My friend, Zaldy Co, a businessman based in Albay asked his friends to join a relief effort to help his province. I said, sure! When do we go there?, I asked. Be at the Royal Star hangar tomorrow at 7 a.m., he replied. That was last Friday, the day after the typhoon landed in Bicol. I rounded up as many used clothes, food items that I could muster from my own circle of friends and bought bread good for a thousand people from Peter Sing’s Pan-de-Pidro. Atty. Joselito Chan brought a modest sum of money. Renan Dalisay, chief of staff of Senator Kiko Pangilinan, brought a donation from his principal. Senator Angara sent canned goods. Jocey, formerly of Senator Tatad’s office and I, called up some friends from the media to see if they wanted to join us.
Aside from the cash donations, the media’s presence may have been our groups’ biggest contribution to the people of Padang (read Tony Bergonia’s story today at the Inquirer). The media lost themselves in the desolation of the moment. Padang was an eerie site. There were streams to wade in and cross, rather than the concrete roads that have been buried or washed away.
Legaspi City Mayor Noel Rosal maintained a brave front. More than 10,000 families homeless. 141 missing. 41 dead. The figures tumbled from his mouth as the media quizzed him. I looked around and this is what I saw:
People shuffling their feet, moving around without going anywhere. Electric posts either tilted or flat on the ground. Trees, bald, bent, broken. Roofs, walls and doorways in varying degrees of undress. Mud inside living rooms, on the streets, by the creek. Clothes and bedsheets hanging out to dry. A roof jutting from hardened soil. Dead people on benches and tables, like manequins sunbathing themselves while waiting for the next-of-kin to identify their waxen faces. There was this small room in a funeral parlor where four children and a man were wrapped in blankets and laid out on the floor, again awaiting burial. A roof that seemed like a half-opened lid of a sardine can. No running water. No electricity. No Globe signal. No high-ranking official of a national department such as the DPWH, DOH or DSWD in sight. I read somewhere that the President herself will visit Albay early this week. When we were there, someone told me that Senator Gordon and the Red Cross were already in Albay. I met Congressman Joey Salceda while I was there.
Our group led by Zaldy Co decided to make our relief drive an ongoing effort. We agreed on a name: SOS Bicol. Atty. Chan’s law office will be our secretariat. Renan used his connections to cobble up a text charity number. For those interested to help, please type SOS Bicol on your mobile phone and send this to 2948 (regardless of your telco). Proceeds will be used for the calamity victims of Albay. All funds shall be properly audited and a full report will be published to assure donors that every peso will be duly accounted for and used for the victims’ needs.
Entire families were swept away when “Reming” landed in Bicol. Mayor Rosal said the force of the mudflows was so powerful that even families that were clinging to each other were separated with some members swept away to the sea or buried under the mud. He recalled seeing a body buried in the mud, with only the lower torso and legs remaining. The mayor thinks the victim was clinging to a tree branch when the mudflows came.
If you want to help out, drop off your relief items at the National Red Cross or the DSWD; or contact us at the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, 8339562. Or text SOS Bicol to 2948. And say a prayer please for both the dead and the living – the victims of typhoon “Reming” in Albay, Marinduque, and other places as well.
