October 4, 2009 - Typhoon Ondoy Relief Operations in Marilao, Bulacan

After inspecting the relief operations area the day before, and thanks to the cancellation of my prenuptial pictorials, my sister and I were able to start early on shopping for relief goods.

My family and Tesha helped pack all the relief goods which consisted of rice, meds, noodles, canned goods and used clothing. Our neighbor Bebe dropped by to give us relief good packers some doughnuts for snacks. The Barangay officials of Lias provided the vehicle and manpower for our relief operations. Kudos to them for being readily available for public service!

And off we went to the site:



Before coming in, the volunteer vehicles of Ping Medina's Soup Kitchen have just finished serving food to the people and are on they way out. Earlier while shopping for goods, we have been seeing their volunteers along the roads of Marilao, Bulacan. As we were on our way to deliver the packed relief goods, one of their volunteers smiled and shouted, "KAYO NAMAN!" (IT'S YOUR TURN NOW"!)

The people line up for food inside the elementary school. We passed by this school and lots of people are still waiting outside the gate (Pic fro Brgy Soup Kitchen's facebook)


Indeed we had our turn. And my young nieces felt the joy of serving the underprivileged. We realized that people need by doing this are the following: cooking and kitchen wares and underwear. Most of the utensils and were washed away by flood and the people are still drying up what is left of their clothing when we were there. These days, most probably some of them are suffering from the world's worst pandemic of leptospirosis.

At the end of the video clip above, Tesha rightfully exclaimed "Kailangan din ng school supplies" ("They also need school supplies"). As many schoolchildren were not able to immediately go back to school the next day (we went on a Sunday) because their school materials were also washed away.

It is almost a whole day dedicated for the people in need. And time spent most wisely all of us agreed we could do this all over again. Only if we had the financial resources.

Speaking of resources, this relief operations would not have been possible without the generous donations of the Filipinos in our company and our Korean and Filipino friends. Mabuhay kayong lahat! Long live!