Gam de Armas
Friday, 25 September—the rains start, then increase in intensity Saturday morning. Reports of flooding fill the airwaves as the waters reach waist- and then neck-deep even in areas not normally prone to flooding.
Sunday, 27 Sept, 11:00—I text all 15 group coordinators and subcoordinators, asking their status and to contact their members, especially those living in low-lying areas, to find out their situations and if they needed help. No response from the East Group, so I start calling them, but have limited success.
12:38—Carmen Dimayuga responds, “Yes, our house was flooded. Phone lines down since yesterday.”
13:31—AFE’s assistant Jo Aquino forwards e-mail from Myrna Badillo: “Roland Valenciano, a former Staff Council member and now a member of the AFE–ADB texted me asking for help. He is trapped in his house in West Floodway, Cainta and has been eating only noodles and eggs since Saturday. He said the ground floor of his house is deep in floodwater until today. Kindly forward to other retirees who live nearby and may be able to assist.” I try calling Rolly but the lines are dead.
Monday, 28 Sept, 13:48—I send an e-mail and text message to Johnny Sy of ABS–CBN and Commander Eduardo Alvarez, National Director of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA) re. Rolly Valenciano’s predicament, asking if they could help.
14:26—Ed Alvarez replies that my message has been “forwarded to both the Philippine Coast Guard action center and the PCGA rescue team” operating in Cainta.”
16:06—I e-mail all Philippine Chapter Group Coordinators re Rolly’s plight, asking if they have called their members in the flood-stricken areas, and to provide feedback.
16:45—Lita Gamboa replies that they could not contact Letty Supangco, Tessie Salazar, and Ely Fuentes, and that ADB Security is helping to locate them.
Tuesday, 29 Sept, 12:18—No update on the 3 AFE members Lita reported; I ask Ed Alvarez to help locate them.
14:54—Myrna Badillo informs me Rolly was rescued by the Coast Guard, and sends his thanks to me, AFE, and all who helped. Wow, what a relief!
15:09—exADBfriends Yahoo group carries a report sharing the harrowing experience of Emelita Sanchez-Deza, active staff: “…the most trying times in my life…lost my house, car, everything I have put up for the last 20 years…managed to go to the roof all night with just our clothes on, braved the rain and coldness and danger of falling down cuz my roof is very steep....you can hear people shouting and trapped in their homes...only thing I saved is my cell phone and wallet…am here in ADB for the night...nowhere to go.” (The exADBfriends Yahoo group served as a clearinghouse for many reports involving former ADB staff in the days that followed, providing useful updates and exchanges.)
Very limited reports from the group coordinators; I worry that they too have been badly affected and thus are unable to report. My suspicion turns out to be true!
19:45—Ophie Sta. Ana, a group coordinator from the South, reports that Raquel Cabiles, lead coordinator for the East Group (Antipolo, Binangonan, Montalban, San Mateo, Pasig, Cainta, Pateros, Marikina, Taguig, and Taytay) had evacuated to her sister’s house in Makati, leaving her car submerged (it would take her about 2 months to get her car repaired). Ely Fuentes is staying at a neighbor’s house with a second floor. Ramon Reyes’ house in Cainta has water almost up to the second floor.
Thursday, 1 Oct—Raquel reports: “...had been stranded on Sat., 26 Sept, spent the night on a stalled truck outside gate 3 of Vista Verde Executive Village...left my car on Imelda Avenue just outside Gate 3 when floodwaters entered it…able to go home Sunday 4 PM through the courtesy of two men who made an improvised raft from banana trunks tied together...got on the raft with an 11 year old boy … with the men (pulling it through chest-high water).”
Susan Padolina, coordinator for Pasig, reports that water in her house had been shoulder high, damaging all her appliances, cabinets, and doors. She is still clearing out the mud and washing the clothes soaked by the floods.
Former ADB staff living abroad (e.g., Meditte Ulnagan) use our Philippine Chapter network to get through to their immediate relatives staying in the affected areas.
Hans asks how we could help our affected members. Perhaps rehabilitation assistance? To do this, we needed to know the extent of damage they suffered. I assure Hans that information gathering has started using the group coordinators and the “text brigade,” proceeding slowly due to power outage and flood impacts on the group coordinators.
Saturday, 3 October, I call for an emergency meeting of the group coordinators on the 6th. On the 5th, I issue a survey form to Philippine Chapter members to find out the extent of damage suffered and whether and how unaffected members could help. During the group coordinators’ meeting, with Hans present, we map out plans for further assessing Ondoy’s effects on members, getting help from ADB, and possibly giving financial assistance to those badly hit and how to source the funds.
Continuing Efforts. Several AFE members (including Mario Alarcio, George Custodio, Elvie Estavillo, Richard Eyre, Meg Lim, Tess Rivera, Souphanh Savady, and the South Group members) had e-mailed their intention to assist. We set up an account for donations. Support would also come from our chapters and friends abroad. Members were also helping each other. Lynn Garcia lent her pick-up to Emma Jimenez, whose car had to be repaired. Others braved the mud and floods to reach members to ascertain their condition.
A chilling story surfaced when Raquel Cabilles and I reached some of our members in Cainta. Precioso Gutierrez had almost lost his wife, who is bedridden and on a ventilator. Raging waters entered his house; swept away belongings, including precious documents; and rose to neck deep, threatening to engulf the bedroom where Priz’s wife was. Then power was cut off… it was dark…his wife’s ventilator had to be pumped by hand. Priz was in a dilemma: if the waters kept rising, how could he evacuate his wife? Fortunately, heaven intervened and the floodwaters stopped rising.
The AFE survey showed that, on the average, floodwaters inside affected members’ houses were waist deep (and in some cases 10–12 feet deep), damaging most appliances and furniture on the ground floor. Repairs of submerged cars cost P9,000–P90,000. Irreplaceable documents and pictures were damaged or lost. We are thankful that not a single life was lost!
And the funds AFE raised helped those affected a bit financially and a lot morally, through the knowledge that we care. Late December, 55 badly affected AFE members, all former local staff from the Philippine Chapter, received checks to help make the new year bright, the amounts of the checks varying according to the severity of damage suffered.
The following people and groups extended financial help (apologies to anyone inadvertently left out):
Tek Ablaza
Gam de Armas
Jess Arnuco
Yoly Asuncion
Krishna Bagal
Sheela Bambawale
Ranjit Banerjee
Steve Banta
Cindy Bares
Connie Baylon
Lou de Belen
Laxmi Bhat
Kathie Blanco
Baby Bolaño
Carmen Bontia
Robin Broadway
Dieter Bucher
Beth Cabuay
Nieves Callanta
Baby Girl Cruz
Jill Gale de Villa
V.V. Desai
Carmen Dimayuga
Vinh Dinh,
N.Cinnamon Dornsife
Elvie Estavillo
Richard Eyre
Manny Faelnar
Lina Falcon’s Niece
Florecita Flores
Ian Boyd Fox
Lita Gamboa
Barin Ganguli
Rakesh Gupta
Roy Hauge
Robert Hood
Josefina Ibe
Grace Ilogon
S.V.S. Juneja
Malti Kelkar
Ramdass Keswani
Eiji Kobayashi
Hiroyoshi Kurihara
P.K. Lahiri
Yolanda Langlois
Lyn Lapid
Yolly Laurel
Bong-Suh Lee
Dang Fook Lee
Etienne Linard
Precinia Lizarondo
Rosie Luistro
Lilia Malaqui
Arvind Mathur
Edith Okada
Danny & Lilia Orzal
Boyet Pamintuan
David Parker
M.S. Parthasarathy
Leonor Pascual
Ruth Pitpitan
Nikhilesh Prasad
Anita Quisumbing
Otto Raggambi
M.S. Rajan
V.S. Rao
Tessie Rivera
Edna Mae Ronas
Eva Sakharet
Luz Sanchez
Ada Santos
Soupanh Savady
Devinder Singh
Hans-Juergen Springer
Ophie Sta. Ana
Chato Suarez
Peter Sullivan
Min Tang
Hellen Tobin
Remigio Torres
K. Venkatesan
Thomas Walsh
Eichi Watanabe
Karin Marie Wentz
Christine Whitlam
Yuen Loh Yee
Rinus Zijsvelt
ADB OBG
New York–New Jersey Chapter
European Chapter:
Patrick & Annemarie Thomas
P.C.Verheugd
Peter Bodora
Peter Maertens
Heinz Bühler
Peter von Brevern
Gunter Hecker
Van der Elst
Günther Schulz
Wolf & Elizabeth Klube
Thomas Eggenberger
Nyuyen An Nhon
Alain Dick
SAGIP ONDOY 2009
and several people who wish to remain anonymous.