News

http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20090928-227277/Ondoy-destroys-P95M-in-crops-in-Calabarzon

Ondoy destroys P95M in crops in Calabarzon

By Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 08:23:00 09/28/2009

MANILA, Philippines – Farm lands in the Calabarzon region suffered a combined P95 million in crop damage because of typhoon “Ondoy” (international code name: Katsana), according to initial reports from the region.
Calabarzon is composed of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon.
Of the total crop damage, P85 million worth of rice was reported lost as well as P10 million worth of high value crops, Agriculture Undersecretary Emmanuel Paras said in a text message on Sunday.
Typhoon Ondoy caused massive flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces by dumping record setting rainfall on Saturday.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/173312/ondoy-deaths-now-100-says-ndcc-toll-expected-to-climb

‘Ondoy’ deaths now 100 says NDCC, toll expected to climb
AIE BALAGTAS SEE, GMANews.TV
09/28/2009 | 01:10 PM

The total number of fatalities from tropical storm “Ondoy” (international name: Ketsana) that submerged some areas in Central Luzon and Calabarzon in mud and water may already br close to 200. But the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) has placed the death toll at 100 and the number of people affected at nearly half a million as of Monday noon pending reports from local government units.

Fifty-six were killed in Region IV-A or the Calabarzon area; 36 died in Region III or in Central Luzon; seven in National Capital Region and one in the Cordillera Administrative Region, according to NDCC official and deputy presidential spokesperson Anthony Golez.

According to the latest NDCC report, the number of missing individuals remained at 32. Five people were injured during the height of the storm. The government was able to rescue 7,908 people.

But reports from local government units (LGUs) and volunteer groups showed that the number of fatalities, injuries, and missing persons could be higher as more flooded areas are reached by rescuers and relatives of victims.

In Rizal province alone, 82 deaths were recorded, according to radio reports quoting Gov. Casimiro Ynares, Sunday evening. A separate counting by the Parish Pastoral Council claimed that 36 people died in Brgy. Silangan in Quezon City. In Marikina City, 58 were killed, according to reports reaching Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.

In Antipolo City, 22 people died, while four went missing. City mayor Danilo Leyble told radio dzBB Monday afternoon that he received the report about the casualties at 10 a.m., adding that eight of the 22 fatalities were from Barangay (village) San Jose, while the rest were from barangays Dela Paz, Sta. Cruz, and Cupang.

In Bulacan province, at east 23 people died and two others went missing, Liz Mungcal, executive officer of the Bulacan Provincial Disaster Management Council, told GMANews.TV at 3 p.m., Monday.

She said only the towns of Pandi and San Ildefonso were spared by the storm. The rest – 19 municipalities and three cities covering 209 barangays (villages) – were badly hit by Ondoy, affecting 63,962 families or 252,979 people.

Anomalous

Ondoy brought rains that weather specialists described as “anomalous.” While it did not develop into a typhoon, Ondoy brought rains of 341 millimeters (mm) in the first six hours that it struck Metropolitan Manila on Saturday, breaking the highest 24-hour rainfall of 334 mm in Metropolitan Manila in June 1967, according to the Philippines’ weather forecasting bureau.

The Philippines’ maximum annual rainfall is only 4,064 mm or 338.6 per month or 11.3 mm per day. Ondoy’s 341-mm of rain in six hours was equivalent to more than 30 days of rainfall.

In its latest report, the NDCC also said that damage in property caused by Ondoy was worth P108.9 million, including 34 schools.

Families affected by Ondoy stood at 89,116 or 448,454 people in 384 barangays (villages).

Two more weather disturbances?

Still reeling from Ondoy’s wrath, state weather forecasters said on Monday that the country could be hit by two other tropical depressions later this week.

Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa)’s forecaster Connie Dadivas said the two weather disturbances might enter Philippine territory late Wednesday or Thursday.

But another Pagasa forecaster Joel Jesusa, said the two low pressure areas (LPA) were still far away to affect any part of the country for now.

“Malayo pa po, sobrang layo pa ang binabanggit nating dalawang LPA, 1,000 km pa ito (The two LPAs are still too far away, they are about 1,000 km away),” he said on dzXL radio. He added that the two LPAs were moving west-northwest as of Monday.

Earlier in the day, Pagasa said Ondoy continued to move farther away from the country, moving toward Vietnam. – GMANews.TV

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/173294/both-rich-and-poor-suffered-from-ondoys-wrath

Both rich and poor suffered from Ondoy’s wrath
YASMIN D. ARQUIZA, GMANews.TV

09/28/2009 | 01:20 AM

There was hardly any trace of the chest-deep floods that placed long stretches of EDSA under water on Saturday as the MRT train made its way from the Santolan to the Guadalupe station. Rows of white police cars were neatly arrayed inside Camp Crame, and the highway seemed to have been swept clean of debris.

A sign on the closed gate of a normally bustling mall in Cubao, however, gave a small hint that a disaster had just struck the nation’s capital: “Farmers Plaza is closed today due to power service interruption.”

On the lower ground floor, a security guard said the mall had been closed since Saturday due to “unstable electricity” amid the heavy downpour from tropical storm “Ondoy.” With maximum winds of 85 kilometers per hour, the storm was not as powerful as many of the typhoons that have hit the country. However, it dumped a record-breaking 341 millimeters of rain in just six hours Saturday, causing massive flooding that brought metropolitan Manila almost to a standstill.

Salesgirls of the Super K drug store at the Farmer’s Plaza said waist-high flood waters breached the glass walls of the shop, sending the products piled on the shelves crashing to the floor. On Sunday morning, the staff was busy sweeping the shattered glass from the wet floor and stuffing the products into black trash bags.

“Lahat ng computer namin basa. Bagong renovate pa naman itong tindahan noong May lang,” said Nita Acsayan, one of the salesgirls.

A few doors away, the offices of Western Union and Metrobank also bore the brunt of the unprecedented floods. Many employees were drying office chairs and other equipment outside the premises, and clearing the areas of garbage.

Some stores on the perimeter of the mall that managed to stay dry were open. In contrast, the entire Gateway mall was spared and was buzzing with the usual hordes of shoppers on a Sunday afternoon. The only thing that seemed unusual was the long queue at the telephone booths, which are normally empty, as people tried to reach their loved ones in flooded towns and cities.
Near the entrance to the LRT station in Cubao, a man put on his shoes before entering the mall with his mud-splashed laptop bag. His companion still had mud up to his knees, and both were carrying filthy rucksacks that seemed to have been hastily packed.

From the train, commuters craned their necks to watch the swift current of the Marikina River, still brown and swollen on an overcast Sunday. Trash bags and other storm debris fluttered on a power pylon on the river bank, a silent testament to the destructive force of the floods that swept away lives and vehicles and houses.

By Sunday evening, the National Disaster Coordinating Council reported that at least 73 people had died and 23 more went missing, statistics that did not seem to reflect the frantic calls for help from many relatives and friends over the Internet and mobile phones throughout the weekend.

The number did not include 36 people who died in a shanty town in Brgy. Silangan in Quezon City, according to a report from its Parish Pastoral Council, and eight bodies that were found in Provident Village in Marikina, one of the worst-hit areas.

Below the Santolan LRT station in Marikina, muddy roads stretched in all directions, some starting to cake under the weak noonday sun. Commuters scrambled to get a ride home, but the helpful guards said there were still many areas in Antipolo and Cainta that could not be reached by land transportation.

On one corner of the station, a well-dressed woman sat with other stranded commuters near the vending machines, waiting for a relative to fetch her. She had been there since 1 p.m. Saturday and had to endure the stench of the lone toilet in the premises. She refused to give her name, saying “baka sabihin, ayan kasi, kahit may bagyo namamasyal pa.”

During the night, the spacious station became an improvised refugee center for hundreds of stranded residents who stretched out in all available spaces just to get some rest, she said. By Sunday noon, most had left and the station had returned to normal operations.

But for many people who lost their homes, it will take a long time before life in the city becomes normal again.

On the train back to Cubao, a young woman from Antipolo took note of a mother with a little girl who was wearing muddy slippers and a house dress. Misery, as the saying goes, loves company and it was not long before they were narrating each other’s experiences.

The young woman had taken the train to Santolan to get home but decided to head back to Cubao after seeing the sludge-filled streets and long queue of commuters waiting for a ride.

She had spent the night at a hotel in Cubao after getting stranded with her friend, but said, “Hindi rin kami makatulog dahil nag-aalala kami sa mga pamilya namin.”

Meanwhile, the mother was bringing her two children to a relative after spending the night at the Santolan Elementary School. Their house had been submerged in the flood, and the family hopped from roof to roof to get to safety while the waters swirled around them. “Mga refrigerator, washing machine, bahay, lahat inaanod ng baha,” she said.

Indeed, as photographs sent by contributors showed, rich and poor suffered equally in the devastating floods. Luxury SUVs smashed against delivery vans and cars in pile-ups across the metropolis, and upscale bungalows as well as flimsy shacks both went under water. (View all the photo uploads in our Facebook “Ondoy Pics” photo album.)

A video clip making the rounds of Facebook pages shows dramatic scenes from the UERM hospital, where cars floated helplessly in the inundated compound while their passengers sloshed their way in chest-deep waters towards the building.

The NDCC has not released any estimates of damage yet, but when it does, the figures will not only show the extent of destruction that “Ondoy” wrought on the national capital region and its population of more than 10 million people.

It will also show the extent of the government’s lack of preparedness in dealing with the impact of natural phenomena, and the disasters that could have been prevented with better foresight and budget priorities. – GMANews.TV

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/09/28/09/ondoy-displaces-thousands-san-mateo-rizal

‘Ondoy’ displaces thousands in San Mateo, Rizal
________________________________________
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/28/2009 2:18 PM

MANILA – A total of 19,524 families or 97,620 individuals in San Mateo, Rizal have been affected by tropical storm Ondoy, local officials said Monday.
At least 10 residents have died while an undetermined number remain missing two days after massive flooding hit the area. Most of the evacuees were brought to 15 local schools where they will be housed temporarily.
A medical mission has also been set up in front of the San Mateo municipal hall.
Dramatic footage taken by ABS-CBN earlier showed four people being swept away by the raging flood while rescuers try to throw them a lifeline at the San Mateo Batasan Bridge.
Fourteen houses in Sta. Barbara Villa Subdivision, San Mateo were also buried by landslide Friday night. The subdivision is part of a government housing program for soldiers and policemen.
San Mateo residents said that the last time their area was hit by such flooding was in 1937.
Five subdivisions in the town of Cainta, Rizal are still flooded, with many people, especially children and elderly, unable to leave the area, according to an ABS-CBN News field report.
In a report aired over Umagang Kay Ganda on Monday, ABS-CBN’s Doland Castro said 10 people have been reported dead in Cainta, one of the badly-hit areas in the province of Rizal.
As of Monday morning, 7 barangays are still affected by floods, according to Cainta Mayor Mon Ilagan.
From Sunday until 3:30 am on Monday, Ilagan, together with Philippine National Red Cross chair Richard Gordon, went to Vista Verde Executive Homes along Felix Ave. where they rescued many trapped children and elderly.
Around 90% of business establishments in Cainta have been affected by the floods and are shut down. This has affected the availability of food.
Food rations were only distributed starting Sunday after the floods partially subsided.
Gordon said he has asked for more Red Cross teams which can help rescue trapped families in Cainta.
Only rubber boats, amphibious vehicles and 6X6 trucks can access the flooded areas.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090928-227232/Survivors-seethe-with-anger

Survivors seethe with anger
By DJ Yap, Edson C. Tandoc Jr., Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:36:00 09/28/2009

MANILA, Philippines—For some, help never came, even as they hung on to dear life while floodwaters—which one survivor said reminded her of the biblical story about the Great Flood and Noah’s Ark—raged around them.
Still, they survived but they seethed with anger.
With the floodwaters in their house reaching up to their shoulders, Marnie Lintag and her husband jumped up on a table and spent hours standing precariously on it while craning their necks toward a high window so they could cry for help.
But that was the least of her worries.
Lintag was hugging her 6-year-old daughter Maru close to her to make sure the child was not soaked in the swirling flood.
“We were cold and hungry. It came to a point where we had to destroy part of the roof so we could hold her up above the water—she had started shivering from the cold,” the Supreme Court employee said in Filipino.
Lintag said she was hoping against hope that rescue would come. Whenever a helicopter flew overhead, she would scream: “At least take my child!”
But no rescue came.
Rich and poor alike
The life-and-death tableau was only broken at about 4 a.m. Sunday when the floodwaters slowly, mercifully subsided, leaving them at least alive in their devastated home in Barangay Tañong in Marikina City, one of the areas in Metro Manila worst hit by Tropical Storm “Ondoy.”
“I am angry. Why didn’t they come to save us? We saw the rescue choppers twice and they saw us, but they never came back. I even said they could leave us there but at least they should save my daughter,” she told the Inquirer.
Then she continued: “I am very frustrated, but I don’t want to dwell on it anymore. My family is safe. That is the important thing. At least nobody died.”
The Lintags were among the countless people dismayed by the government failure to come to their aid at the height of the massive floods that swept Metro Manila and nearby provinces at the weekend.
The floods made no distinction between the rich and the poor. All suffered in the latest natural disaster to hit the country.
Pagasa’s advice
In the wake of Ondoy’s onslaught, the chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) had an advice to the public: They have the responsibility to heed storm warnings.
“Instead of just watching soap operas on TV, they should also watch the news,” Dr. Prisco Nilo said. He said Pagasa had issued flood warnings as early as Thursday and even raised storm signals the following day.
Nilo also said Ondoy’s rains caused flash floods in Metro Manila because the area formed a “small basin” where water could rise fast in just a short period of rain.
“It doesn’t matter whether the rain is strong,” he said. “If the basin is large then it would take several hours [for floods to rise].”
As the calamity struck, distress calls and e-mails from thousands of residents in Metro Manila and their worried relatives flooded TV and radio stations overnight.
“It’s really incredible that the Arroyo government had even thought of buying a new presidential jet,” said writer Elmer Gatchalian, who posted the remark on Facebook.
“You (in the government) should have allotted funds for disaster preparedness. It was reported (Saturday) night that there were only two rubber boats being used for rescue operations in Marikina. We could have at least invested in a helicopter that could pick people up from rooftops.”
Another post by Gatchalian referred to the supposedly lavish dinner President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her party had in New York on their recent US visit.
“The million pesos spent on that grand dinner in New York should have been used to buy rubber boats instead.”
Time for helping
In Barangay Payatas, Quezon City, the parish priest, Fr. Orlando Noriella, complained that the government response was slow.
“This is the moment when we need them (politicians), not during elections,” the priest said. “But where are they?”
Speaking to his parishioners before he ended Sunday’s afternoon Mass, the priest said he and his fellow churchmen saw barangay officials when they went around evacuation centers on Saturday night.
Flood had swept away the houses of many families living near a creek. But except for getting the names of the affected residents, the barangay officials did not offer any help, the priest said.
The priest lamented that while a state of calamity had been declared to facilitate the release of funds, no food and medicines had reached the affected residents.
“Where is the food? Where are the clothes? And the children are getting sick!” Noriella said in Filipino, his voice shaking.
Looters in action
The flood did destroy not only the Lintags’ home, which was newly built.
“We also have an Internet shop. The floods also destroyed it. We had 20 computers, and we’re hoping we can still salvage some of them,” she said.
Jennifer Gan, 26, a medical representative and resident of Provident Villages in Marikina City, said she and her 60-year-old father and 55-year-old mother spent the night in their neighbor’s house, which had a third floor.
“Our house was bungalow-type, and it was really submerged in flood,” she said. “This is all I saved,” she said, showing her laptop computer.
She said she was “very angry” at the government over what happened to them.
“I am not only angry but very angry,” she said. “They keep making promises but why is the response so delayed?”
Gan said she and her neighbors were rescued only when the storm was nearly over.
Noah and the Flood
For Mavic Metin, 39, Saturday’s great flood made her think of Noah.
Metin told the Inquirer that she—along with her cat Bill—and 10 other people along A. Bonifacio Drive in Tañong, Marikina City got trapped in a small room on the second floor of another neighbor’s house as flood waters submerged their rented homes.
“We had no food. I only saved the things I can save from my house,” Metin said.
Among the things she managed to save was a Bible with a red cover.
The Bible, she said, still had its pages intact and remained readable even if it had been under water for several hours. She said she was keeping the Bible.
Snakes in the flood
“We have nothing left. No clothes, nothing. Looters even took a laptop computer from my house when I returned to retrieve some things,” she lamented, narrating how she found a window in her rented room pried open Sunday morning and the laptop gone.
In the dark room where Metin and her companions found shelter, they prayed for the downpour to stop. “We had no food but we were still alive and we had shelter,” she tearfully said.
“It reminded me of the Great Flood [in the Bible]. I remembered the story of Noah’s ark. There was devastation everywhere you looked,” she said.
The epic flood was the great equalizer as rich and middle-class residents fled their homes for safety, turning them into “evacuees.”
Joey Salgado, chief of Makati’s public information office, said his family took only their dogs and a few belongings with them as they left their three-story house in Northview 2 subdivision in Quezon City at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Salgado said a friend offered space in their home, where he and his family spent the night.
The experience was unforgettable for Salgado and his four children as they waded through floodwaters to reach their car.
“My children even saw a cow and snakes. Perhaps the snakes came from the Marikina River…It seemed so surreal,” he said.
Not ready
The Quezon City government failed to provide assistance on the first day after the disaster hit a densely populated barangay because it was not prepared, said social welfare worker Elsa Corteza.
“We did not anticipate this to happen and we were not prepared,” Corteza told the Inquirer at the Diosdado Macapagal Elementary School, an evacuation site for more than 1,000 families.
A resident of Agno Street, where a fire broke out during the height of the flood, expressed his anger at local politicians who, he said, used the disaster to enhance their ambitions.
The resident, who did not give his name, pointed to a tent put up near the fire site manned by people wearing T-shirts bearing the politician’s name. They were distributing cups of porridge to the victims.
“The government boasted of billions of pesos of surplus and yet until now they could not even extend a decent meal and mats for the victims,” he said. With reports from Nikko Dizon, Allison W. Lopez and Nancy C. Carvajal

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090928-227233/Netizens-help-victims-via-social-network-sites

Netizens help victims via social network sites
By Christian V. Esguerra, Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:52:00 09/28/2009

MANILA, Philippines—Although marooned in their homes by floodwaters dumped by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international code name: Ketsana), many Metro Manila residents still found the means to help strangers and neighbors stuck in traffic or perched on rooftops by turning to social networking sites on the Internet.
Residents posted alternate routes weary commuters could take to avoid the floods, emergency lines to call for rescue and the addresses of families in need of urgent assistance as communication line and power outages engulfed a large swath of the metropolis on Saturday, making it hard for calls for help to get through.
On the hugely popular social networking site Facebook, the majority of the users’ status updates—a feature in which users talk about their current state of mind or recent activity—carried government hotlines people can call for rubber boats and dump trucks.
Others posted locations of either an acquaintance or a friend’s neighbor waiting for hours to be saved, mobilizing other users in their network who have easier access to government rescue to ask for help.
About to give birth
Angelica Hefti, a regular Facebook user, re-posted a status message from a certain Cynthia Ras who was alerting rescue teams about a pregnant woman about to give birth. The woman was stranded in a village in Cainta, Rizal.
Through her account, Hefti also called for help for her relatives yet to be rescued Sunday on the North Luzon Expressway. She said her relatives had been stuck in the car for almost 20 hours with no food and water.
Carmela Almonte stayed on Facebook almost all day on Saturday offering her services as a “switchboard operator” to friends who had no cell phone signal and in need of assistance.
With communication lines down or mobile phones dead, others used Facebook to inform families, relatives and friends that they were either stuck in their offices or in schools but were safe.
Flood victims in Marikina
At tweetfeed.com, bloggers put up a discussion thread solely for flood victims in Marikina. Some of them drove to the city to offer help while others assisted in connecting stranded residents with rescue teams.
“Driving off to Marikina. Let’s see how we can help,” Francis Dadole wrote at 2:22 a.m. Sunday.
A minute earlier, Juan Miguel Lago posted an urgent message: “Evacuate MARICRIS VALMORES and family at 8 Libya St. Marikina Green Heights Subd. Nangka, Marikina Contact number: 09159001562.”
At about the same time, Eric Calderon said he had just gone back from Marikina. He wrote: “Distributed food & clothes to refugees stuck in our hospital. ER was filled to the brim w/ people with foot injuries.”
On Twitter, a micro-blogging site, maps were made available on the site of areas in the capital where stranded residents have yet to be rescued.
Someone tweeted for more help for residents “still trapped” in Provident Villages, Marikina.
UST students trapped
At the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, around 3,000 students, teachers and employees were trapped on campus beginning Saturday morning.
Many of them kept contact with family and friends outside through social networking sites, such as Twitter and Plurk.
Waist-deep waters surrounded the school, submerging several cars and flooding establishments in the vicinity.
Kay Reyes posted on Facebook an earlier notice from a friend who said that she had just stepped out from her office on Shaw Boulevard-Pioneer and that the roads there were clear of traffic and floodwaters.
“This might help some of our friends in the area…I just cut and pasted this from my friend in Manila,” she said on her status message.
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr., head of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, gave frequent tweets or posts of numbers residents could call for help.
One advisory that Teodoro gave was of Petron and San Miguel Corp. lending choppers to whisk off stranded residents from rooftops. He also enumerated drop-off points for relief goods.
Donations
On the Barrio Siete website, a blogger called on fellow “bloggers, readers and lurkers” to send in donations through the Philippine National Red Cross.
As of Sunday, the site was able to raise $170 from Philadelphia, Texas and Ohio in the United States.
“It breaks our heart seeing all these images and watching the videos coming from Manila—the wrath and devastation not only to properties but also to the lives of our fellow Filipinos,” the blogger wrote.
Other websites, such as Pedestrian Observer and Filipino Voices, showed how the public could send donations to the Red Cross and contact local rescue units.
“It is during times like these when we realize how powerful social media can be in the absence of conventional networks,” Jayvee Hernandez wrote on The Blog Herald.
Despite the devastation, Royce Roy of San Francisco, California, posted a message of optimism to his compatriots back home.
“The Philippines shall rise again from Typhoon Ondoy, a better and brighter country! God Bless my motherland!” he wrote.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/09/28/09/ofws-fear-safety-kin-after-ondoys-wrath

OFWs fear for safety of kin after ‘Ondoy’s wrath
________________________________________
By Dindo Amparo, ABS- CBN Middle East News Bureau Chief | 09/28/2009 12:54 PM

Overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East watched in horror as tropical storm “Ondoy’s” aftermath were seen on ABS-CBN’s The Filipino Channel over the weekend.
Many relatives of OFWs were among those trapped inside flooded houses and were forced to go up their roofs. Some are still reportedly missing while others are feared dead.
Nemia Abelinda’s brother and his family in Provident Village in Marikina were trapped on the roof top for at least 24 hours before they were finally rescued.
When Abelinda contacted the Middle East News Bureau, her voice was trembling and hoped that rescue units can soon find their way in her brother’s house.
Her brother, his wife and their seven children are trapped by the flood.
May Ramirez cried when she learned that her 60-year-old mother was also trapped by the flood inside their house at SSS Village in Marikina.
Ramirez felt sorry and helpless as she watched pictures of those affected by the flood.
A few years ago, a massive flood also affected her family in the province of Nueva Ecija. The incident almost took away the life of her mother. She heaved a sigh of relief after she learned that her mother was rescued.
Ramirez said she cannot stand the thought of losing her mother. If she dies, she said her work abroad will all be worthless.
In her message to her mother, Ramirez tearfully said, “may anak kang nag-aalala dito. Ginagawa namin ang lahat ng magagawa namin dito dahil gusto naming guminhawa ang buhay dyan. Aanhin namin ang pinagtra-trabahuhan namin dito kung wala na kaming dadatnan dyan.”
For her part, Abelinda said she is thankful for TFC for giving them timely information on what is happening back home.
She and fellow OFWs watched from TFC connect on their laptops. She thanked God when she learned finally that her brother and his family were all safe.
“Malaki ang pasasalamat ko sa Diyos at sa ABS CBN at DZMM na nakapag monitor kami kung anong nangyayari sa mga kamag anakan naming,” she said.
They are among hundreds or maybe thousands of OFWs in the Middle East whose relatives were among the victims of typhoon Ondoy.
However, not everyone was able to get information about the plight of their relatives, as most cellular phones in the affected areas ran out of battery and were left unreachable.
In Qatar, PAG IBIG Fund representative Pamela Bautista said she lost communication with her family trapped in their house in Pasig City.
In Dubai, Quay Evano has not received a word on the fate of his own family who lives in Pasig.
Another OFW, Jomz Paterno, was too worried as her 60-year-old mother was alone in their house in Cainta when their village was hit by the flash flood.
In Saudi Arabia, Leo Mendoza is also asking officials to locate and rescue his loved ones in Pasig City.
Officials have yet to release a list of those rescued in the floods. OFWs can only hope their loved ones are not among those who perished in the flood brought by the storm.
as of 09/28/2009 12:55 PM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/09/26/09/ofw-group-urges-pinoys-help-%E2%80%98ondoy%E2%80%99-victims

OFW group urges Pinoys to help ‘Ondoy’ victims
________________________________________
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/26/2009 9:04 PM
Filipinos overseas are urged to participate in relief operations drive for families affected by tropical storm “Ondoy” in the Philippines.
Migrante International Middle East News Bureau on Saturday appealed to the Filipino community in the Middle East to mobilize their members and officers and start collecting donations and relief goods for typhoon victims.
“We will mobilize our Migrante chapters and member-organizations into coordinating bodies in their respective countries that will spearhead gathering of donations, goods, and clothes for the relief operations of our allied non-government organizations in Metro Manila,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-ME regional coordinator and Migrante Sectoral Party Vice Chairperson.
Monterona said they will tap different Filipino communities and organizations as well as Philippine officials abroad to gather goods, clothing and donations.
Overseas Filipinos willing to donate may contact any of the following Migrante chapters in Saudi Arabia:
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: KGS-Migrante Chairperson Eric Jocson
Phone No. 0531822766
KGS-Migrante Sec. Gen Mike Garlan
Phone No. 0505629 89930
Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia: Migrante-Khobar Chairperson Choie De Leon
Phone No. 0569117563
Migrante-Khobar Sec.Gen Gerry De Guzman,
Phone No. 0507373906
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Migrante-Jeddah Chairperson Bob Fajarito,
Phone No. 050502745340
OFWs based in other countries in the Middle East are urged to get in touch with Monterona at mobile No. 00966 564978012 or email migranteme@gmail.com.

“Wala namang ibang magtutulungan kundi tayong mga magkababayan kahit milya-milya man ang layo natin sa ating Bayang sinilangan,” Monterona said.

as of 09/28/2009 12:57 PM

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090928-227311/P109-M-worth-of-infrastructure-crops-damaged

P109-M worth of infrastructure, crops damaged
Death toll up to 100
By Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:28:00 09/28/2009

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) The number of casualties due to tropical storm “Ondoy” (international name: Ketsana) has risen to 100 and damage to infrastructure and crops estimated at P109 million, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said.
In its latest situation report Monday, the NDCC said that damage to infrastructure was at P108.710 while damage to agriculture was at P212,537.50.
The NDCC added that as of 12 noon Monday, 56 of the casualties were from Region 4A, 24 from Bulacan, 12 from Pampanga and seven from the National Capital Region.
At least 32 persons remain missing from provinces in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4A, and the Cordillera Autonomous Region while five were reportedly injured, the NDCC said.
The NDCC has declared a state of national calamity in the NCR, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Benguet, Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, Bataan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Catanduanes, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur.
A total of 7,908 persons have been rescued by joint teams from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Department of Public Works and Highways, Metro Manila Development Authority and the Regional Office of Civil Defense, the NDCC said.
A total of 12 ambulances, 33 M35 trucks, 59 rubber boats and 112 other vehicles, 137 enlisted personnel, 13 military platoons, 20 US Servicemen, two US watercrafts, eight Island Cruisers and one US chopper, have been deployed to assist in search, relief and rescue efforts in affected areas, the NDCC said.
In a press briefing earlier on Monday, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. said they have yet to receive reports of casualties from Antipolo City, Marikina City, and Quezon City.
Media reports said that 58 persons were killed in Provident Village in Marikina City, 25 in Quezon City, and 12 more from Antipolo City.
The NDCC has also received some P40 million worth of relief assistance for victims of “Ondoy,” the defense chief said.
He added that the NDCC would set up assistance headquarters in Ever Gotesco Mall along Ortigas Extension to hasten the distribution relief goods to victims stranded in Pasig City, Marikina City, Antipolo City, and Cainta, Teodoro said.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090928-227306/Govt-overwhelmed-by-Ondoyexecs

Gov’t overwhelmed by ‘Ondoy’—execs

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 11:16:00 09/28/2009

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government said Monday it could not cope with the massive flooding that displaced nearly half a million people, amid fears the death toll could soar past the official tally of 86.
Reaching people still stranded after Saturday’s flooding in the national capital, Manila, and surrounding areas, the threat of disease outbreaks and providing survivors with aid were among the top concerns, authorities said.
“We are concentrating on massive relief operations. [But] the system is overwhelmed, local government units are overwhelmed,” the head of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, Anthony Golez, told reporters.
“We were used to helping one city, one or two provinces but now, they were following one after another. Our assets and people are spread too thinly.”
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the official death toll stood at 86, with another 32 people missing. He said more than 435,000 people had been displaced.
However, radio station DZBB quoted local officials as saying that 58 more bodies had been recovered from a flooded area in the Manila suburb of Marikina, and that they had not yet been included in the official tally.
Teodoro, who is heading the government’s rescue operation, said the government was looking into those reports.
“This has not been reported to us so we still cannot confirm this. We are going to call the [local] official so we can confirm this,” he said.
The chief of a riverside village in Quezon City, part of Metro Manila, also told Agence France-Presse that 29 bodies had been recovered and 108 people remained missing from his community.
Armando Endaya, captain of Bagong Silangan village, said he had not reported these deaths to national government officials, as they had not yet contacted him.
“Since yesterday, 29 bodies have been found,” Endaya told AFP from a makeshift evacuation camp in the village. “Another 108 people are still missing.”
The government’s official website showed just one death had been reported in Marikina and two in Quezon City.
Saturday’s disaster saw tropical storm Ondoy (international codename: Ketsana) drop the heaviest rain in more than 40 years on Manila and neighboring areas of Luzon island.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said more rain fell on Manila and the surrounding areas than on New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina devastated the American city in 2005.
The nine-hour deluge left some areas of Metro Manila, a sprawling city of 12 million people, under six meters (20 feet) of water.
Initial frantic rescue efforts saw military helicopters and rubber boats fan out across the city of 12 million to pluck people off houses and car roofs.
The government said more than 7,900 people had been rescued.