Caught by Surprise

Whether you’re at the comfort of your own homes or in the field, Pablo caught us by surprise. Wherever you’re from Mindanao, especially in Davao Region, the presence of Pablo felt through strong winds either shocked or frightened all of us.

In Tagum, Davao del Norte’s capital city, residents including me woke up to the sounds of rustles and whistles made by strong winds accompanied by light rains. It was a pre-dawn phenomenon, when, instead of the sun to wake us up on that fateful Tuesday morning, the wrath of Pablo scared us to death.

That morning was truly strange and horrifying due to the fact that this part of the country is never battered by storms. Freedom from typhoons is one of nature's promises to Mindanao. That statement no longer remains true as a changing climate forced a paradigm shift in paths of storm. Time has really changed. First there was Sendong last year and now here's Typhoon Pablo—described by the government as the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year—which joined the ranks as one of the worst pre-Christmas disasters in recent memory.

During the storm, I left home at around eight in the morning to join my officemates in documenting the path of destruction in my beloved city. In the succeeding hours, with all of us soaked in wet, we saw for ourselves the fierce weather phenomenon that fell down huge trees along the highways, shattered hectares of banana plantations, rose water levels of the Hijo River to critical point, left several properties damaged and collapsed electrical supply. As the night came, my hometown was wrapped in total darkness transforming itself from a boom town to a ghost town for a night.

Palm trees brave Pablo's winds at the height of the storm. Taken about 8:30-9:00 AM by Leo Timogan.

You could only watch in despair as your hometown seemed like a disaster zone for a while. In the city’s aviary zone inside the well-known Energy Park, winds knocked down trees that provide shade for both nature-loving citizens and the caged birds. The sight of people fleeing their homes, carrying their hard-earned properties while braving knee-deep floods and intermittent rains would forever be etched in our memories. We are not used to this. How dare you, Pablo.

We learned, as the floods of information came in the following day, what we experienced at home was just a microcosm of the bigger path of destruction Pablo left in our neighboring towns and provinces. In Compostela Valley and in Davao Oriental, many families are left homeless. Casualties rose to record numbers. Millions of properties are destroyed. Agriculture sector totally wrecked.

Last night, thousands of residents of New Bataan sought temporary shelter in Tagum's Rotary Park. Seeing them on a sunny day 48 hours after that fateful Tuesday storm is sad.

Our hearts go out to those who lost their loved ones, their homes and that strand of hope. Our boundaries, I realized, are just geographical lines.. This storm made us a one sharing and caring community.

Pablo really caught us by surprise. Home is where the heart is. But for many of us here, home is where hearts break.

Helping to clear the road from a fallen tree at Bincungan, Tagum City. Photo by Leo Timogan

Along Mankilam, Tagum City

The gate-keeper of DPWH briefed us about the alarming level of Hijo River in Barangay Apokon shortly before 12 noon. During that time, water level was at 6.21 meters. When we went back at around 4 PM, it was 8 meters which mean it's already in its critical level. Photo by Kelvin Palermo

Residents on their way to the evacuation centers, escaping the rising water levels of the Hijo River. These waters came from the uplands of the Province of Compostela Valley, one of the hardest-hit province during Typhoon Pablo. Photo by Leo Timogan

Constellation of Stars

Complete darkness wrapped the whole place on that moon-lit Friday night when, as the hours leading to the first day of December looms, the Queen of Apostles College and Seminary opened its door to us to witness the tradition that has spanned years of delicate and meticulous art of making parols, perhaps the well-revered Christmas icon of the Filipinos second to the belen.

Quite ironically, the bright sky on that night brought by the romantic moon didn’t offer a vista of little, twinkling, and sometimes falling, astronomical dots. What I saw instead are big ones that are very well-decorated with indigenous and recyclable materials that are brought to life by lights of different colors in the spectrum. Had I been so crazy, I would have thought some of the stars up above camped in this part of the world! 

Past a dark and eerie driveway bordered on the sidelines by old, towering trees is the great seminarians’ abode, home to the future gatekeepers of the Catholic church. These people are also the young men who carried on the tradition of putting up giant lanterns not just for the sake of having it, but to remind themselves and the faithful community in general, of the great celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Through their artistic collaboration to produce such amazing lanterns, they were able to bring such magnitude of joy eminent during the holidays. 

This tradition traces its roots way back in the year 1996, according to the dean of the seminary and our host for that night, Rev. Fr. Emerson delos Reyes. In the past years, he said, belens (or nativity diorama) add up to the hype of the seminary’s Christmas tradition other than the giant lanterns. In recent years, they shifted their focus on the latter, with seminarians organized in several groups thinking of different sets of designs every year in a competition that has meted their calibre for arts and design.

In the seminary’s gymnasium, about ten giant Christmas icons were on display, each having distinct and intricate designs that are rich with meanings and symbolisms. 

One particular design that caught my attention was the smiling snow man, the famed symbol of a White Christmas everybody in the Philippines is dreaming--that kind of moment when you wake up on a bright Christmas morning with falling snow outside your window and freckles across your nose. This particular fixture stands smiling beside an old ship adorned with a cross and a handful of stars, made more vibrant by the tiny dots of yellow lights.

Rise of the Guardians: Simply Magical

IN SEARCH OF an unknown past and questions surrounding Jack Frost’s special ability offers an impressive background to this yet another spell-binding animated film. Playful yet troubled about the existence of his special powers, Jack Frost is blessed with the ability to freeze anything he wishes to turn into ice through his staff. But he is also an interpretation of disconnect.

In the opening scene complete with graphical magic, viewers would, first, be amazed with how Jack Frost marveled at his newly-found powers, albeit his problem of being invisible. Your heart would surely go out for him each time passes through his spectral frame, signifying children didn't notice his existence.

As action progresses, the back story of how Jack Frost gained his special abilities take shape. Adding spice to the greatly-woven story is that he is about to join the elite league of the Guardians, an honest-to-goodness group with members delicately chosen by a certain Man in the Moon. This alliance is best described through the words of North when he explained their mission to Jack Frost: “We go by many names and take many forms. We bring wonder and hope. We bring joy and dreams. We are the Sandman and the Tooth Fairy. We are the Easter Bunny and Santa. And our powers are greater than you ever imagine. It is our job to protect the children of the world. For as long as they believe in us, we will guard them with our lives.”

Image Courtesy of Dreamworks

Faith in Baclaran

The Baclaran Phenomenon is, first and foremost, the incredible number of people who come to the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran every Wednesday to make the Perpetual Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. It is estimated that at least 100,000 devotees come on regular Wednesdays, reaching about 120,000 on the First Wednesday of each month.

When I was there on Wednesday last week, I felt the intensity of the energy caused by the prayers of the pilgrims. After saying a prayer in the shrine (my third time since 2006), I saw the magnitude of faithfuls who had come to the shrine to pray and to give thanks to the Lord through the Blessed Virgin Mary. It all would be summed up with one word: FAITH.

So what’s important with faith?

I’d been taught that He who has faith has an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well - even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly. As what Mahatma Ghandi once said, Faith must be enforced by reason. When faith becomes blind, it dies.

After all, it’s not the prayer alone that stands out. It’s Faith.

As I gaze at the faithful in one corner while taking pictures in between, I remembered one thing: to keep our faith and surely, our faith will keep us.