ONDOY AND PEPENG –
TYPHOONS ARE DEADLIER THE SECOND TIME AROUND
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By Mary Jane C. Ortega
The Fishermen's Village of the City of San Fernando is one of my favorite projects,. The City bought
the land and put up 85 units for Fishermen who live by the seashore. Japan Social Development Fund
through the World Bank gave a grant of $300,000 for the road network, the drainage, and water system.
Now, it is a community of 500 people. These are the families, who, for the past twenty years, have
always been running to evacuation sites whenever a typhoon visits the city.
Last September 19, 2009, from the 10 hectare engineered landfill of the city, I brought my visitors to
the Fishermen's Village. One other feature of the houses is that they use the ECOSAN technology,
where the urine is diverted to a tank, is mixed with its equivalent amount of water, and is used for
fertilizing the plants. The feces, is covered with the required amount of lime or ashes, and when the
half-drum is filled, is set aside for six months until the pathogens are killed. These are then collected
by the Environment Office and is brought back to the soil at the established nurseries. Through this dry
technology, we do not generate waste water.
The owner of the model house I usually go to, cleaned her stairs, but she used a wet cloth. The
daughter slipped and I cautioned her to be careful because the floor was wet. When I went up the stairs
going to the ECOSAN toilet, I stepped on the wet floor, and slipped on my way down. I suffered a
dislocated joint ankle and a fracture of the small bone called lateral “malleolus”.
So when ONDOY came, I was in La Union, with my foot in a cast. My son and his family came to
visit me, closed up their house, and when asked, “Why are you going to La Union when Ondoy is on its
way there?” My son said, “We have to visit my mom.” Just as they reached La Union, ONDOY
changed his mind and stayed in Metro Manila, and my son's house near Araneta Avenue, in Quezon
City, went underwater. His two cars were submerged in water and everything in the first floor floated,
refrigerator, sala set, books, tables, water pump, EXCEPT the frame of the LAST SUPPER. It is a
Jigsaw puzzle of 5,000 pieces which my daughter, Rica, made, and my son, Frankie, liked it so much
that he asked for it. He may have lost material possessions, but because the family was concerned about
my welfare, they were spared from the trauma of being trapped on the second floor, fearful of the
water that may still go higher, and perhaps running out of water and food.
My other daughter, Vicky, who lives Riverside in Pasig, just transferred to Rockwell in Makati and was
also spared. They may not be able to sell their house at the price they want, but they were on safe
ground. The ONDOY victims, like all the rest, started to pick up the pieces
Then, PEPENG came. We, in La Union, braced for it. After it left, we thanked God we were spared,
not knowing that PEPENG would come back, with renewed fury, for having been kicked by Typhoon
Quedan. They say, love is lovelier the second time around, but a typhoon is deadlier the second time
around.
Thursday morning of October 8, strong rains were pelting our houses. I asked the Red Cross whether a
typhoon signal was hoisted and the answer was NO. A radio broadcaster from Radyo ng Bayan, Ed
Badua, was coming all the way from Manila to interview me about CLIMATE CHANGE and
GLOBAL WARMING, as agreed upon two week earlier. He and his wife were supposed to join me for
lunch. I received a text that they were still in Tarlac. Later, they told me of the traffic at
Binalonan.,Pangasinan. They texted me of the rising water of Pozorrubio. They arrived at 3:30 in the
afternoon, concerned about their plight, because they said the weather in Manila was all right, and there
was no news of a typhoon signal in La Union, but with the rising floodwater in Pangasinan, how could
they go back to Manila.?
As he was sharing his experience, I thought of calling my husband, Cong. Victor F. Ortega, to tell him
not to come home that weekend. He could not believe me. He called the Regional Commander and
was told that San Roque dam would release water that day and with the rains, it would be best not to
travel. At 11:30 p.m., it was high tide and with torrential rain and gusty winds, flood water started to
rise. My daughter, Rica and son in law, Ed went home to Bacnotan but had to come back to San
Fernando because they could not cross the high waters in Bacnotan. They were my evacuees for one
night. With heavy rains, brown out comes, and then the floodwater.
The water rose in the deep areas of the city. In our house alone, it covered the steps but did not enter
the office or the house, but entered our storage area. At 7:00 in the morning, when the rains became
lighter, the floodwaters started to recede. I asked Rica to go out and take pictures of the city and be my
eyes. I noticed the water was down, there was a thin film of mud, caused by the soil erosion or siltation
from higher grounds. There were branches, and leaves but NO GARBAGE.
I thank the investments the city has poured into proper SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT by building a
ten hectare ENGINEERED LANDFILL, putting up MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITIES,
encouraging recycling so much so that we now have prosperous junkshops, and only 4% of recyclables
end up in our landfill; having the cooperation of the radio stations so that they play the BASURA
JINGLE on a regular basis to educate the listeners while the schools teach our students proper waste
management.
I thank our investments on drainage and having mitigating measures on sewerage, and having put up
a waste water treatment facility. We built a drainage canal at Flores Street where it was flooded the
whole year round, even when it was not raining, simply because there was no drainage. We bought a
vacuum tanker and Mayor Pablo Ortega, my successor, saw to it that the drainage canals were cleaned
of any trash and silt, and even had our “esteros” cleaned.
Mr. Giusto, the Italian technical consultant of the World Bank, who helped design our drainage canal at
Flores St. told me, “Mayor, you cannot promise a floodless city. Because you have low lying areas,
when the rains pour during high tide, you cannot help but have flooding. But if you clear your drainage
canals and your esteros, when the tide goes down and the rain subsides, the water will recede. You will
not have stagnant water.” How right he was.
But there were areas that never had floods that entered their establishments before, like DZNL and
BOMBO RADYO. We have to study if the waterway near them were cleaned or if we would have to
upgrade the drainage canals. I always tell our constituents to always listen to the radio, but alas, two
radio stations were down because their transmitters got wet. One radio station, LOVE RADIO, is an
FM radio, but for the duration of PEPENG, have devoted part of their time to NEWS.
A tragedy happened in one of our barangays, Barangay Bungro. The barangay captain, Leonardo
Gapasin, 44 years old and his two adopted daughters and a neighbor were buried alive by a landslide.
The hill behind them had a high slope and the soil became loose. We have asked the Environment
Officer to study further the circumstances. Could it have been avoided? If he planted trees, would it
have averted the landslide? What was done that the soil became loose?
The need for Geo hazard mapping comes to the fore. I have already commissioned the DENR to make
a study but perhaps a more comprehensive study is needed. This is the time when proper urban
planning should be done. Houses prone to disasters like landslides should be warned and asked to
relocate. Houses prone to flooding should be encouraged to have second floors and should be of sturdy
material.We have two who died because the concrete wall fell on them.
Yes, we had 4,589 families or 14,686 evacuees at the height of the typhoon. We would have had 85
families or 500 evacuees more but we were able to relocate them already at the Fishermen's Village.
The experienced went to the evacuation sites. The hardheaded stayed on, saying “We were never
flooded before.” But at midnight, when the high tide and the strong rains came, they called for HELP,
when help could not be extended because of the darkness, the strong current of the floodwater and the
pouring rain. Luckily, they reached the evacuation sites but unluckily, a father and his one year old
daughter while going to the evacuation site were killed by a falling tree.
As chairperson of the Red Cross La Union-San Fernando Chapter, I was in constant coordination with
our Administrator Almira Abrazado who stayed at her post for four straight nights. The staff were there
with our volunteers, repacking relief goods. The PNRC National Headquarters sent 1554 packs while
we augmented them with 453 relief packs from our funds. We distributed P1,000 per victim of
typhoon PEPENG from funds donated to us by one who wants to remain anonymous. When I received
a text message from a convent in Angin asking for two cavans of rice for those who sought shelter in
the convent, we could not send the rice because of floodwaters. We asked a volunteer of Project 143,
the brainchild of Chairperson Richard Gordon to give the rice and we will reimburse it when the road
would be passable. In three hours time, the nuns received the two cavans of rice and their evacuees
were fed.
I was told by a “manicurista” whose house was flooded up to her knees, that she received a call from
her sister who lived in Valenzuela, Bulacan, asking for help. “YOU KNOW THAT I AM A VICTIM
OF PEPENG AND I KNOW YOU ARE A VICTIM OF ONDOY, how can I help you? Don't you get
relief goods in your place?” “We do, but we have to fight for it and I may even be hurt. Please send
me money so I can buy food.” The manicurista sent her Five Hundred Pesos via the couriers, and her
sister swam through flooded waters to get it, and bought food for her hungry children. This
manicurista with a golden heart said, “AT LEAST MA'M, WE ARE LUCKIER. PEPENG HAS GONE
and we are already getting on with our lives. Thank God.”
Yes, THANK GOD we do not have a dam that would release water that aggravates flooding, THANK
GOD for DISASTER PREPAREDNESS, because disasters due to natural causes and GLOBAL
WARMING cannot be ignored, but with preparedness, we will lessen the damage.
And to our patron saint, OUR LADY OF NAMACPACAN, PLEASE INTERCEDE FOR US, GOD
THE SAVIOR AND GOD THE FATHER, PLEASE SPREAD YOUR CLOAK OF PROTECTION
OVER US.
October 12, 2009