Chapter 47-Typhoon Frank Came, With Floods, We Never Saw Before!

                                   Chapter  47

             Typhoon Frank  Came,  With   Floods,  We  Never Saw Before!

                                              

On June  22, 2008,  Typhoon Frank (Fengshen) came to  Iloilo and Panay Island. It hit hard  Iloilo City with strong wind and  very heavy flood together in  most part of  Panay Island. The devastation was  grave  that we   never saw and experienced before.

In Buntatala, Leganes and nearby villages, much of what  have been started by families  and   developed    the past years of hard work  were destroyed. The   heavy  floods completed the destruction. I saw 10 feet flood around homes in   Buntatala,  Leganes, Iloilo.

Five jeeps and cars were swept by the strong flood from the highway and smashed  on the gates of our house. I saw more than 10  cows and carabaos,  carried by the water from farms above,  passing near our  home,  down to the sea. Everything we were caring at home -3 pigs, a dozen ducks, 1,200 heads of Quail-- 600 layers and 600 1 month old, were drowned.

The equipment of Alternative Resource Development Center, Inc.,--   Risograph Printing Machine,  2 commercial photo copiers, 3 computers, were submerged in 10 feet water. We have some 50 reams of bond papers, 1,200 newly covered books, part of the book we  launched  that May were covered with mud.

Our library books of 5,000 volumes were  covered with muds, after it fall down and submerged in waist deep  muds  mixed with rice husks from a rice mill 150 meters above us. Our  neighbors suffered the same destruction  like us.

Typhoon Frank  made a direct  hit on the Philippines and China, causing severe damages,  resulting in  some   1,371 deaths and leaving 87 people missing in the Philippines.  Eight hundred forty six (846)  of the 922 people on board the boat “Princess of the Stars”  were killed when the ship capsized.

The Philippines was  most heavily affected country in the wake of  Fenshen  (Frank) typhoon.

Ten of thousands were affected by the storms, many of whom climb trees and rooftops, when  they saw the swirling water coming fast that Saturday  morning  about 11:00 AM.

Capiz, Aklan and Antique provinces  were heavily affected.  It remained cut off from comunications.

Hardest  hit outside Iloilo City where Pavia,  San Miguel, Leganes and Sta. Barbara. The northern and central towns of Iloilo   including San Rafael, Passi,  Barotac Viejo, Sara, Concepcion, San Dionisio, Batad, Estancia, Balasan and Carles were   devastated.  

The markets of Roxas City, Kalibu, Aklan, San Jose, Antique and the surrounding  towns  and villages were heavily affected.  We saw the   seemingly  hopeless  faces of  men and women as they stares at us,  looking at their  destroyed homes and  lost belongings.

The damages, according to news reports,  caused by “Frank” in agriculture was placed at P1.087 billion while in infrastructure    was P519,71 million.

Typhoon Frank, taught me many things. Life and things  we   possessrf    were  fleeting.   You see it now.  Then, you see it   no more. 

 

That morning of the flood, I was preparing to go to a  town of San  Miguel.  I was scheduled to speak in  Inner Iloilo City Circuit Conference,   held  in Consolacion Baptist Church,  in the  municipality of San Miguel.   The topic I was requested to discuss was   “The Methods and Technics on Quail Raising”. I was invited by the Organizing Committee with Engr. Rollin Deocampo of Inner Iloilo Ciricuit Conference.  

I  have  direct    experiences on Quail Raising. Two pastors in the circuit had cared 100  laying  Quails already, under my  and guidance. One has left for Mindanao and I cannot remember his name.  One was Pastor Jemuel Benigay of Pagsangaan Baptist Church, Pavia, Iloilo. By that time his Quails were laying eggs.

 Some church members would  like to  learn and start  Quail Raising,  as   community  ventures. 

The proximity of Inner Iloilo Churches to Iloilo City, make Quail Raising  potential business to undertake. Big  number of quail eggs, were bought from Manila.  Some pastors would like to start the enterprise.   They asked me to provide them with the technology of raising  a 1 day old quail chicks  to start the project.

I told them, we  will provide the 1 day old quails. We have an Incubator with 100 native chichen eggs. It can be used for 250 quail eggs. A friend in Bakyas, Bacolod City has bigger quail project. He have fertilized quail eggs. I bought  250 quail eggs, per order. Then  we  incubate it at home. And  some raisers have started buying 1 day old quail eggs from me.

He said. “If we raise quails and taught  our children and the children of the community  to   eat quail eggs,    our children and our youths  will be more  healthy, strong and intelligent.”

The rain that Saturday morning  has slowed down.  Then about 11:00 AM,  water  entered our  floor. It was very fast. In a few minutes it was knee deep.   A few  minutes  more,  water   was on our thigh.   I called Hesther  and my sons to come. We will go to the highway. It was higher there. 

 We  went out of our  house.  The flood was on our thigh and moving  strong.  We walked 5 of us,  holding  our hands going  to the  highway.  We heard later, the  two big dams were opened to release water, to  lessen the pressures on the dam.  And it brought down strong  flood waters  to the communities. 

We cannot reached the highway. The flood water was very strong.   It carries  some  big woods and bamboos down with strong force.  We’re on the side of the   highway.  But we cannot go up up the highway.   There was Jeepney, full of beer and soft drinks. I went up  the   jeepney.  I try to relaxed.

Then, a two men came.   They were  carrying   long ropes.  They throw  the rope  to us.  We caught the rope. Slowly we moved up to highway.  There, the water was a bit calm. It was  above our  knees.

We  entered the of our neighbor,  Ms. Grace  Alangre. Her   house with three floors.   The first floor was full of water. The 2^nd floor was half-way full.   We went to up   the 3^rd Floor. There we stayed for 3 days, until the   flood subsided.  Six  families all,  some 30   people.

After  we were settled in the house,  I realized my 2^nd  son,  Noynoy  was not around. Also my brother-in-law,  Dodong Alvarez. He   visited us  a week ago and stayed for a vacation. Seeing that they were not around, I decided to go back to our house.  The water   was more stronger.   My  two sons did  not allow me to go.  They were asking me to let them go instead. But I cannot allow them,  under that force of the  flood.  

 Later, I learned Noynoy (Rod Chester)  and his uncle, went to the  roof-top where they stayed. Four  families with 15  members, all  our neighbors, were stranded.

They cannot get out of the area  anymore .  Their   home were  flooded with 10 feet  water. They came to our back gate and cling to the fence.  Our house was fenced with hollow blocks and iron grills. 

The water was deep but not strong inside and the back of our house.    My son opened the gate and the  four  families clumber    up to the roof.  They stayed there.  Fifteen of  them,  with a child, one month old.  They stayed there at the roof of our house until 5:00 PM.

As I looked at our home,   100 meters away, with waters near the  roof  my tears fall. I was so sad.  

As I looked at our  home  and the homes of my neighbors,  tears came out slowly.  

I saw almost all our  things were lost and destroyed.  Our clothes were washed away. Some  were  buried in the mud. All our  for printing, publishing and  broadcast  equipment, were buried under water. All were destroyed. I  looked at  my wife and four children.  I knew, we have nothing to start life again.

But I remembered the promise of the Lord. He said, “I will not leave you alone. I will not forsake you.”  It gave me strength. I bowed  my head in prayer.   In  the  midst of the flood, I thanked  God for the   strength and grace  of  His presence.

I   reflected  on what we will do. It was very hard to live  with nothing to start, except our home partly damaged.  Soil and rotten    rice husks from the rice mill 200 meters were dumped inside our house.

On the 2^nd  day,  members  of Lifegate Church, our church in Leganes  came with several gantas of rice,  canned  foods  and used clothing.  I was able to change    to  dried pants, that morning.   We  cooked  the rice and  canned  goods. We eat   together. We gave the clothes to each member of the family.

On the 3^rd day  after Typhoon   Frank, Mrs. Feraz Legita and some CPBC staff  came to us.  They brought us One-half  sack rice, canned goods and used clothing.   We used that for all our foods in the 5  families.  We were still  stranded.  Water was still waist deep.

I was invited by Mrs. Legita to join  them  that morning   I did. We went to  Northern Iloilo, to   Roxas City, Kalibu. Aklan and San Jose Antique.  We passed several  municipalities along our route. We saw the devastation all around the villages/ barangays we passed.  We saw people around, trying to put whatever was left of their home and make repairs. Roxas City Market was destroyed heavily. Also Kalibu, Aklan’s wet market.

The people were working, doing whatever they can to repair  their stores and homes.  In Antique, we saw  the  devastation, the same  all over the towns the 4 provinces of Panay. We went back to Iloilo City that evening. Mrs. Legita gave me P1,000 that evening.   The following day, we returned to our home. The flood has subsided. But inside our home, 3 feet of soil, sands and rotten rice husks were damped by the flood inside our house.

Slowly we cleaned our house. We all helped. We got the soils and rotten rice husks and carried them out of our house. My brother, Restituto Jr.,  came with his Electric Power Sprayer, so we can clean the walls and floors of our house. The Electric Sprayer was a great help. My sisters, Elvira and Myrna came.  They brought some materials for our needs. My  sisters in Carles and our father sent rice and dried fish. And like  our neighbors, we worked for almost a week,  before we can live a bit of normal lives.

After some reflections with my wife, Hesther,  we decided to  find another way to earn a living. We  thought of looking for a farm to rent.  Planting      vegetables  will enable us to  harvest in  2 months.  With rice and corn,   we will  harvest in 3  to four   months.  And with few   native chickens   we   will have eggs in a month or two.   If we  raised  a few  goats, we could have meat  in 6 months. Goats  will eat grasses only. 

We rented a small farm.  It’s  nearly    3 hectares.  The land was not planted for 3 years. It was like a forest with tall grasses. When heavy rains comes, the area were flooded  with  much water from Metropolis Subdivision.  The land was  owned by the Philippine American Cemetery Association. The President was Dr. Vicente  Suoribio.  I  am the Vice President. I negotiated with him and the Board of Directors.    He allowed us to  rent it for five years. We paid rentals yearly.

In my  ministry, I always  have relations with farmers, sugar cane workers and fishermen. I have some knowledge  on  farming. What we called conventional farming. The  methods that  used commercial  fertilizers and poisonous pesticides.  

Tyhoon Frank hit Panay Island and hit hard the areas of  the Convention of Philippine Baptist. of Rev. Arsenio Llamas, President and  Rev. Job Santiago, General Secretary. They worked hard to  help develop the resources of the Convention and respond to the needs of  families heavily affected by dissasters in Negros, Panay, Romblon and Mindoro.

One day, Rev. Job Santiago, CPBC General Secretary visited me at home. We have coffee. He told me my friend, Leo Liljengren from their church in Sweden has sent an amount, about P160,000, from their  Church, as  assistance for our house. Leo  saw the flood on TV in Sweden,  and  knew the area near our  home. He had visited us at home before. 

We  used the amount to make a 2^nd  story  floor on  our house, to make sure we have a place to run,  when another strong  flood came in future years. We use also some amount to start a little farming to start life again.

I began to get interested in natural farming.  Raising vegetables, rice,  corn,   bananas with composts and earthworms casts.  We raise fresh water fish,  few  chickens and ducks without using  chemical fertilzers and pesticides.   We sprayed  our vegetables and plants with pesticides made from cut /shredded Neem Tree leaves, ½ kilo  of garlic,  ½ kilo of  roots onion mixed with 1 kilo of molasses and fermented for  days.

We kept these  in a clean container. We spray our plants weekly with the solution,  4 tables spoons in 1 standard sprayer with about 20  liters of water.    

We  started to hold study and  trainings  on natural  farming with neigbors and friends. Slowly and gradually,  we discovered a  new  life’s work, a new ministry -  farming and fishing. We made studies, researches  and experiments. We established relations with Iloilo City Agriculturist’s Office.  With them, we began to reached to out and  help farmers and fishermen,  some needing skills and  equipment  to  improve their incomes and lives.

I joined the  “Highly Urbanized City Agriculture and Fisheries Council (HUCAFC).” The President is  Mr. Romeo Villanueva. I am the Vice President. We met once  every 3 months, with time of sharing, learning, planning and getting new technologies on  farming and fishing.

We organized the “Iloilo City Farmers Association”, that provided skills  on  farming, using the

conventional methods.  The association is  headed by Ms. Gemma Aujero. I am a member of the Board of Directors.

We  have also  organized and registered with the Department of Labor & Employment (DOLE) the “Iloilo City  Organic Agriculture Alliance (ICOAA)”. I was elected President.  Pastor Arana is  Vice President. We’re assisted   by Ms. Lizel Luna and  Mr. Renato  Madrillejo of the City Agriculturist’s Office.  `

These was a new ministry God called me to participate.  Twice we went to Cebu to participate in the regional & national trainings and planning. We met often in Iloilo City, with the regional studies on farming technologies. What we learned, we share with our group, in the city, the province and in our municipalities. From the devastating flood, God opened a new  ministry for us.