Sendong’s dead dumped in garbage landfill site

Text and photos by Froilan Gallardo, Mindanews

I am a professional photojournalist and I am not in a habit of showing bloated bodies unless there is a compelling reason. This is an exception. The city government of Cagayan de Oro transferred 30 bodies from Bollozos Funeral Homes in Barangay Bulua to the garbage landfill in Zayas, Barangay Carmen Sunday night. The reson is the bodies have bloated and smelled a lot. Since no one came forward to claim the bodies, the city government said the bodies would be better in the landfill where it could still be viewed by relatives.

I am shocked by this decision. The city government has made countless of mistakes since tropical storm Sendong struck but this decision TOPS THEM ALL. Why transfer the bodies to a garbage landfill? The dead are not garbage no matter how bloated they are. Yet the city government left the bodies lying on the ground under the sun. The dead is always handled with respect. It only showed how insensitive the city government. Grabeh.

I am angry of this disrespect. As I clicked the shutter of my camera, I have only one thing in my mind. Expose this to the world and give justice to the dead. My mind shouted in the rage of this travesty. Nevermind the smell. There was injustice at the landfill.

Relatives of still missing resident of Cagayan de Oro view the bodies that were transferred from Bollozos Funeral Parlor in Barangay Bulua to the garbage landfill in Barangay Carmen, all in Cagayan de Oro City, on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. The City government ordered their transfer Monday after the morgues were swamped with bodies killed by Tropical Storm Sendong.

Relatives of still missing resident of Cagayan de Oro view a body that was transferred from Bollozos Funeral Parlor in Barangay Bulua to the garbage landfill in Barangay Carmen, all in Cagayan de Oro City, on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. The City government ordered the transfer of 30 bodies Monday after the morgues were swamped with bodies killed by Tropical Storm Sendong.

Experience the Sardine Run in Moalboal Cebu!

When I heard from younger travel bloggers at the Pinoy Travel Bloggers – Baagets group that we’ll be going to Moalboal in Cebu, I got so excited and I really cant wait to fly again to Cebu!

Diving in Moalboal
Pescador Island

(...)
Read the rest of Experience the Sardine Run in Moalboal Cebu!



© Enrico Dee for BYAHILO, 2011. | Permalink | 4 Byahilo readers have made a comment | Add to del.icio.us

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Actress’ tweets earned brickbats for PNoy

Interaksyon’s article by Mark Holandes Ubalde:

While nation mourns Sendong’s dead, Aquino partying with actresses in Palace?

Statement of Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang issued today, Dec. 19, 2011.

Yesterday (Sunday), a decision was made to cancel cabinet Christmas party but PSG decided to push thrpugh with its party since relatives of soldiers had already flown in from the provinces. The President dropped by the PSG party.

Where was President Benigno S. Aquino III on Sunday evening, as the people of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities and several other areas in Visayas and Mindanao grapple with the devastation of tropical storm Sendong? Apparently, drinking with his security personnel in Malacanang, and laughing and exchanging jokes with actresses.

Related article:
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/19918/aquino-to-visit-flood-ravaged-areas-dec–20-not-dec–27

This was according to a post on Twitter by actress Valerie Concepcion on Sunday, the same day the combined death toll in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan climbed to more than 600.

“Done w/ work.. Tnx for having me.. :) It was nice to see Pres. P-Noy laughing at my jokes & enjoying my performance..ü #Malacañang #PSGNight,“ Concepcion said in her tweet that has since been deleted as of posting time.

In her series of tweets, Concepcion said she was performing three songs for the President and was alongside singer Jessa Zaragosa, who was one of the performers.

InterAksyon.com called the Presidential Security Group early Monday and confirmed that the PSG Christmas party was indeed held in Malacanang Sunday night. But the PSG personnel, who refused to be identified, said he was “not authorized to say if the President” was there.

Concepcion’s tweets have caught the ire of many Filipinos on the microblogging site who assailed the president for partying while Filipinos are suffering the brunt of Sendong.

“PNoy’s partying while people are dying,” said @I_amHolo.

Others commented on the president’s “misplaced” his priorities. “Mr. PNoy, I hope you learn to prioritize things. People voted you to serve them, not to party. CDO is in plight. Deal with it,” tweeted Jan Brian Astrom.

Some, however, defended the president. Tour guide Carlos Celdran, in a post on his Facebook wall, said he was “not going to make patol the Presidential Christmas partying and judge him. Seriously, I myself should be doing something better too. And if it’s the PSG having their party & he ‘passed by’ to show solidarity, that’s totally different from doing tequila body shots with Jessa Zaragoza. Seriously.”

Earlier, the date of his trip to the South also caught the ire of some netizens, after the national disaster agency made a “typo” error and said he was visiting on December 27, raising howls of protest about why he had to wait after Christmas. The Palace corrected the date to December 20.

Another tweet by a certain Mary Hope Salazar dated Dec. 16:

The Last Lizard, My Second Tattoo

“The lizard wakes up and finds he’s the last lizard alive.
His family and friends are all gone.
Those he didn’t like, those who picked on him in school are also gone.
The lizard is all alone. He misses his family and friends. Even his enemies.
It’s better being with your enemies than being alone. That’s what he thought.
Staring at the sunset, he thinks: What is the point in living, if I don’t have anyone to talk to?
But even that thought doesn’t mean anything
when you’re the last lizard.”

Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s The Last Life in the Universe is a visually arresting movie about Kenji, a suicidal, obsessive-compulsive Japanese librarian living in Bangkok. During one of his suicide attempts, he meets a Thai girl named Noi, and the two come together to recover from their personal tragedies despite their limited vocabulary and clashing personalities.

last life in the universe

It took three years and my second viewing of the movie to decide that I wanted a new tattoo. It’s funny because a tattoo was actually the last thing on my mind at the time, but when you encounter the perfect idea and the time feels right, the only way to get rid of that desire is to have the tattoo done. I was so moved by the story of the last lizard that I decided, on the spot, that I wanted to make this a part of me somehow.

the last lizard

The Last Lizard is a Japanese children’s book that Kenji was obsessed about, and I was struck by how the lizard’s tale managed to capture my recurring feelings of loneliness and isolation. I wanted the book’s cover art to be my tattoo.

I got my tattoo done by Dyani Lao, an independent tattoo artist who has done gorgeous work on my friend Anne. Don’t get Dyani if you’re the kind of person who likes tattoos of words, Chinese characters, or anything that doesn’t require artistic input. He’s a tattoo artist in the truest sense, and he will want to create a custom design, which was exactly what I wanted.

study 2

Even though I was decided on the cover art of The Last Lizard, I thought the black circle thing would look kind of ugly as a tattoo and wanted something with texture. This was his design, and I was in love the moment he showed it to me.

tattoo area

Dyani only does tattoos at his clients’ homes, which made me a bit hesitant about making him my artist. For one thing, I still live with my parents, and I didn’t really feel like asking them if some strange tattooed guy could come over and set up a temporary tattoo studio in our guest room. And for another, our house doesn’t exactly have all the things a tattoo artist would need to do the procedure safely. Then again, I have seen Dyani tattoo my friends, and he’s pretty strict about sanitation – he covers everything in plastic and he uses new needles. And when I learned that my parents will be out of the country one weekend in December, I finally saw my chance to get it done.

design transfer

I decided to place the tattoo on my right calf, simply because I’m not ready for the commitment (and the annoying questions) that comes with an arm tattoo.

tattoing 4

The new placement and size made me nervous about the pain, but I really didn’t have to worry. The mild stinging was nothing like the agonizing facial treatments I’ve experienced.

tattooing 3

halfway there

At 55 minutes, Dyani was already halfway done!

tattooing

tattooing 6

tattoing 2

The areas near the inner calf were a bit more sensitive, and my leg would occasionally twitch as he worked on the design. I was relieved to discover that this didn’t seem to bother Dyani the least.

last lizard tattoo

Two hours later, my tattoo was done, and it was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined! I am never getting tattoos done by anyone else but Dyani. In a few months I will get this colored, but I’m really happy with how it looks right now.

Contact Dyani Lao by sending him an email at dyanilao@yahoo.com. You can also view his portfolio on Facebook and Multiply.