MikeLigalig.com

Elizabeth Protacio de Castro, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Philippines in Manila, said her nation has grown accustomed to catastrophe. Some 20 typhoons barrel across the nation every year. Add to that earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, armed insurgencies and political upheaval.

"Dealing with disaster has become an art," de Castro said. But Typhoon Haiyan "was quite different. It was immense, and no amount of preparation could have prepared us to cope with it."

And yet, they must cope.

I covered the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami in Japan, and cannot recall a single laugh. Every nation is resilient in its own way, but there is something different in the Philippines that I have not yet put my finger on.

While walking through Tacloban's ruins, I and my colleagues were almost always greeted by kind words. When I asked how people were doing, people who had lost everything said, "Good." Superficial words, of course, but combined with the smiles, and with hearing "Hey, Joe" again and again (an old World War II reference to G.I. Joe), they helped form a picture I have not encountered in other disaster zones.

Perhaps it has something to do with an expression Filipinos have: "Bahala Na." It essentially means: Whatever happens, leave it to God.

In Saranillo's neighborhood, I saw four giggling children jumping up and down on two soiled mattresses strung across a cobweb of smashed wooden beams that had once formed somebody's home. Two women stood on a hilltop high above, dancing.

A few yards (meters) away, a 21-year-old named Mark Cuayzon strummed a guitar. He too, was smiling. And in this city virtually erased by nature, I had to ask why.

"I'm sad about Tacloban," he said. "But I'm happy because I'm still alive. I survived. I lost my house, but I didn't lose my family."

But as the crisis eases and aid begins to flow, hope is flickering. People smile, if only briefly, and joke, if only in passing. They are snippets of life. They do not mean, by any stretch, that people are happy in the face of tragedy. But for some, there is a newfound enthusiasm for life that comes from having just escaped death.

When a kid with mismatched shoes rolled the grimy, orange-and-yellow basketball my way, I was encouraged to attempt a slam dunk. I opted for free throws instead, and miraculously sank the first two, to immense cheers all around.

My third shot hit the rim, circled twice and rolled the wrong way. The crowd roared a sympathetic "Awwwwwwwwww." There were a lot of laughs.

The kids wanted to play so they can take their minds off what happened, said Elanie Saranillo, one of the spectators. "And we want to watch so we, too, can forget."

Saranillo, 22, now lives in a church after her own home was leveled by the storm.

Countless families lost loved ones to the typhoon, which killed more than 4,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of survivors have endured unimaginable suffering: hunger, thirst, makeshift shelter, little if any medical care, and a desperate, dayslong wait for aid to arrive. Tacloban was filled with hopeless, fear-filled faces. Even now, blackened bodies with peeling skin still lay by the roads, or are trapped under the rubble.

I didn't know what to think at first when I stumbled upon six teenagers shooting hoops over the weekend in a wrecked neighborhood of Tacloban, a city that Typhoon Haiyan reduced to rubble, bodies and uprooted trees when it slammed into the Philippines Nov. 8.

As a foreign correspondent working in the middle of a horrendous disaster zone, I didn't expect to see people having a good time â€" or asking me to play ball. I was even more stunned when I learned that the basketball goal was one of the first things this neighborhood rebuilt.

It took a moment for me to realize that it made all the sense in the world.

Signs of life amid misery reveal Filipinos' spirit

Associated Press
By TODD PITMAN
20 November 2013


In this Sunday Nov. 17, 2013 photo, Typhoon Haiyan survivors play basketball in a destroyed neighborhood in Tacloban, Philippines. They found the hoop in the ruins of their obliterated neighborhood. They propped up the backboard with broken wood beams and rusty nails scavenged from vast mounds of storm-blasted homes. A crowd gathered around. And on one of the few stretches of road here that wasn't overflowing with debris, they played basketball. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) â€" They found the hoop in the ruins of their obliterated neighborhood. They propped up the backboard with broken wood beams and rusty nails scavenged from vast mounds of storm-blasted homes.

A crowd gathered around. And on one of the few stretches of road here that wasn't overflowing with debris, they played basketball.

down to the last hair clips...

Quote from: hubag bohol on November 13, 2013, 04:52:32 PM
You're way over-coiffed, Ms. Hanoi. Look at me...

well, you're not a beauty contestant.  with your apron, you must be the chef...

his bed is good for the two of us...

come, now... i'll make you win in football, okay?  just play with me, okay?

we, four kings, of orieeeent are,
bearing gifts we travel so far...

hohum, these childish nursery books. i wonder when she's going to read "war and peace"...

well-groomed both, but only one is the real diva.  she happens to have a tail.

hohum, what a boring massage, but this kid's enjoying it, so... go ahead, make your day.

okay, so we all can enjoy that ball, this is how to play... you let go, you throw it, and we'll run after it.  sabe, kiddo?

may the lord grant robert matson eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon him.  may he rest in peace.  amen.

whatever this is, it's cute!

hehe, i have this feeling you know her personally...

manila flooding of 2012

so who got married?  your girlfriend and the dog?

give me the incredible hulk all the time.

fil-am ninotchka rosca
the name is a nom de plume

she must be keeping in fashion with cruella de vil in this photo.  but where are the 101 dalmatians?

but isn't transforming also a form of resilience? 

resilience is not only "the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape", which is what rosca seems to be up against; it is also "the ability to last, a strength of character, toughness, indomitability".  one is transformed because one is resilient.  he does not break, does not give in.

but for once, i read a rosca work, brief it may be, that i can admire though not necessarily agree with.  however she passes herself off and whatever literary awards she may have received, her state of war book was a big letdown.  its blurb was that it can be likened to gabriel garcia marquez's love in the time of cholera.  my ten cents' worth: that was grossly unfair to marquez.

sa imong estorya, purya. klarong shakedown ang tuyo sa ginikanan. i hope that teacher has a fighting chance. bisan pag naa siyay windfall karon, like a lotto winning hinaot, di gyod siya angay mobayad as a matter of principle.

sounds familiar, loll. makalagot na rong panahona ang ubang ginikanan baya. di na morespeto sa teachers sa ilang anak. 

naa tawoy exclusive school kintahay sa cebu... di baya ma-control sa administration ang mga mosulod.  that holds true of all schools, for that matter.  years ago, nakasulod usa ka stray dog.  bata nga pupil naanad tingalig hawok sa ilang iro, nihawok pod sa stray dog.  tua, napahit ang nawong kay stray dog wa baya maanad ug hawok.  ni-stray gani intawon kay pinasagdan, naanad ug patid tingali.

aguy, arang gikiha sa ginikanan ang school.  kapuliki intawon ang mga madre ug alima na lang sa iro, ilang gi-cage, for observation for possible rabies infection.  naka-iro hinoon ug ahat ang mga madre.

this is one school nga ambot nganong natunong nga listo ang mga ginikanan ug kiha ikomparar sa uban.

Sardinia's governor, Ugo Cappellacci, said the 17 dead included a family of four, reportedly of Brazilian origin, in Arzachena.

Local newspaper L'Unione Sarda said a policeman helping to escort an ambulance died when the car he was travelling in was submerged in the collapse of a bridge in Dorgali. In hard-hit Gallura, three people died after their car was swept away in the collapse of another bridge, the paper said.

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean and is one of Italy's autonomous regions. While it's known to tourists for its pristine Costa Smeralda beaches, the island's interior is known for its sheep and pastoral life. Sardinians are famed for their exceptional longevity.

Other parts of Italy were also hit by heavy rains yesterday, including the capital, Rome, and Venice in the north, where residents and tourists donned rubber boots to slosh through a St. Marks' Square flooded from the "acqua alta" high tides that periodically submerge the lagoon city.


http://www.philstar.com/

Transport was hampered by rivers of cocoa-colored mud gushing over roads that forced the closure of several major thoroughfares, including a tunnel into the city of Olbia, according to the Anas company which runs Italy's roads and highways.

Olbia Mayor Gianni Giovannelli said the city had been destroyed by the "apocalyptic" storm, with bridges felled and water levels reaching 3 meters (10 feet) in some places. He described the ferocity of the storm's rains as a "water bomb."

Gabrielli defended the civil protection's alert system, which had signaled an "elevated" risk of the storm on much of Sardinia, the highest level of alert. He warned against day-after finger-pointing, saying evacuation orders had been issued and ignored and that no weather forecast could have predicted the "exceptional" degree of devastation.

Italian Premier Enrico Letta declared a state of emergency and set aside 20 million euros ($27 million) for emergency relief, saying the priority was reaching remote areas, saving the lives of those still unaccounted for and providing for those left homeless.

The island, which draws royals, entrepreneurs and ordinary tourists alike during the dry, peak summer months, received more than 44 centimeters (17.3 inches) of rain in 24 hours Monday â€" half the amount it normally receives in a year, officials said.

Italy's civil protection chief, Franco Gabrielli, said the death toll may still rise as crews reach isolated areas in the countryside where some homes are submerged.

'Apocalyptic' storm floods Sardinia, 17 dead

By Nicole Winfield (Associated Press)
November 20, 2013


Rescuers work in a flooded street in the small town of Uras, Sardinia, Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. A violent rainstorm that flooded entire parts of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia has led to the deaths of at least nine people. Bridges were felled by swollen rivers and water levels reached 3 metres (yards) in some places. (AP Photo/Alessandra Chergia)

ROME â€" The Mediterranean island of Sardinia, prized by the jet-set for its white sand beaches and crystal-clear seas, was a flood-ravaged mud bath yesterday after a freak torrential rainstorm killed at least 17 people, downed bridges and swept away cars.

Rescuers work in a flooded street in the small town of Uras, Sardinia, Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. A violent rainstorm that flooded entire parts of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia has led to the deaths of at least nine people. Bridges were felled by swollen rivers and water levels reached 3 metres (yards) in some places. (AP Photo/Alessandra Chergia)

In this Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013 photo, Typhoon Haiyan survivors play basketball in a destroyed neighborhood in Tacloban, Philippines. They found the hoop in the ruins of their obliterated neighborhood. They propped up the backboard with broken wood beams and rusty nails scavenged from vast mounds of storm-blasted homes. A crowd gathered around. And on one of the few stretches of road here that wasn't overflowing with debris, they played basketball. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

to understand better the implications of this supreme court ruling, the opinion of jesuit constitutionalist fr joaquin bernas, sj, is a great guide.

SC decision restores normal constitutional order
By Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas S. J.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Wednesday, November 20th, 2013

http://opinion.inquirer.net/65733/sc-decision-restores-normal-constitutional-order#ixzz2lD4CIbZS

Reversing itself after thrice upholding the legality of the lawmakers’ pork barrel, the court said that this time it simply “allowed legislators to wield, in varying gradations, nonoversight, postenactment authority in vital areas of budget execution” and denied the President the power to veto items in the GAA.

The ruling was issued four months after the Inquirer broke the story that P10 billion in allocations from the PDAF and the Malampaya Fund meant to ease rural poverty and the plight of storm victims over the past 10 years had gone to ghost projects and massive kickbacks.


Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/530687/supreme-court-slays-pdaf#ixzz2lD1Kyr1g

The high court, voting 14-0-1, also struck down the discretionary provisions granted the President in the use of multibillion-peso oil revenues from the Malampaya Fund and the Presidential Social Fundâ€"the government share of revenues from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

In declaring unconstitutional the provisions on the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in the 2013 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and its earlier incarnation, the 1990 Countrywide Development Fund (CDF), the high tribunal held that these arrangements violated the principle of separation of powers.

Supreme Court slays PDAF

14-0 ruling big blow to patronage politics

By Christine O. Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Wednesday, November 20th, 2013



In a landmark decision that could spell the end of political patronage, the Supreme Court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional past and present congressional pork barrel laws as it ordered the criminal prosecution of individuals who had benefited from the schemes over the past two decades.

gai mi bi ug gasakay ug invisible airplane.

in cebu, there was riot kuno in my cat room.  that cat room happens to have 26 cats.  the one cat inside the house (the maladjusted diva, that's why she had to be separated from the rest) hid somewhere where she cannot be seen. our four dogs were also terrified, one even managed to escape from the house ahead of the humans.

que sera sera.

A soldier from the 525th Engineering Construction Battalion carries a little girl waiting to load on an aircraft for transport to Manila at the Tacloban Air Field.

Photo by Sgt. Jonathan G. Wright 3MEB, USMARPAC

i am a boholana who was born in samar (calbayog city, thus my first language is waray). my birthplace made me familiar with strong typhoons.  but i have good memories.  they were fun for me, with feelings of being safe and dry inside the house with my siblings as we enjoyed our typhoon treats of sun dried peanuts while now and then we looked out the window and shouted and laughed when we saw flying galvanized iron taken off roofs.

our mom made sure that none of us went out by scaring us about scenes of people walking without heads because of those flying galvanized iron. now i feel bad that children didn't enjoy a typhoon this time.  

it rendered me sleepless in manila. felt helpless and guilty. since i can't do more after donating a little amount, i thought it would help them, and help me, if i said a little prayer for mercy every time i see such pitiful helplessness.

a whimper and a prayer, please.

wow! my day is made!

Ang laing makalibog nga pulong nga maoy hinungdan sa daghang kamatayon mao ang “storm surge.” Matud pa sa uban, maayo pa kuno og gihinganlan na lang kadtog tsunami kay namakwit pa unta ang tanan. Asa may mas dako, tsunami o storm surge? Dunay tsunaming dagko ug duna puy tsunaming gagmay nga ingon nga duna say storm surge nga dagko ug gagmay. Ang nakalahi ra nila mao ang hinungdan. Ang tsunami mamugna tungod sa linog samtang ang storm surge dala sa bagyo. Nakakita kitag mga hulagway sa kadaut nga dala sa tsunami apan ignoy intawn kayo kita ning storm surge. Mao nga diha pa kunoy gainom sa baybayon nga gahuwat sa pagdagsa ni Yolanda.

Maayo pag gihinganlan nila ang storm surge og Killer Waves kay bisag grade three mahadlok makadungog ning maong termino.


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

Matud pa sa Wikipedia: “An aftershock is a smaller earthquake that occurs after a previous large earthquake, in the same area of the main shock. If an aftershock is larger than the main shock, the aftershock is redesignated as the main shock and the original main shock is redesignated as a foreshock. Aftershocks are formed as the crust around the displaced fault plane adjusts to the effects of the main shock.” Sa ato pa, surambao kining maong termino.

Ang duha ka sikat nga jargon karon mao ang aftershock ug storm surge. Duha ka mga langyaw nga pulong nga nakapa-ulbo sa atong kaspa.

Matag uyog sa yuta, mobansiwag dayon sa mga taho ang pulong nga aftershock. Mao na ni ang bag-ong magic word sa pakalma. Mora bag may kalainan ang linog (earthquake) sa aftershock. Ah, aftershock ra to. Ra?

Paghuman sa intensity 7.2 nga linog niadtong miaging buwan, gisundan kinig mga aftershock nga tag 5.6. Pero duna man say original nga linog nga mas minus og intensity kay sa aftershock. Daghang mga aftershock nga mas nakahatag og dakong kadaut kun itandi sa laing mga linog nga wala hinganlig aftershock. For all intents and purposes, ang aftershock linog lang gihapon.

Mao nga ang trabaho sa reporter o manunulat dili lang ang paghatag og kasayuran kun dili ang paghatag og kahulogan ning maong kasayuran. Ug kini nga maxim (a principle or rule of conduct) o pamaagi dili lang alang sa taga-media. Kinahanglan usab kining sundon sa tanang mosibya og kasayuran, lakip na ang mga ahensya sa gobyerno nga gitagaan ning maong tahas. Kay kun pipila lang ka suhito ang makasabot sa mga termino nga imong gipasa, wala kiniy dakong tabang nga mahatag sa katilingban. Kining maong mga termino matawag nato og jargon, mga pulong nga may pipila lang ka sector sa katilingban ang nasayod.

Salins Hulbot

Death by jargon

By Gerard Pareja
Cebu Daily News
Tuesday, November 19th, 2013

Sa kurso nga journalism gipahimangno-an ang mga manunulat nga kinahanglan ang ilang istorya, sugilanon o report, masabtan sa mga magtutungha sa grade six. Nganong grade six man? Kay ang mga nakatungtong na sa grade six gituhoang kamao na mobasa ug mosabot apan gamay o kuwang ra ang ilang kasinatian o kasayuran. Kining maong klase sa reader o magbabasa swak o haum kaayo sa maxim sa journalism nga “maximum intelligence/minimal knowledge.”

purya pod ning headline uy.  medyo misleading.  the article is about his objective observation, even explaining the reason for the breakdown of the expected first responders, such as the local government, yet the headline misleads in that it implies that he's criticizing some sectors for their failure.  what a way to catch the eye of readers.

a real stunt.  what a sickening face.

"This will enable us to continue to move ahead with our help on things like the water system, on the logistics," said USAID assistant administrator Nancy Lindborg. "We have a steady drumbeat of supplies coming in and being distributed."

On Sunday, President Benigno Aquino III toured the disaster area and promised to step aid deliveries.

Aquino, seen as reformist president who had enjoyed considerable public support, has had to deal with a string of crises over the last year.

His administration has been criticized by some over its apparent failure to strictly enforce evacuation orders.


http://www.philstar.com/

At the main airport in Tacloban, a pay loader was shifting pallets of water and sacks of rice to trucks. On the main road, teams were shifting debris into trucks.

Military and civilian teams from around the world have arrived to bolster an immediate response by local people and national authorities.

The U.S. government and military have been at the forefront in helping one of its Asian allies.

Washington's aid arm announced a further $10 million, bringing to $37 million the amount it is committed to spending.

"The darkest night is over but it's not yet 100 percent," regional military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda said.

The Nov. 8 typhoon killed or left missing more than 5,000 people and left 4 million displaced, requiring food, shelter and water.

The first week of the response was inevitable chaotic because airports into the region were damaged and local governance structures shattered.

Quote from: TUBAGBOHOL.com on November 18, 2013, 10:05:50 PM
It was CNN who started the round-the-clock coverage of the aftermath of Yolanda. ABS-CBN and GMA-7 are also busy with their round-the-clock Teleserye.

CNN's coverage of our suffering moved the nations to help us. Sad to say, Jejomar Binay has put his name on the relief goods donated from abroad.

what? is this really, really, really true?  because if it is, then it's hard to believe that there could be some end to the insults of this presidential wannabe.  is he suffering too much from a short man's complex?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkMez-b27gs#t=150

“Do we continue to bicker whether there are 2,000 or 10,000 dead? This quarrel over numbers is futile and counter-productive,” the petition said further.

It even dubbed Soria “a hero,” not only for being among the first responders on the scene but also for highlighting the “extent of misery,” thereby prodding global action.

“There is no denying that Gen. Elmer Soria was instrumental in galvanizing international support for the subsequent relief and rescue operation,” the petition said.

It also urged Aquino not to put more lives in jeopardy and to fast-track relief and rehabilitation operations in affected areas instead of “squabbling over minor details.”


http://ph.news.yahoo.com/

While conceding that Soria “may have jumped the gun” by citing unconfirmed figures, the petition insisted that firing Soria was “heavy-handed and extreme”

Addressing the President, the petition said, it seems Soria’s dismissal “stems from a personal vendetta against those whose views do not align with your own.”

Days after Soria’s estimate made headlines, Aquino said the death toll should only be around 2,000 to 2,500. As of November 16, however, the death count reached 3,681.

“Gen. Soria’s dismissal from his post as regional director of the Eastern Visayas Police Department is a wrongful termination,” the Change.org petition said.

A police statement Friday confirmed that Soria has been relieved of his position days after he told media that Yolanda could have killed more than 10,000.

The statement claimed the police official was replaced over “acute stress reaction,” which may require him to undergo stress debriefing. Soria was in Tacloban when Yolanda hit.

Pinoys rally behind cop who claimed 10,000 people died due to Yolanda

By Kim Arveen Patria
Yahoo Southeast Asia Newsroom
18 November 2013


Reuters/REUTERS - People carry a coffin with the remains of their relative, who was killed during Typhoon Haiyan, through a destroyed chapel at a cemetery during the victim's funeral in Palo November 16, 2013. Survivors began rebuilding homes destroyed by Haiyan, one of the world's most powerful typhoons, and emergency supplies flowed into ravaged Philippine islands, as the United Nations more than doubled its estimate of people made homeless to nearly two million. REUTERS/John Javellana

As the death toll from monster typhoon “Yolanda” continues to climb, Filipinos rush to the defense of a police official who was sacked after estimating 10,000 casualties.

An online petition posted Saturday urged President Benigno Aquino III to reinstate Gen. Elmer Soria as chief regional director of Eastern Visayas Police. The current toll is reportedly at almost 4,000 but Aquino earlier claimed it should be around 2,500.

'The darkest night is over'

By Teresa Cerojano (Associated Press)
Updated November 18, 2013


A man uses a shovel to clean up mud inside St. Joseph Parish church, which was badly damaged by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in Tacloban, Philippines. AP/Dita Alangkara

TACLOBAN, Philippines â€" Aid workers, heavy equipment and lifesaving supplies flowed into regions devastated by Typhoon Haiyan (locally named Yolanda) on Monday, as a global relief effort moved into high gear.

On the ground, there were further signs that battered communities were beginning to shift from survival mode to one of early recovery: markets were beginning to reopen, though with very limited wares, some gasoline stations were pumping and residents were repairing damaged homes or making temporary shelters out of the remains of their old ones.

cool.  i didn't notice that, hahaha!  now that you've said it...

(i think this "designed" thing is by someone else, not by himself.  a filipino, bless him/her.  otherwise, it would really be funny if one misses out the spelling of his own name.)

i counterchecked, bols.  it's cooper, as in james fenimore cooper.

"If I offended anyone of the Philippines, it was not my intent. I only meant to call attention to the plight of the people devastated by typhoon Haiyan. The aftermath of the typhoon can be compared to conditions after a battle during war. Leyte is battling to overcome the ravages of typhoon Haiyan. My blessings and well wishes are with the families impacted by this disaster," he said in a three-part tweet.


more at http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/11/18/13/nfl-player-carries-ph-flag-honor-yolanda-victims

"This is dope but he held the flag wrong side up! Red on top means the country is at war,” Twitter user Miguel Moldez posted calling the attention of the Seahawks and Baldwin.

“We are fighting the devastation of #Haiyan which has been worse than many war-torn regions of the world,” the Seahawks replied back.

Hours later, Baldwin took to Twitter to apologize for the upside-down flag.

The photo was posted by the football team on its official Twitter account.

“Please continue supporting #Haiyan relief. @DougBaldwinJr appreciates your generosity. #PinoyPower,” the Seahawks said in a tweet.

Netizens, however, noted that the Philippine flag has the red bar on top, which is used only during times of war.

NFL player carries PH flag to honor 'Yolanda' victims

ABS-CBNnews.com
11/18/2013


Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin with the Philippine flag. Photo from the football team's Twitter account

MANILA -- (UPDATED) Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin carried the Philippine flag onto Century Link Field on Sunday to honor the victims of super typhoon Yolanda.

According to the Seattle Times, Baldwin has family members living in the Philippines, including his grandmother.

News reports added that Baldwin’s relatives in the Philippines are okay but this didn't stop him from showing his support by carrying the country’s flag onto the field before Seattle’s win over the Minnesota Vikings.

asa ra to si lorenz... dia nay latin diri...

yours is not an adventurous palate, after all. too bad.

Quote from: hubag bohol on November 18, 2013, 04:36:35 PM
Aren't we all? I mean, men and women, humans and felines...

not all.  some drink more than others. men and women, humans and felines...

Quote from: hubag bohol on November 18, 2013, 04:23:13 PM
Is it proper for the Interior Secretary to say this?

most proper, if he were the one under the rubble.

aguy, natakdan man kaha sa asawa...

beyond yolanda and looking healthy as he is, i think that one is a potential relief worker.

when they smile, there's hope

slippers for papa