Where were you during Ondoy Dr. Zenaida Uy: I was home. ? The whole time the major arteries and passages were inundated, I watched the news for updates and prayed hard for the suffering victims. I helped a lot of people. The cash and in kind handed to them were coupled with loads of prayers. Internet file photo Internet Dr. Blandina Ferrera: I was out for rounds, had clinic and got stranded in a grocery on my way home. I thought that was the end of the world. I instructed our househelp to prepare a ladder to be used to climb to the rooftop. Together, we said a lot Gene Banawa, PHA staff of prayers for everyone to be safe. Bgy. Cembo, Makati His is a house by the creek Dr. Connie Sison: My hus- but is nestled on a solid foun- band, Eric, and I were in San ances as well as techie tools. It was a healthy home dation-- huge stones that dot Francisco, Calif., having a sump- inhabited by soft-spoken and unruffled members the clean and crystal waters. tuous dinner while exchang- of the family until Ondoy gave them a surprise visit Ondoy failed to hit his house’s rock ing pleasantries, with the grade on Sept. 25, 2009. bottom, but managed to rip and blow the roof. school classmates of Eric’s uncle Notwithstanding the riches in that house, she (who lives in LA). Then we got a call from Eric’s dad, packed her kids’ feeding bottles, milk and a few Marie Lumba, PHA staff who was with our kids back in the Philippines. Sound- clothes, and after making sure that her cell phone and Caloocan ing so upset, he informed us that “flood waters has wallet were in her handbag, she rushed as fast as she Streets drenched in knee- entered our house”. All I could mumble was ‘Oh God… could out of the house with her 2 toddlers, parents in high water is an ordinary oc- help.’ Eric and I isolated ourselves from the rest of the law and yaya. They waded through shoulder length currence in her district during party attendees, held hand, closed our eyes, bowed waters. The kind kibitzers carried her kids and took high tide and heavy rains. That’s our heads, and prayed with all our heart ‘Our Father them to a newly constructed townhouse. It turned what the residents get for living in heaven, please let the rain stop and let the flood out that they were the laborers of that townhouse, near the borders of the coastal towns of Navotas and recede. where they were trapped for two days and nights. Malabon. But Ondoy was one of a kind. It scared them out of their wits for bringing strong rains that Dr. Irma Yape: I was at St. Myrna dela Cruz, PHA staff was almost non-stop and did soak the streets and Luke’s. I wondered this is unusual, Project 4, QC their home for the first time. Most of her family’s only two patients on a Saturday! She was caught flatfooted by belongings were damaged. Where did my patients go? When the flashflood that came gush- I realized that most roads were ing from different directions. Jun Picaso, PHA staff impassable, I fed some stranded In a snap, everything was Sta. Ana, Manila colleagues, secretaries and patients. submerged in water. She was He braved the floods, swam dumbfounded. She couldn’t like a dog, the best style he Dr. Ma. Ina Bunyi: I was move. thought of to sustain his stamina home having our monthly bible A typical doting but disciplinarian big sister, to be able get to SM Centerpoint. club meeting with neighborhood to her 10 younger siblings, some are working, some Picaso came from overtime work for the supposed kids. Rain steadily poured which go to college --she has always been in control of World Heart Day celebration on Sept. 26, 2009. kinda alarmed me but I knew God her emotions. She has always been good at doing The thought of checking out his house and to be was in control. I wondered how we remedial measures. She was the neutralizer and of help to his neighbors prodded him to get home would ferry Bible Club kids home. God paved a safe peacemaker whenever there were sibling fights. the fastest he could but he was trapped at SM Sta. way literally thru the flooded areas in Commonwealth Definitely, she was never prepared for Ondoy, after Mesa for one day. When he finally reached home, and BF Homes. We prayed, texted prayers and helped all, it was her first time to get soaked in the flood. he found out that he had lost everything. a friend whose house was submerged. We washed Dela Cruz’ strong resolve is people have to be It clicked on him that what he did was suicidal. their clothes. ♥ prepared for any disaster. No material thing is worth risking his life. ♥ PHA NEWSBRIEFS page 21 • September - November 2009 By the window of the house, was her son Wacks dry and warm. And safe! The sight of her son alive was the greatest and the only thing that mattered to her at that very moment. Strangers gave me a lift – Cindy By Don Robespierre C. Reyes, MD he 8 o’clock sun showtime on the 7th floor of the UST With an authoritative resolve, Iking, Rowing through the village seems sleepy, Hospital Medical Arts Building, rains her longtime driver, said: “Ma’am, seemed like eternal. started to pour. I could swim to your house and get The area was almost unfamiliar to Cindy thought as An hour lapsed, an upset Wacks, her your son.” Cindy save for the Christmas lantern she boarded her nine-year-old son, was on the other She thought “Rolling Hills will be that hang from the roof all-year TStarex. Cumulonimbus clouds line. “Don’t worry son, everything another Atlantis? God forbid! as she round and the upper-half of her two- made the sky gloomy. is going to be alright. Mommy will saw some properties underwater and floor house. She thought everything As her Starex started to wind be there in a while. We’re all set for thought of some lives lost, perhaps, was a nightmare -- children cough- through the streets of posh New Baguio,” she assured her son. but hopefully not, “Cindy languished. ing and a baby crying -- sounds that Manila, Quezon City, she smiled to Initially, she was not worried be- She momentarily lost her san- came from the roof of her garage. herself. After less than 10 years of cause New Manila’s Rolling Hills never ity upon the sight of the subdivision Toddlers shivering in cold, a pregnant hard work in her profession, she has had a history of inundation and water where the safety of her son remains woman, a mother carrying her baby, earned and invested a handsome in UST was only knee-deep. uncertain and the piece of bad news an elderly woman, all seeking refuge sum, to secure a very comfortable The trip back to New Manila turned that the wall by the creek collapsed. on her garage roof. Younger men life for her family. A weekend in out to be turbulent. Her prayers stormed the heavens. clinging on to the fence with just Baguio would be a perfect bonding, It took Cindy and Iking at least four A middle-aged man cruising with his their heads above the flood waters. she thought. hours of rough ride and wading in make-shift boat, with a cop on board, Her heart stopped in disbelief. After seeing her admitted pa- chest-high flood waters before reach- agreed to Cindy’s fervent pleadings, to By the window of the house, was tients and while rehearsing for their ing Rolling Hills. rescue her son. See page32 t was a day that started out like any mented by a substantial financial aid from the St. other but for Dr. Greta Cortez of St. Greta: ‘Now Luke’s Heart Institute itself, extended their help in Luke’s Heart Institute, it was the all sorts possible, overwhelming their family. Greta and her family have since moved to a beginning of the rest of her life. everything is furnished apartment along Kalayaan Avenue. I Typhoon Ondoy destroyed their bungalow house Still, they aren’t bent on resting on their bless- in Cainta, Rizal, and as its floodwaters receded, ings. The resolve to rebuild saw Greta and her their dreams were washed away with the rest of extraordinary’ By Maria Charisse Y. Lim-Gutierrez, MD sister Antoinette return to their home almost every their belongings. night over the past weeks to overhaul their house, Built from scratch by her parents with their Being the doctor of the family, she took charge repaint walls, and relying on the kindness of their dream blueprint, it was in that comfortable house of the health of her father who was suffering from neighbors, their “extended family” , to oversee and happy home where the past six years had cardiomyopathy. Though his condition was repairs and reconstruction during the day. been well spent. But in less than 24 hours, stable, his medications needed to be “Looking back, I realize that my problems before Greta and her family found themselves maintained. Then along came the seem so little now,” Greta said. “ Now I’m seeing sharing a small space on the 3rd floor response of love from all corners, everything in a different light, everything now is of their neighbour’s house with 4 other as friends, co-fellows and even beautiful and extraordinary.” She is thankful that families, some carrying children.