All These Things I Wish (A Year After Ondoy)

Today marks the day Typhoon Ondoy devastated Metro Manila exactly one year ago. I decided to write a post in remembrance of a typhoon that devastated millions. But I don’t know how to write about something that has been burned into the consciousness of many Filipinos.

I drew inspiration from an article written by Alexis Tioseco that featured his sentiments about the Philippine film industry. Specials thanks to Cess for helping me write this. And so I leave you with my sentiments as we remember the terrible typhoon that wreaked havoc last September 26, 2009.

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I wish local governments allocated more money for disaster and risk preparedness instead of relying on the National Disaster Coordinating Council to come to their aid.

I wish the Arroyo administration left money in the calamity fund.

I wish government officials would stop corrupting our money and actually use it to fund development projects that would reduce our vulnerability to natural disasters and alleviate poverty.

I wish the city planners and private land developers actually followed urban plans and geologic hazard maps instead of constructing residential zones in flood, landslide and earthquake prone areas and placing the lives of innocent people in peril by not prioritizing their safety.

I wish the DOST offered better compensation to Nonoy About, Robert Rivera, Ayla Bayaca, Cora Samar, Nathaniel Cruz and other former PAGASA scientists of the agency instead of allowing them to be pirated to foreign weather bureaus.

I wish senators and congressmen would stop cutting the budget of PAGASA and prioritize the modernization of its equipment, facilities and personnel.

I wish Prisco Nilo weren’t fired from PAGASA.

I wish Science Secretary Mario Montejo appointed someone who actually has a PhD in atmospheric science to replace Prisco Nilo.

I wish DOST did a better job of promoting interest in sciences particularly environmental sciences.

I wish DepEd would promote the value of tertiary education and further studies in fields like natural and environmental science instead of launching a program with the goal of eliminating the need to take college.

I wish there were more competent teachers in science and mathematics.

I wish more science high school students and science majors actually became scientists or teachers.

I cry for generations of students who will not learn science because they were forced to memorize concepts instead of learning through reading textbooks, in-class demonstrations and laboratory experimentation.

I cry for thousands of science teachers who endure lack of support from DepEd for better textbooks, materials and laboratories for teaching students lessons of science and mathematics.

I wish DepEd would improve the educational system so that there would be no need to have more people like Efren Penaflorida, Illac Diaz, Christopher Bernido and Ma. Victoria Carpio-Bernido.

I wish Bro. Armin Luistro remained a brother.

I wish the Coast Guard, PNP and AFP would get more funding and training for emergency search and rescue operations for disasters situations like in Typhoon Ondoy.

I wish people affected by Ondoy would just move out of their homes instead of building a second or third floor higher than Ondoy floodwaters.

I wish informal settlers in Metro Manila would be relocated with more value to their human rights than the interests of private entities.

I wish government would supply relocated families with adequate housing and human sustenance instead of relying on NGOs for the poor for their charity work.

I wish the MMDA and would do more than unclogging drains and dredging waterways during the rainy season and put up more waste collection bins around the city and inside public utility vehicles.

I wish more commuters would wait to throw their trash in waste bins instead of throwing it anywhere on the street.

I wish all the garbage in Manila Bay, Pasig River and Laguna de Bay would just disappear.

I wish the environmental laws of the Philippines were actually enforced.

I wish the garbage of Americans stayed in America instead of floating to our coasts via ocean currents.

I wish more people knew about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and other garbage gyres in the ocean.

I wish more people would recycle their plastic wastes and use reusable stuff.

I wish companies would stop marketing themselves as “green” for consumers and actually clean up their operations by using less plastic.

I wish multi-national companies would stop…just stop.

I wish the Filipinos the best after Ondoy.

Filed under: Uncategorized , alexis tioseco, deped, DOST, NDCC, ondoy, PAGASA, post ondoy

The rains have come!

Caught in the Rain - Mike Barr

The PAG-ASA scientists were right about the rains coming in June.

It rained for the first time in months last week. I’m officially saying goodbye to warm mornings laying on sweat-drenched bedsheets. While I dislike shelving my slippers for more waterproof shoes, the cooler ambient temperature of the rainy season is reason to celebrate—definitely much more comfortable than the El Nino nightmare that defined the hottest summer in the history of the Philippines!

Where was I when the first drop bombardment of raindrops fell on Metro Manila? I was reviewing for board exams in Starbucks Katipunan. I had a feeling it was going to rain that day so I brought a huge umbrella and a pair of knee-high rubber boots just in case.

The umbrella kept the top half of my body dry but everything below my waist got wet by the rain. The major casualty: my feet. I made the mistake of wearing cloth-lined slippers which absorbed rainwater like sponges in a bathtub. Good thing I had boots! I wore them in ankle-deep streams of rainwater running across the street in front of Xocolat. But I had to wear them for the rest of the night because my slippers were totally wet.

It’s been raining almost everyday ever since. The rain season has finally come. This is what PAG-ASA had to say about the recent weather patterns:

The development of a series of low pressure systems, also known as heat lows, in the southern part of mainland Asia that linked with the low pressure area near Northern Luzon has generated and sustained the southwesterly winds in the country which brought rains for several days especially in the western section of the country. This development signals the onset of the rainy season on the 1st week of June in areas under Type 1 climate, which covers the western parts of Luzon and Visayas.

Essentially, they said that the rainy season is here–awesome! They continued:

The rainy season which is associated with the Southwest Monsoon is expected to last until end of September. However, monsoon breaks or periods of no rain for a few weeks are expected during the season.

If anything can be expected, the 2010 rainy season is going to be like the 2009 rainy season (hopefully minus the supertyphoons). There is going to be periods of rain, and periods of really hot weather. AUGH!

With the increasing probability of the occurence of La Niña beginning on the 3rd quarter of this year that can result to above normal rainfall, residents in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes are advised to take precausionary measures againts possible flash floods and landslides during periods of heavy rains.

Well, I spoke too soon. We can’t say PAG-ASA didn’t warn us… La Nina is coming in the 3rd quarter of this year. That means we should expect heavy rainfall during the months between August and October—just about the same time that Ondoy and Pepeng hit the Philippines last year. It really happens every year. We just never learn to deal with it the right way.

Already the typhoons are coming so we better be prepared for the 2010 rainy season!

Filed under: Uncategorized

Tropical Cyclone update (In March?!)

March 23, 2010 – The formation of a tropical cyclone beside the Philippines. Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Analytical Services (PAG-ASA) has not declared the cyclone as part of Philippine area of responsibility:

As of today, Tuesday, 23-Mar-2010 11:03:22 PHT no tropical cyclone existing within the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

The trajectory of the cyclone does not show that it will hit the Philippines in the coming days. But there are still chances that the cyclone might swing towards the Philippine peninsula. Also, the cyclone should be increasing in intensity as it moves across warm waters.

Filed under: Environment Report , Philippines, tropical cyclone