MORE THAN JUST WATER

Taft Avenue, my way home. During the aftermath of Ondoy.

My husband and I were among those stranded by the onslaught of typhoon Ondoy, which misfortune we are thankful still for being considerably milder than that which befell a greater number of our countrymen in neighboring cities. In the afternoon of September 28th, Mico and I watched from the window of my fourth floor office as the winds howled through its glass panes. Our concern was that our son was left at home with our new yaya, who we were yet to "break in" and observe in the face of calamity. Good thing we were able to reach the neighbours, so we were more or less assured that Nicolo was safe. I heeded Mico's advice not to brave the chest-deep flood which covered our route home, on the premise that we would be better off leaving my son parentless for one night, rather than parentless for the rest of his life.

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The past week has been a reflection of the values that we have, more shown in the face of adversity. The sheer callousness of capitalists, for one, frustrates me exponentially worse than the waters brought by storm. In this republic where long weekends and holidays are abundant as there are prominent people's deaths to mourn and national anniversaries to celebrate, it is completely beyond me why employees were expected to report for work Monday after homes and lives were ravaged only a couple of nights earlier.


Case in point, a number of my colleagues have themselves been victims of this disaster (our office being an apparent satellite barangay of Malabon) ---not least affected was our Director, himself. As the waters that filled their homes have yet to subside to date, they were forced to take the week off, to file leaves to excuse themselves from work. While it was argued that leaves were liberally allowed in the face of this crisis, the fact remains that they were COMPELLED to spend their leave credits on something which would have demanded nothing short of corporate grace. The sheer necessity of having to worry about your absences being covered by paid leaves at a time when you are yet to figure how to redeem your home from muck, grime and sludge could be an almost laughable joke, were it not for the blaring reality of the situation.

Since there is in fact no immediate work to be accomplished, what with the insufficiency of manpower to function routinely and our "clientele" in absencia for the time being (classes being suspended and students are not around), we have spent our week coming to work only to lounge, change facebook status and read news on how the rest of the country has been mobilized to recover from the deluge. And all you can do is watch through computer screens and wonder why on earth you keep on doing something as menial as waiting for rare calls on the phone and typing Minutes of Meetings when you can be more useful elsewhere ---as I have.

And so on Tuesday afternoon, I faked a sick leave and dragged my husband to the nearest relief operations near us.

Being there was a stark contrast to the passivity that has kept my teeth gritting on my 0ffice seat. Everyone, rich or poor (well, maybe more of the former, we ended up joining the ops near the gates of Forbes Park), young and autumnal were there to give a hand. The spirit of selflessness was most felt, as even kids as tender as 6 years were there bringing what they could, from boxes of Kellogs cornflakes to old jackets and popcorn. Nobody was there to earn nor to be seen, fading in the background of boxes of donations, and mounds of repacked relief goods. People we didn't know took our hands to form a chain to pass around bags of goods, all in the name of goodwill and empathy. We came home a thousand times more fulfilled, than if I had accomplished a week's worth of work in one afternoon.

Last night's news featured experts forecasting that the waters will be here to stay until the next few weeks, or heaven forbid until Christmas season. I just hope goodwill spreads faster than the floods have risen.