Bulakbol Diaries

September 30,2009. These images were taken in Barangay Tumana, Marikina, an urban poor section in Manila, Philippines. Only after three days after storm ONDOY/KETSANA left the country did the people in this community recieve any help. We also saw a Korean Church Relief operation and its long line of residents awaiting the rice distribution. We also rode with a bunch of college students from Sta. Scholastica College, a Catholic school in Manila. They were going to distribute whatever goods they had managed to gather from their classmates. There was a dead body of an unknown woman on the street. The rescue team had placed a sign on her covered her body giving a short description  of what she was wearing at that time. It seemed that she was not from Tumana bec no one knew her. The devastation was everywhere: soggy matresses, wet clothes on windows, balconies, furniture strewn everywhere.  Many residents also had wounds from the sharp objects that had floated during the flooding.

These were taken on September 27, 2009 a day after STORM ONDOY/KETSANA left the Philippines in great devastation. We went to shoot in the middle-class village of Provident in Marikina, the country’s shoe capital. The harrowing experience made each resident I met seem emotional and wanting sympathy. One woman said her young niece had died and she was going to go for help so that a funeral car can come. Her niece was 12 years old. Later that afternoon, I rode the military rescue truck that was carrying three dead bodies that had been retrieved from the  Marikina river banks. The bodies were of two women and a boy. The other woman was pregnant.

Nepal was a trip I will never forget.It was like being in a different century although of course, snatches of the 21st century crept in sometimes—like when we were looking for an internet shop in Namche ( about 13,000+feet) just so we could check some of the work we had left behind. The Himalayas are an awesome mountain range—it is truly massive and the people hardy. We got along well with our guide Ang Dawa  ( from the Rai people) and his nephews Jaya and Chondra who were our porters. It was one hell of an adventure.

These are scenes from the 4 days we covered the Cory wake and finally, the funeral. The flowers waving in the air was taken in Makati, along Ayala Avenue.Kinda reminiscent of the EDSA days huh? And the old lady with a box (security must have looked inside and found it stuffed with nothing dangerous) stood for hours in the rain just to get a glimpse of Cory at the Manila Cathedral. A relative fo Cory walked up to her to say thank you. Also, it was hard to get to the Cathedral loft so we could do topshots of the transfer of Cory’s coffin to the hearse outside. It was supposed to be “exclusive” for the wires but E told us where the stairs were. It was too early that day, no one stopped us when we stationed ourselves at the loft on Cory’s funeral day. The lesson is never give up when told, YOU CAN’T. :)

In March 2009, R and some other friends who have been my constant companions on several trips, decided to check out a group of islands up in the north—past Aparri, Cagayan. These islands are mistakenly referred to as Babuyan Islands when they should be called Calayan Islands, instead. According to research of my friend R, the island of Babuyan is just a part of the Calayan. Anyway, this could be true. In the Philippines, there have been many mistakes about names of islands, names of mountains,etc in our guidebooks,travel publications. Our local authorities dont seem to have the energy nor do they care to make the proper documentation. These are some of the places we saw.