adventures in neverland

(a year after super typhoon yolanda devastated much of the visayas region and claimed a lot of lives, i am reposting something that i wrote during those nerve-wracking days when all that was left for us to do was to pray and seek divine providence.) we were outside of the then sparklingly new robinson's shopping mall waiting for a taxi, when out of the blue (maybe i was concerned that we ran out of things to talk about; or i am just like everyone else, uncomfortable of the long silences between conversations), i asked my sister why she loves living in this coastal city of tacloban, where she spent more than half of her life.  you see, she studied and graduated at the university of the philippines - visayas -- in tacloban city. when she got married, she and her husband decided to live there to raise a family. in contrast, i have always been a big city person. i love getting lost and dizzy in the labyrinthian but chaotic streets of a mega metropolis, as well as get...

imagine not being able to say goodbye to your love one as he leaves this world forever and travels into the mysterious beyond. imagine seeing your love one being taken away from your arms and swept away by the turbulent winds and waves, and drowning slowly in  the deep water of filth. imagine watching helplessly as your love one shouts for help, begging you to save him, but there is no way you can do so without getting killed in the process, without sacrificing another love one who is clinging to you for his dear life. @@@@@@@@@ these are the stories that my younger sister, whose family survived the onslaught of super typhoon yolanda in tacloban, shared to me when we finally talked about the tragedy that befell the country early last month, exactly six weeks before christmas. she recalled crying herself uncontrollably when her friends, all from tacloban city and other parts of leyte and samar, spoke about their horrifying experiences during that fateful day of november ...

volunteers should log out, surrender their ids, and talk to psychologists or psychiatrists before leaving villamor airbase to help them de-stress and process their feelings after interacting with the victims and survivors of the storm. that's from a dswd (department of social welfare and development) staff tasked to brief volunteers before they are sent to different tents to help out. &&&&&&&&&&&&&& but before that, let's start from the beginning. &&&&&&&&& we arrived at the villamor airbase at around thirty minutes past seven after getting lost thrice. the taxi driver that we hailed from harrison plaza took us to resorts world where he thought there was a packing center for relief goods intended for the yolanda victims. but a staff in-charged of traffic at resorts world told the driver that the packing center is somewhere near marriott hotel. so he drove again to marriott w...

there's always a moment in our life when we are shaken from our endless, dreamless sleep and realize that something beckons us to do something, either chase a dream or cast a spell on someone else, or be somewhere else, a thriving city or an unfamiliar virgin forest. it doesn't matter really, what's important is we have been awakened from a deep slumber and is ready to move. the good news is, i am almost there. &&&&&&&&&& i can't pinpoint exactly what is that specific event, stimulus, or even who that person is who becomes the trigger for this renewed vitality. maybe it was the typhoon yolanda that devastated tacloban city, my sister's beloved city and right next to the town where i was born and grew up. or it could be my beloved younger sister's strength in facing the storm (days before the typhoon made a landfall in tacloban, i asked her to consider moving elsewhere, but she assured me that her place is safe. ...