The video above was taken at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay (UERM) Medical Center during typhoon Ondoy. This is the first time in my life to see such number of cars floating on the water, swept from where they were parked.