Life, Day by Day

In August 1972, I remember a big flood happened also in Luzon . For more than two weeks, heavy rains pummeled Luzon before then President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. Floodwaters merged with the Pampanga and Agno rivers and submerged most of Central Luzon. This became known as the Great Flood of 1972. I remember working in the gym with classmates preparing relief goods. Classes were suspended in some subjects so that students can help instead. Less than a month after...Martial Law was declared. I don't know why I suddenly remembered this fact...maybe because like Marcos then, GMA's popularity and approval rating is at its lowest today. It's like deja vu...the atmosphere of political conflict, the morale of the people, the air of discontent among the people is eerily similar. Is this a sign? I am not saying that GMA is going to declare Martial Law...but somehow I feel a great change coming. Maybe this is our second chance...maybe God is telling us somethi

A truly heartbreaking video made by Glenn Omanio .

Last Thursday, Tropical Storm Ketsana (better known in the Philippines as Typhoon "Ondoy") entered the Philippine area of responsbility. It was not even a storm yet but a tropical depression. The next day Friday, it was declared a typhoon and signal no. 1 and 2 were raised in parts of Luzon including Metro Manila. However as it swept across Luzon on early Saturday morning, packing winds of 85 kilometers per hour, or 53 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour, "Ondoy" dumped 42.4 centimeters, or 16.7 inches, of rain in just 12 hours, said Nathaniel Cruz, the government’s chief weather forecaster. He said the rain that fell in those 12 hours was equivalent to the amount of rain that Manila received in the whole of September. To make matters worse, it was high tide and the water levels of 2 dams, Angat and Ipo were at critically high levels as well. By sunrise Metro Manila and it's environs were underwater. And for the first time, places t