The world is filled with stories of opportunities resulting from adversities.
There is one report that gives me hope Manila’s landscape would improve after the destruction caused by Pedring.
A Facebook entry mentioned that many of those ugly, multi-colored lamps along Roxas Blvd have been destroyed.
That means, the city government would be allotting millions of pesos again to have Roxas Boulevard lighted. I hope former Tourism secretary Gemma Cruz, who advises Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim on historical and cultural matters, recommends a better- designed lamps that reflect the beauty and character of Manila.
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The US Embassy which was flooded yesterday due to typhoon Pedring will remain closed today.
The photo taken by Keith Brown that went around Facebook showed the gates of the embassy with thigh-high waters.
The resort hotel, Sofitel, had to evacuate their guests because part of the seawall at the back of the hotel, collapsed and the Spiral restaurant, famous for its sumptuous buffets, was flooded.
Someone posted in Facebook a photo of an empty Mall of Asia, a rare sight.
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The Department of Foreign Affairs-Office of Consular Affairs (DFA-OCA) said passport applicants scheduled to file their application for passport Sept. 27 (DFA suspended its consular operations yesterday due to bad weather) may come any day until October 7 (Friday) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Floods, like other natural disasters, are equalizers. It does not differentiate economic status. But of course, people of means have access to facilities that make coping easier.
Mayor Manila Alfredo Lim was heard on TV relating the instructions he has sent out to his men regarding the transfer of residents in flooded depressed to the evacuation centers.
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It was a different disaster that struck Philippines Airlines. Although some airlines cancelled some flights due to Pedring, no PAL plane took off yesterday because the airline employees locked themselves in their offices and didn’t work. It was part of their continuing protest against the plan of PAL, which was approved by the Department of Labor and Employment, to outsource many of the airline services starting Oct. 1.
PAL President and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said about a hundred flights were canceled affecting some 14,000 passengers booked for both domestic and international flights.
He said yesterday’s strike by members of the PAL Employees Association was illegal and “may be one of the worst” work disruptions since PALEA’s 1998 strike during the Estrada administration.
Bautista asked the strikers to vacate the PAL offices to they can get outsiders to man the airline’s operations. He said their lawyers will be filing administrative and criminal charges against the strikers.
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A news report said two persons were hurt when a billboard at the corner of Buendia and Osmena Highway fell on a Toyota Corolla as typhoon Pedring was battering Metro Manila.The passengers sustained minor injuries, according to the Makati Rescue team. The billboard also fell on a Pajero and a passenger bus although no one was reported hurt in these vehicles, the report said.
We never learn our lesson about the danger of those billboards which does not in any way improve the lives of the people in general.
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Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, renewed her call to be always Alert and ready in this typhoon season. “Tropical storms are not new to us. We have been experiencing these natural hazards for as long as anyone can remember. By now, every government agency and every citizen of this country should know what to do when we are expecting typhoons,” she said.
To reduce the adverse effects of typhoons, concerned agencies both from the national and local governments should release frequently updated advisories and ensure that areas expected to be affected are prepared–activate all forms of early warning systems, set up evacuation centers, evacuate families living in landslide-prone and flood-prone areas, and ensure that all canals and drainage systems are cleaned up, she added.
“Tropical storm Pedring entered the country two years after three successive tropical cyclones—Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi—inflicted damages to the nation, as if examining if we have sincerely learned our painful lessons from these disasters. That is why we must ensure that our disaster preparedness measures are always in place and our communities know what to do when natural hazards strike,” she said.
