Two months have passed after Typhoon Ulysses (international code name Vamco) left thousands of homes submerged in water last November 13, 2020, in Kasiglahan Village in Rodriguez, Rizal.
As videos came out in the news of people screaming for help while on rooftops, residents in Kasiglahan (meaning enthusiasm) turned into kalungkutan (grief) in just a snap of a finger.
The once vibrant town has quickly became a deep mud that took months to clean.
Most of the residents even spent Christmas and New Year in evacuation centers.
What transpired that fateful evening was etched in the psyche of many residents who escaped the cascading floodwaters that rose up to the second floor of houses in Rizal province, and in nearby Marikina, Camanava and other low-lying and flood-prone areas in Metropolitan Manila.
Just two weeks after Supertyphoon Rolly (Goni) left 32 people dead and thousands homeless, Typhoon Ulysses followed, which was deemed worse than Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in 2009 in terms of areas of submerged communities and the height of flood water.
But Ulysses wasn’t expected to spread havoc that reached even to as far as Cagayan province in the north.
The country didn’t escape the wrath of nature amid the Covid-19 pandemic, because the Philippines lies in the typhoon belt where it is visited by around 20 typhoons a year.
However, amid all these natural calamities, Filipinos always reach out to each other, through thick and thin. The trait of bayanihan (helping one another) became the keyword replacing matatag (resilience). Most of all, clinging to dear life, the residents embraced God for succor.
Saved by God
A mother of four, Geraldine Humunong, 30, recounted how they fed their children on the roof of their neighbor’s second story house. It was a scary moment, she said in Filipino.
“We were among those who did not leave our house. At around 8 p.m. we raised our things to the attic,” she continued, after they secured their children on their house’s trusses.
By midnight, the flood quickly rose to 4 meters high, where Humunong and husband Nicanor, decided they needed to evacuate to their neighbor’s house.
“We were trapped at the attic. The water rose very fast. My husband swam to ask our neighbor to let us in their house that has a second floor,” she continued.
Humunong recounted that her husband made a hole in their roof so they could pass to their neighbor’s house.
They then found out that four other families were already there.
As rain continued and dams have released water, the flood already submerged their house and quickly reached the second floor of their neighbor. All the five families went to the roof, braving the rains just to stay safe, especially the children. They were crying—and praying.
As they were waiting for help in the morning, rain drenched, the adults reached for anything among the debris the flood current brought from the mountains of Sierra Madre—chocolate snack bars, pomelo or any thing that could be eaten.
They fed the children with the chocolate snack bars and divided the pomelo among the adults.
“We could not do anything. We were afraid that we might drown when the water rise higher at dawn. We just prayed with trust in God that He would not leave us,” Humunong explained.
Finally, after those harrowing moments, rescue arrived by 9 a.m. Government boats evacuated them to safer grounds.
“Every time it rained, we would think we would drown and die. We prayed that it will never happen again. We are happy now because we were saved by God,” Geraldine recounted in Filipino.
House of Prayer
Pastor Jun Carlo Madridano, 39, of Christian Assembly Baptist Church said that since their church was built in Kasiglahan Village in 2013, floodwaters never reached their house.
However, this time they were among the 2,500 families affected by Ulysses.
He said the nearby low-lying Anakpawis area was the only one prone to floods. But flood waters reached their house this time. So he could do nothing but bring his family to safety.
He said that throughout his ministry he would always prioritize the welfare of the church members. But during those crucial hours in November, he led his family out of danger to safer grounds first.
He carried his 3-month-old son, and held his wife and two daughters as they waded the flood waters.
“Our belongings, including my motorcycle, just floated in the water, although we were able to save some in the attic,” he said in Filipino.
As debris hit their legs, he thought they needed to go to safer ground. Alas, like Moses crossing the Red Sea, they reached a safe place.
He narrated how faith and relationship with God can save your life physically and spiritually.
He said that there are various churches in the area—Catholic, Iglesia ni Cristo, Full Gospel Church, born-again Christians, Baptist, Methodist—you name it, Kasiglahan Village has it.
Madridano believes the residents, regardless of religion, have a special relationship with God.
“The people believe in God. They are religious. They have different doctrines and practices, but all of them are going to one direction—they want to serve God. What is important is they long for God. It is better than not believing in God. A person’s personality is affected if he does not believe in God, he is not afraid to do wrong,” the pastor explained.
This 2021, he said his ministry will continue its humanitarian services, like feeding program, values formation for students enrolled in Advance Learning System, skills training for job seekers.
He said that with God on his side, partners are welcome to expedite the transformation of Kasiglahan Village into a more “maka-Diyos” (pro-God) village.
Angels without wings
Entrepreneurs and mothers Mylene Manuel Reyes and Liza Mendez went on their own in helping the residents in their little ways in as Christmas was just around the corner last December.
“There was so much devastation, there were garbage everywhere, and vehicles could not pass the roads. People were afraid, you would pity them, you could not imagine their experience on the rooftops. Where are they now? How were they able to survive?” Reyes recalled.
“On the other hand, we were thankful that it did not happen to us. So as our thanksgiving, we have been returning here, actually this is our fifth,” Mendez said.
They told the BusinessMirror that they planned to visit and distribute small gifts to the residents of Cagayan in northern Luzon but because of travel requirements, they chose to distribute the goods to Kasiglahan residents again based on its proximity.
Reyes was busy during the lockdown, but whenever able, she handed food packs to frontliners and to people on the streets, especially during her birthday.
“During my birthdays in the last 10 years, I distributed food packs to street people. I continued it during my birthday last year when the lockdown was eased. I gave food to frontliners and backliners, and even reached Rodriguez, Rizal,” she said.
Their efforts in handing 100 foodpacks to children and relief goods to 300 families on their first outing in Kasiglahan, drew praises from their friends.
Afterwards, their friends and family members pooled more resources and channeled them to the two women who courageously found their way in helping the poor in the area.
“When I was young, I had been thinking of extending help to others as my way of thanking God for overcoming the challenges I experienced in life,” Mendez shared.
Full of love, they teamed up with a resident named Cha, who linked them to Pastor Madridano to identify those deserving of their small Christmas gifts.
They were able to reach out to 400 families and they planned to help the House of Prayer in providing skills training and job opportunities to affected residents.
These experiences during the Covid-19 quarantine period, indicated that heroes don’t wear capes, and in the spirit of the season, angels don’t have wings. They just have the goodness in their hearts to reach out and help.
Special spaghetti
Junior Bansil, 25, and Ruben Lansangan, both residents of San Jose Builders Street LK1, celebrated the New Year with renewed life as they watched the fireworks from a distance.
“We thanked God for us being alive with our family,” they said
Their media noche food was the spaghetti from the gift packs from Reyes and Mendez, who made sure the residents, who cheated death during the typhoon, would have a happy celebration of the holidays.
They always said that there is light after each tunnel. That is true because God moves in mysterious ways.
Image credits: Mylene Reyes Facebook page, Bernard Testa