The Urgent Need for an Online List of Evacuees from Typhoon Ondoy

UPDATE: Just got an email reply from NDCC. I understand their predicament, but hope come next time something could be done.

"good afternoon attorney, we are more than thankful for your offer but unfortunately, due to the scale and sheer difficulty of consolidating these lists will take significant effort to acquire. Rest assured that your offer will be considered should we have this list already in place. We hope you understand. Again, thank you for volunteering, and we wish you well especially in this moment."

OP: Two days after Ondoy ("Ketsana") struck us, and many many Filipinos remain worried about loved ones & friends in affected areas who have yet to surface or make contact. The radio & TV stations, the Facebook updates and the Twitter feeds are full of requests for news about this individual or that family. There are several reasons for the loss of contact. The popular cellphone service providers have had spotty reception because of flood damage to their reception. Many of the rescued individuals have lost their own cellphones and are now in evacuation centers where they are unable to make known their safety.

The NDCC is in charge of coordinating rescue & safety operations in times of disaster, and ostensibly has a supervisory role over evacuation centers. It is very conceivable for them to have a plan to collate the list of those successfully evacuated or rescued, and publish such list online for the perusal of relatives and friends unaware of their loved one's plight. It is conceivable that NDCC personnel at evacuation centers gather the names of those in the evacuation centers, type them up on laptops at the site, then forward the list to a central post which can then upload them at the NDCC website.

I'll concede this is easier said than done. Unfortunately, it appears that the NDCC had, and has no plans of doing this public service so needed by us. A friend of mine was able to contact the NDCC at 9122665, and she was told that the NDCC does not have a list of evacuees, only a list of affected areas. The call had been made in the hope that the NDCC would supply the list to private individuals who could help out by encoding and posting such list online. Without such a list, that task is impossible.

I have no idea if it is too late to still implement such a plan, but at the very least, this experience should enlighten the NDCC to establish such a system come the next disaster.

This entire experience has made it quite easy to wail and rage about the failure of government, and the absence of an NDCC list of evacuees compounds to the anger. Still, for as long as help remains needed, it remains more helpful to try make government work, instead of carping at its failings. And if the government that is within reach of fixing is that "of the sovereign people", and not necessarily that which we elected, then so be it.

New Storm/Flood Warning For Philippines This Week

It is reported that 2 more tropical depressions are feared to hit the Philippines this week. Via Facebook, I came across this Note written by Inday Espina-Varona, relaying a message from Yvette Lee. Due to the urgency of the warning, I'm reposting the Note in its entirety (with apologies) so that the proper caution and preparation can be had by as many people as possible.

Yvette Lee, a veteran diver, and the friend I rely on for weather forecasts, has never been wrong yet about which way the wind blows (or how much rain will fall). Many times, she has told me to disregard Pag-asa because various other satellites, including those used by the US military, are showing different storm tracks. On Friday, she said winds would be light but waters very heavy and to prepare for serious floods.

Tonight, with some urgency, she asked me to contact Gibo, if I could. I've texted her message en toto to a defense reporter, but am posting it here anyway in the hope someone who does know Gibo or the AFP Chief or some such top gun can relay it. They may know what Yvette knows already but she is worried due to the absence of clear-cut warnings on TV and radio news. She would post here but has no Internet access at the moment. I'm tagging as many people I know that cover Crame and Aguinaldo (or who are there, thus the soldiers). Perhaps, other media people can check with their own sources and issue warnings that people can heed.

Here's her message:

IF YOU HAVE CONTACT NUMBER OF GIBO YOU BETTER LET HIM KNOW TO EXPECT RAINS AGAIN BEGINNING TOMORROW. BAKA KALA NILA WALA NA TYPHOON WALA NANG RAIN. THE WEATHER SATELLITES SHOW RAIN COMING IN FROM THE EAST FOR 2 DAYS AT LEAST.

THEY SHOULD ASK THE PEOPLE WHO WERE STANDING ON ROOFS AND WHO WENT BACK INSIDE, TO LEAVE TILL WATER GOES DOWN TO NORMAL BECAUSE THE WATER WILL RISE VERY FAST AGAIN WHEN IT STARTS RAINING...

Let's hope if the worst does come, we are utterly prepared.

On Assisting Philippine Victims of Tropical Storm Ketsana ("Ondoy")

UPDATE #2: More info on how you can help from The Pinoy Chuva, with specifics on the particular needs of the victims & evacuees.

UPDATE: Useful info from ABS-CBN, including updates & advisories from telcos, airlines and the like.

It has been one day since Ketsana (better known in the Philippines as "Ondoy") swept across Luzon, causing the highest amount of rainfall in recorded Philippine history. The situation in congested Metro Manila & neighboring provinces remains dire, due to the number of people, perhaps thousands, who, 24 hours hence, have remained stranded on their rooftops, at risk to exposure and hypothermia. The fact that the gravity of this storm was unexpected, and unprecedented, has further hampered speedy and efficient rescue and relief operations whether by the public or private sector. There'll be a time for a post-mortem on how the public services sector performed in this once-in-a-lifetime crisis, but for as long as there remain lives to be saved, the flagellation can wait.

The Internet, particularly social networking has been able to communicate various urgent situations and means by which people can help the victims. Sour Politics best compilation out there of the list of emergency contact numbers; as well as sites where relief goods can be delivered & volunteers can register. A Google Spreadsheet has likewise been created listing places where relief goods may be dropped off; it is constantly updated. Check them out for now, I'll post additional info if necessary.

One of course should be cautious in identifying the proper conduit for donating relief goods, especially if donating cash. The surest bet is through The Philippine Red Cross. They have offered the following bank accounts through which cash donations may be made:

Account Name: The Phil. Nat’l. Red Cross

METROBANK

Port Area Branch

Peso Acct.: 151-3-041-63122-8

Dollar Acct.: 151-2-151-00218-2

Type of Acct. : SAVINGS

Swift Code: MBTC PH MM

BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS

Port Area Branch

Peso Acct.: 4991-0010-99

Type of Account: CURRENT

BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS

UN Branch

Dollar Acct.: 8114-0030-94

Type of Account: SAVINGS

Swift Code: BOPI PH MM

For your donations to be properly acknowledged, please fax the bank

transaction slip at nos. +63.2.527.0575 or +63.2.404.0979 with your

name, address and contact number.

Credit Card

Please fax the following info to +632.404.09.79 and +632.527.0575:

Name of card member, billing address, contact nos. (phone &

mobile), credit card no., expiration date, CCV2/ CVC2 (last three

digits at the back of the credit card), billing address, amount to be

donated.

For more details, visit www.redcross.org.ph .

Per Section 34(H) of the National Internal Revenue Code, charitable contributions made by Philippine corporations or self-employed Filipino taxpayers to the Philippine Red Cross (a government agency) are tax deductible as long as the total annual contributions do not exceed 10% (for individuals) or 5% (for corporations) of the annual net income. Self-employed individuals who avail of this deduction should not however avail of the standard 10% optional standard deduction under Section 34(L) that many taxpayers usually opt for.

Some American celebrities such as Yoko Ono and Alyssa Milano have tweeted that donations can be coursed through the American Red Cross. However, per HappySlip, the American Red Cross does not have a dedicated fund for Ketsana/Undoy victims, so any donations coursed through them will be spread out to other causes as well. You can instead donate directly through the Philippine Red Cross here (click "Others"), or by directly depositing to the bank accounts referred to earlier.

Twitter is perhaps the best place to receive wire-service like updates from the Philippines (I've been tweeting furiously myself). You can follow, among others, ABS-CBN News, GMA News, and popular blogger Manolo Quezon.

Alexis Tioseco

The reason why film critics should matter? By virtue of their vocation, they get to watch more films than the regular moviegoer or the amateur film buff. Good, bad or harmless films. Films emanating from different eras, different genres, different languages and heritages. For that reason, they are better equipped to place an individual movie within the appropriate context in the film universe. They may be less inclined to praise a particular film that may be popular to regular moviegoers because their critical faculties have been shaped by the many good films that they have seen, and we have never heard of. From their wider exposure, they are able to share with us insights from film traditions and cultures far richer than what can be offered by our Transformers-in-every-cinema multiplexes. Inasmuch as schoolteachers had enlightened us that there was a world out there beyond immediate sensory perception, film critics alert us of a cinema beyond that promoted by the popular media machine. And so long as humans remain responsive to the curiosity reflex that drove much of cultural and technological progress, the critic -- especially the one who introduces us to the extra step -- will matter.

I never had the privilege of meeting Alexis Tioseco, though we had shared print space on UNO and had common friends. But from reading his work, it is easy to glean why he had won the respect, loyalty and love of his friends, colleagues and students. He was passionate about the Philippines and desired a better local cinema, and to that end he was unwilling to kowtow to the film industry and its interpersonal politics. He made his views known directly, and with such bluntness one could not help but listen. The most effective writers and advocates are those who know how to go for the jugular, and he deflated many egos and platitudes with the aim of developing a more sensible and liberating atmosphere where good Philippine cinema could breed. One can try disagree with his criticisms of particular films or decry the obscurity of some of the movies he rooted for, but he exuded much integrity and knowledge of film that you could trust that his views were well worth considering.

Someday, there will be a published anthology of the works of Alexis Tioseco, and you should go buy that. Yet there is already a wealth of material now available on the Internet, beginning with his now-widely circulated piece in Rogue Magazine, The Letter I Would Love To Read To You In Person, a highly accessible and passionately eloquent love letter/mission-vision statement which should be taught in any kind of writing class. Do check out his blog, Concentrated Nonsense, and the erudite website on Southeast Asian cinema, Criticine, which he had helped established. Two of Alexis's previous articles - one on Roxlee and a review of When Timawa Met Delgado. And there have been a host of tributes posted online to Alexis and Nika Bohinc -- among others, see those of Noel Vera, Oggs Cruz, Quark Henares, Philbert Ortiz Dy, Patricia Evangelista, Gabe Klinger and Jonathan Rosenbaum.