Category: in the news today

may ilaw na!

Ohai sparkles!


I think that cauldron-like thingy is supposed to symbolize knowledge (or something), but it just looks sinister. Ergo, cool.

(This, on the other hand, is sinister and not cool.)

Friday was dinner and then Quezon Hall to view the lights, Saturday was dinner and a short visit to Sarah’s. There was a man there at another table; I was pretty sure he was a writer and that I saw him at the Palanca Awards, but fuck me if I can remember. I’m so bad with names. (I can’t even recall the names of the people we were drinking with.) (Oh, I remember Bai – did I spell that right? – and Melai – did I spell that right?) (Melai worked in the media too and knew my Journ friends at GMA so that’s cool.)

Somewhere between Friday and Saturday was a marathon of True Blood and Sex and the City and a quiet break with The Beauty Myth and Holidays on Ice and a gazillion notes on three stories (one in-progress) and a poem. So, so, so many notes. Now if I can only string them fragments together.

BUT I’ve heard that Jaykie’s sister left a bag of chocolates with my name on it, because you know if you like it then you should definitely put your name on it, so life is good. Thank you.

weather talk

Weather forecasters caught in the eye of a storm

MANILA, Philippines—A storm threatens to wallop the Philippines but a huge computer that dominates the forecasting room of the nation’s weather service is on screensaver mode showing a cartoon pattern of unexploded bombs.

While Typhoon “Pepeng” (international name: Parma) ominously hovers near the main island of Luzon, the computer has no data to receive as the main weather radar on a hilltop in Baguio City is out of action—again.

This scenario played out on Tuesday when Agence France Presse visited the forecasters in Manila to examine why they failed to predict the ferocity of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international name: Ketsana) that killed nearly 300 people in and around the capital on Sept. 26.

“Our old radar has limitations,” said Fredolina Baldonado, a meteorologist at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

“It has a blind spot to the south and that includes Metropolitan Manila,” Baldonado added.

And this I think is an excellent commentary on the problems the Metro and elsewhere experienced during and after Ondoy.

The Ipo Dam started spilling water as early as 1:20 a.m. Saturday, and Angat and La Mesa Dams (different watersheds but connected by aqueducts) would follow. Was there no communication between them and with agencies/LGUs downstream? With so many agencies (PDDC, OCD, MWSS, Pagasa, Napocor, LGUs, Mayor’s Office, NDCC, MMDA, etc.), why did residents receive no evacuation order? Was the MM5 weather model predicting hundreds of mm of rain, even the night before? As for people paying more attention to soap operas than bulletins, what bulletins would they have heard?

The weather bulletin of 11 a.m. Saturday the 26th said: “This disturbance is expected to enhance the southwest monsoon and bring rains over central and southern Luzon and Visayas. Residents living in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes in areas affected by the Southwest Monsoon and those under signals no. 1 and no. 2 are alerted against possible flash floods and landslides … The public and the disaster coordinating councils concerned are advised to take appropriate actions and watch for the next bulletin to be issued at 5 p.m. today.”

What, in that message, suggests anything unusual, and what are “appropriate actions”? Filipinos are by now so used to these standard warnings. Working back, one asks, why keep water in the dams so high, far above the “upper rule curve” (for example, Angat was almost 25 meters above) heading into typhoon season?

And oh, Typhoon Pepeng (international name: Parma) hits northern Philippines a third time. A THIRD TIME! He keeps coming back! Like a shopper who can’t make up his mind! (Do I want this pair of socks No I still have enough socks No wait I really need a new pair of socks Let me take a look again)

Damn weather.

notes on the storm

‘Ondoy’ dumps heaviest rainfall on Manila in more than four decades

– When I heard on the news that the storm would hit land Saturday, I didn’t think too much of it. I mean, we get a gazillion storms every year.

– That day I even woke up early, thinking I could go for a jog if the rain had stopped. I couldn’t hear anything because the windows were closed. I pushed back the curtain and boy oh boy.

– A flatmate had work that morning; she came back minutes later and said she couldn’t cross the street, the water in front of the condo had already reached her knees.

– An office mate informed me through text that the front steps of our office was submerged in flood water. Dahil ganito kami sa Makati, y’all.

– It ain’t just Makati, it turned out. At around 2 p.m. my sister sent a text message saying there’s water now entering the first floor of her boarding house (she lived in Manila), and that she couldn’t contact our brother, who left at 10 a.m. for Bulacan.

– I managed to go online briefly, and a friend sent a message through chat: This is the first time a storm has ever scared me.

– I stayed glued to the TV. At one point, actress Jennica Garcia, Jean Garcia’s daughter, called Startalk to say that the Marikina Riverbank had overflowed, and that there was now water reaching the second floor of their house. She was crying and begging for rubber boats.

– It was so surreal.

– Later we heard that Ara Mina’s sister, Christine Reyes, was on the roof of their house with her pamangkin, also asking for help.

– My brother was still missing.

– The news said that several towns in Bulacan were now flooded.

– At around 7 p.m., my brother finally sent a text. He was stranded in Isetann.

– My office mate, who lived just behind the office, couldn’t get home. She texted me at around 11 p.m.

– My mother texted: There is now water inside the house.

– At 7 this morning (Sunday) my brother was still not home.

– I watched TV and was infuriated by Kris Aquino’s cheeriness. “They just pledged 2,000 bottles of VitWater. VitWater’s the one with Pacman, right? Okay yan o, may nutrients pa.” Te, te, bagyo kasi ‘to, hindi piyesta. Imbiyerna!

– Brother finally reached Bulacan at 10 a.m., 24 hours after he left Manila.

– Now I’m looking outside the window, and it is sunny. If you’re cranky and tired like me, you’ll probably consider the sunshine as an insult.

– I hope you guys are okay.

narcissism huzzah!

pdi photo

Photo courtesy of Romy Homillada, Inquirer photographer (Page A7, Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Grateful acknowledgment is due to the Mothership for carrying the story.

Here be Kate Pedroso’s longer, unedited version of the article, and then some. Click and read at your own risk. (Personally, I like this version better because hello quotes from my parents? And it was written with love? Echos.)

I’m reposting it here.

Continue reading narcissism huzzah!

dave barry made me cry

Yes, that Dave Barry.

There should have been ample warning as to how heartrending “Hallowed Ground” really is. I mean, it came bundled up in a book called Boogers Are My Beat for god’s sake!

But bravo, Mr. Barry. Bravo. Beautiful, this.

He wrote this essay a year after 9/11.

You’ve been warned.

Read, read, read.

Hallowed Ground

* * *

One of the most heartrending quotes in “Among the Heroes” is from Deena Burnett, the widow of Flight 93 passenger Tom Burnett, who is believed to have played an active role in the battle on the plane. Mrs. Burnett is describing what it’s like to be the widow of a hero:

“In the beginning, everyone asked, ‘Aren’t you proud of him? Aren’t you happy that he’s a hero?’ I thought, my goodness, the first thing you have to understand is, I’m just trying to put one foot in front of the other. For my husband to be anyone’s hero … I’d much prefer him to be here with me.”

So we need to remember this: The heroes of Flight 93 were people on a plane. Their glory is being paid for, day after day, by grief. Tom Burnett does not belong to the nation. He is, first and foremost, Deena Burnett’s husband, and the father of their three daughters. Any effort we make to claim him as ours is an affront to those who loved him, those he loved.

He is not ours.

Yes.

* * *

In other news, have you read former Senator Franklin Drilon’s commentary about Cory’s exit from the Presidency?

This is amazing (emphasis mine):

For the third track, the transition team prepared a series of books on the Aquino administration. These included the President’s Report, along with individual reports as well as videos on key areas like policy, decentralization, antipoverty and other aspects of governance.

These were distributed to schools, libraries, embassies and media agencies. Leafing through them again, I realize that much of what Cory did as President went unheralded, given how allergic she was to the idea of doing things for show or for PR purposes.

There are photos of her with children, with the sick, and with victims of disasters, which never made it to the front pages of newspapers.

For today’s approval rating-hungry incumbent, this would have been unthinkable.

on goodbyes

Cory: “On June 30, 1992, the traditional ceremony of political succession will unfold at the Luneta.”

FVR: “I [will] turn over the presidency to the 13th president of the republic at high noon on 30 June 1998.”

GMA: DO IT HARD.

Special thanks to Jake

* * *

My friends and I have been Tweeting (I suppose this is the verb form of the noun, Twitter?) like crazy during the speech, and evidently, one of my Tweets (one can’t really say Twitter, right? One of my Twitters? No.) was quoted in this ABS-CBN report.

* * *

Really, Madam, you should have said goodbye.

* * *

Here’s Part 1 of Cory Aquino’s final State of the Nation Address. You can find the other clips on YouTube.

I want a president like that.

“Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat, at paalam.”

basketball, the beach

You may have missed them. I mean, I make it a point to read the papers every day, and I only saw Part 3 today.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer has been running reports on game fixing for a while now (I suppose in preparation for the UAAP opening ceremonies). I was not surprised by the idea, but I was shocked by the stakes involved:

As much as P300 million changed hands in recent years in each season of the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), officials say.

I’d rather accept that the UP Fighting Maroons just suck than to hear that its players are dropping games for money.

God, all this cash – for an amateur competition.

Anyway, the series is a good read. Keep your eye out for Part 4.

Part 1 – Stakes reach P300 M in varsity hoops

Part 2 – Player caught in trap allowed to go scot-free

Part 3 – Bookies using text messages make betting easy

* * *

200px-The_Beach_film

When The Beach came out I was in high school. I saw it, I loved it. Tilda Swinton is just a fantastic actress, and Leonardo DiCaprio is effective. I saw it again last night and I still loved it, though it might have been better without Richard’s final VO. I learned that Paradise is not a place but a feeling that you have in a moment yadda yadda it lasts forever. Ugh, no.

A lot of people didn’t like it that much, based on the film reviews I’ve read. Hm. I wonder if the book’s better.