in early December, when i went with my friend Rambie to set-up her soup kitchen for kids in Tacloban, to feed as well in neighbouring towns, we saw what the locals called “housing” along the stretch of the highway. then, even with only skeletal frames, it already looked pretty tight, and one could imagine how congested it was to become. (more…)
it is a waste of time, but also utterly insensitive and absolutely unnecessary for anyone at all in government to be talking at this point about looting on the one hand, and proposing a level-up on the punishment against looters on the other, obviously contextualized as it is in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.
this is what Muntinlupa City Representative Rodolfo Biazon is doing by filing House Bill 3367. he is also missing the point. (more…)
The people on the plane—mostly men—were straining their necks to look out the windows as we descended toward the Tacloban airport. The site was grim: nothing but endless brown land, with nary a structure, and few trees.
Landing is no different. While the tarmac is clear, to one side is a sea wall now in shambles, in front of which stands an airport facility standing only on its posts. There is no welcome to be had here, and the people in charge are tired. Stepping outside the airport grounds means only dust and heat, and an endless view of leafless trees. (more…)
been away from this space, and not because i’ve been at it elsewhere, as there has been stretches of times with no more words to use for helplessness and sadness and anger. the twice a week radikalchick column is still happening in The Manila Times, and that seems to have been enough of words, along with FB statuses, and reliefPH.com. (more…)
There was something powerful about Congresswoman Lucy Torres-Gomez having herself interviewed on television about the distribution of relief goods in her Ormoc, almost two weeks since it was hit by Typhoon Yolanda on November 8.
Of course it has everything to do with her as pop culture icon, beautifully calm and quiet, rare to speak beyond limitations of privacy and decency, probinsyana through and through. Save for the tragic landslide of 1991, Torres-Gomez might also be the only name we equate with Leyte province.
But also it had much to do with what were very well-chosen words, including the disclaimer that said she wasn’t out to just be critical. “Wala akong pinapatamaan,” Torres-Gomez said, though of course with this government’s defensive stance against all criticism, it doesn’t matter that she wasn’t out to be critical. She was telling the truth, and this government can’t quite handle the truth. (more…)