(NOTA BENE: This Blog's Conclusion starts to be written on September 26, 2011 itself. A Thanksgiving Mass is being offered this 10:00 AM at the Immaculate Concepcion Chapel of Provident Villages in commemoration of that tragic event two years ago.)
Without any food in our unit, I decided to go to the city public market to buy some provisions. Astonished at seeing so many people going to and fro St. Mary Avenue, the street fronting our apartment compound, I walked through the sidewalk covered with foot deep clinging mud towards the village gate. I could sense that many were either plain curious persons or scavengers whom I noticed picking up anything of value scattered along the way.
At the gate of our subdivision, there were so many people milling around, most of whom engaged in conversation or looking at the parade of people going in and out of the village. I was forced to walk to the city proper in the absence of public transportation and saw that most of the business establishments were either closed or cleaning the dirt and mud left by "ONDOY".
At the public market, I managed to buy only some bananas due to lack of other available food stuffs. Walking back to Provident Villages, I found my wife, my son, my nephew, the little girl and her nanny as well as the kid's parents who finally came home after the flood waters subsided. My wife told me that we had to go to her friend's house in Cubao, Quezon City. There was some news that the dams would release again excess waters like the previous day reportedly causing the destructive flooding of Provident Village.
Again, in the absence of public transportation, we were forced to walk until Katipunan Avenue where we took a jeepney bound to Cubao. We sought shelter in the house of my wife's friend in Harvard Street, Cubao, for several days. While in Cubao, my son and nephew with occasional help of the kid's father if free from work would return to Provident Villages and clean our unit from the debris and mud left by "ONDOY".
When I visited our unit to see the progress of the clean-up activities, I noticed so many persons coming out of the community with many articles of value literally unhampered by village guards and/or law enforcement authorities. Later on, some police and military personnel were assigned at the gate due to many complaints from village residents of pilferage from houses temporarily abandoned by owners.
Our youngest son fetched us to stay in their rented place in Bulacan but we decided to return to Provident Villages after a week as we wanted to complete the cleaning and restoration of our unit. There we discovered the loss of many valuable items since the front door of our unit could not be closed tightly as well as we left our unit unattended during our stay in Bulacan. Fortunately, my wife's co-workers in the parish church in Cubao were so generous in giving us clothes, household items and money to tide us over.
Indeed, this recollection of Typhoon "ONDOY" Second Anniversary on September 26, 2011 undeniably brings back painful memories of this episode from which only God's limitless mercy has enabled us survive. Nevertheless, it has given me the firm resolve to repay my kind neighbors' generosity through the advocacy I have embraced and will pursue in years to come.
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