Justin Jiminez with a pile of Manila rubbish... "operation Twitter" helped flood victims where authorities could not. Photo: PMC

Pacific.Scoop
By Keira Stephenson

It was left up to many of Metro Manila’s 11 million citizens to organise their own rescue during last month’s deluge of typhoon Ondoy, which killed 295 and saw people trapped for hours in cars or on multistorey rooftops by raging floodwaters.

But ordinary Filipinos rose to the challenge and coped with an apparently unprepared, underfunded and disorganised central and local government.

“Twitter and Facebook were intense”, says Justin Jimenez. a Filipino-American intern  at ABS-CBN, who spent his 24th birthday packing supplies at La Salle High School relief centre in Green Hills.

“There was update after update, telling people where the relief centers were, who needed what help and where.”

He describes the experience of following Twitter and seeing the flooding on TV in Eastern Manila while everything looked fine out his window in mostly unaffected Makati as “surreal”.

Many Filipino celebrities such as Carlos Celdran and Manual Quezon used Twitter to answer calls for help and handle the logistics of getting relief to the right places fast.

Jimenez’ own Facebook status two days after the disaster on September 26 – three days before the Samoan tsunami struck – was declared: “Justin Jimenez  is eager to witness the power of the bayanihan spirit firsthand”.

Bayanihan is a Filipino concept which refers to a community spirit or helping each other, which Filipinos are very proud of as a national trait.

Jimenez joined in the group effort himself by volunteering to drive a small truck two days after the storm, loaded with supplies to San Roque Marakina, one of the worst hit areas.

Metro Manila floodwaters during typhoon Ondoy. Photo: Mel Selona/PMC

‘Cool networking’
“It was my first glimpse of the devastation. There were no lights, no electricity, debris lining the sidewalk, everything was still muddy. People were still walking around covered in mud.”

Jimenez says the way civil society used new social networking technology to combat the disaster and rescue each other was “really cool, really nice to see”. But it also highlighted how unprepared the government was.

Not only was their warning and response system inadequate but the whole lack of urban planning and amenities such as waste disposal and drainage for the sprawling metropolis has come under fire.

He says the authorities – who gave no warning of how heavy the rainfall would be – became defensive almost as soon as Ondoy hit, saying things like: “Don’t blame us, we responded much better than the US during Katrina”.

However, both central and local governments have been receiving much blame, both from the public and each other.

From wanting to send the local mayors to jail to suing the management of Angat, Ipo and La Mesa dams for opening the floodgates without warning, public officials are vowing to spend more taxpayer money in order to find culprits.

"The flooding was greatly exacerbated by drains either not being built large enough in the first place or being clogged by the city’s rubbish." Photo: Justin Jimenez/PMC

The flooding was greatly exacerbated by drains either not being built large enough in the first place or being clogged by the city’s rubbish.

‘Unsustainable city’
In Jimenez’ words, “Manila is an unsustainable city”.  From the 1970s onwards, institutions such as the World Bank and leading Philippines universities have conducted numerous studies highlighting Manila’s urban planning as a disaster waiting to happen.

The studies singled out three areas of Metro Manila, Marikina Valley, Laguna Lake shore and Manila Bay as needing a cap on development due to their lack of infrastructure and frequent flooding.

These were the very areas worst affected by Ondoy, yet the government still claims to have been taken by surprise by this disaster.

According to Pete Troilo, director of business intelligence at Pacific Strategies and Assessments: “These months-long, multi-million dollar comprehensive studies have been routinely ignored by the Philippines government, failing to muster any active political support from key funding and implementing officials.

Girls clinging to a lampost as floodwaters swirled around then during cyclone Ondoy. Photo: Mel Selona/PMC

“The implementation of effective urban planning programs and institutionalisation of disaster management systems requires long-term foresight and invariably take years to complete – a timeframe that extends far past political terms of office and administration lifecycles.”

Troilo who advises businesses on safety and feasibility issues in the Philippines, says, “Despite multiple warnings, the Philippines government never dedicated itself to solving the problem. Instead, during times of disasters the government always resorts to temporary evacuation and short-lived/sighted disaster relief.

“Indeed, over the course of the last 32 years, the Philippines government – from the Marcos regime of the 1970s to the Arroyo administration of today – was offered official warning after official warning with corresponding recommendations for improvement that went unheeded.”

Shanty dwellers
Troilo also cites studies recommending relocation back to the provinces of the riverside shanty dwellers who flock to Manila in the hope of finding work.

However, as the studies indicate, this is only feasible if the government invests in rural livelihood projects.

So far the government has failed to do this, relying on overseas remittances for people to subsist on rather than providing work in the countryside.

While the city came together for the relief effort, it will take time to see if the deeper issues of urban planning, over-population and infra-structure get addressed, says Jimenez.

People in the middle and upper classes are finally starting to talk about these issues.   However, for those living hand to mouth in shanty towns with very little education available, simple survival takes precedence over consideration of the environment, he says.

Jimenez noted that all the relief was distributed in the very plastic bags which often end up in drains.

“It’s the same problem all over again with disposing of the bags.”

He says he heard of people simply taking the relief packages out of the plastic bags and then dumping them straight on the street.  A study by the Asian Development Bank reports that 6050 tons of rubbish is produced in Metro Manila everyday but that only 71 percent gets collected and taken to land-fills.  The rest is left on street corners and finds its way into drains.

Back to business
Despite Ondoy having destroyed $283 million worth of properties and effected almost four million people, in Jimenez’ area of Manila, Makati City, it is back to business as usual.

The aid efforts are winding down now and many of the high schools and students which served as temporary relief centers and volunteers are back to classes, says Jimenez.

“Things appear to be returning to normal”, he says, “but many places still need our help. It’s hard to get perspective here in Manila where the press is so Manila-centric, but the effects of the second storm Pepeng in the north, for example, are huge even if they don’t get as much media attention.”

Fortunately, the help coming in from overseas hasn’t abated.

In Glenfield, New Zealand, Jojo Velasco and his wife Ofel are spearheading a charity drive for victims of Ondoy from their Philippine goods shop, Tindahanpnoy.

“We have a very good Filipino community here”, says Velasco who has lived in Auckland for the last 10 years.

“Even though we are all different, still when calamity strikes we get together and help each other.”

This week the Hamburg Sud shipping company has agreed to take ten boxes of donations as far as Hong Kong free of charge, from where they can easily be shipped to the Philippines.

However, Velasco, voicing fears of many overseas relief networks – including governments believes it is better to send  money directly to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) where he hopes it will get to the people who need it rather than going through the Philippine government which he fears will take a cut.

Corruption notoriety
The Philippines is notorious for corruption.

Just this year the Red Cross released a survey revealing that 80 percent of Filipinos, Liberians and Columbians cited corruption as the biggest barrier to receiving aid compared to only 59 percent in Haiti, the Congo, Afghanistan, Georgia and Lebanon.

Velasco says ex Filipino Department of Social Welfare and Development staff come into his shop and tell how when donations arrive more three quarters disappear before they can be distributed.

Even though the government is “really crying for help now after tropical storm Pepeng came back”, Velasco prefers to send the money he raises to the charities of the TV stations GMA and ABS-CBN.

“Half each”.

He is very aware that it is only seven months away from the Philippine elections and he wants to remove any doubt that the government might use the donations for political gain.

When the local and national government distribute the aid they have received from overseas, they don’t say it comes from New Zealand or Canada, he says.

“They stick a picture of their own faces on it.”  Senator and possible presidential candidate Lauren Legarda was recently reported in the Philippines media as saying: “Maybe it would be better not to be a candidate right?

“Maybe it is better not to run and whatever you will spend [on your campaign] just use this for humanitarian help”.

Poverty too high
Velasco agrees with Jimenez and Troilo about the state of urban planning in Metro Manila and hopes this election will usher in a president with the political will to uphold urban development laws and regulations.

“The unity of helping each other is there. We just need the political will of a leader to make it happen,” he says.  “There are too many people in Metro Manila. The city is too small and poverty is too high.

“I feel sad about what has happened in my country. I grew up there. Even before Ondoy, that was the problem.”

Meanwhile, people affected by floods continue to shelter in relief centres while urban poor continue to dwell in shanty towns in 526 communities along the city’s river banks. The government does not have sufficient plans to provide better amenities and waste disposal, or to provide employment opportunities outside of Manila to ease pressure on the city. – Pacific Media Centre

Keira Stephenson has recently returned from an Asia New Zealand Foundation-funded internship with the Philippine Star. She contributed articles for the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Scoop. Keira’s “live journal” from Manila.

How you can help

Thousands of Filipino “kababayan” (countrymen) need help after the typhoon and flooding hit Metro Manila.

Hamburg Sud Shipping has teamed up with the New Zealand Filipino Community to offer a 6 sq metre container free of charge departing for Manila at the end of October 2009. The container has been placed at the Good Shepherd Parish Church, Balmoral, Auckland, for donations:

Container closing date: 1 November 2009
Departure Date: 6 November 2009
Vessel Name: Cosco Fuzhou v.27N
Estimated Arrival in Manila: 25-30 November 2009

The goods that are most needed are food, clothing, blankets, footwear, towels and general medical supplies for general distribution by the religious organisations, aid agencies and government bodies in Manila.

More information and other collection points:
Good Shepherd Parish Balmoral
27 Telford Ave
Balmoral
Auckland
Tel: (09) 620 9517