MANILA, Philippines—“Women and children are 14 times more likely to be victims of natural disasters than men in societies where gender inequalities exist,” United Nations Undersecretary General Noeleen Heyzer said at ongoing three-day Asia Pacific NGO Forum on Beijing+15.

Beijing+15 refers to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, reflecting global commitment to the goals of equality, development, and peace for all women, everywhere.

At Miriam College in Quezon City, Heyzer condoled with the Philippines, and underscored the relevance of tackling climate change not only in light of the aftermath of the storms that ravaged a significant portion of Luzon but also in the context of women's rights.

She noted that while climate change, a topic addressed on the second day of the forum, will undoubtedly affect everyone, “women are among the most highly impacted due to gender-biased division of labor and existing gender inequality.”

Heyzer, who only stayed for a few hours in Manila to grace the forum, has played key roles in pushing for the rights of women through non-governmental organizations and now through the UN. As executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap), she has championed energy, food, and water security as well as green growth in the Asia Pacific region. In response to the current economic crisis, Heyzer has worked with member-states to develop a more coordinated, integrated regional response.

In her keynote address before a delegation of over 500, Heyzer lauded the efforts of prominent feminist trailblazers such as Patricia Licuanan, Ph.D., forum convener and president of Miriam College, and Leticia Ramos-Shahani, Ph.D, former Senator and dean of the College of International, Humanitarian, and Development Studies at Miriam College whose commitment and hard work have helped women's movements in the region and across the globe break ground in securing women's rights.

However, Heyzer conceded that there is still much to be done before a shared “vision of more equitable societies” may be achieved. Societies “where daughters have the same chances as sons, where women live safe from violence, poverty, and discrimination.”

Toward the end of her speech, the UN official formally invited Licuanan to present the outcome of the Forum to the Beijing+15 Ministerial Review meeting in Bangkok this coming November and closed with a voice of hope for the women present at the opening.

“The one thing I know is that it is a demanding movement. But also one that blends challenge, joy, and generosity of spirit in our commitment to make the world free from want, free from fear, and free from discrimination. There is no turning back. Let us keep moving forward,” she said

The Asia Pacific NGO Forum on Beijing+15, an international forum intended to create a venue for women's movements across the region to develop a strategy for stronger civil society, advocating the rights of women and holding institutions accountable for their international commitments to women, closes October 25 with an international women’s bazaar.

INQUIRER.net First Posted 10:33:00 10/25/2009 Filed Under: Disasters (general), Women, Children

SAN JACINTO, Pangasinan—When flooding hit this central Pangasinan town last week, two young men using an air mattress helped rescue scores of residents in danger of drowning.

For their efforts, the Philippine National Police handed out recognition awards on Monday to Rhubert Venerayon, 17, and his brother Rhuniel, 16.

Insp. Ryan Manongdo, officer in charge of the town police, also was conferred the Medalya ng Kadakilaan.

All told, more than 130 residents were rescued in three flooded barangays (villages) of San Jacinto.

Rhubert and his brother had just arrived from school in Dagupan City on Oct. 8 when their mother Linda told them a friend had texted her for help.

It was past 3 p.m. on the day the San Roque Dam started to open its gates, spilling water that overflowed rivers and widened flooding from Tropical Storm “Pepeng” (international codename: Parma).

When the brothers reached their mother’s friend in Magsaysay village, less than a kilometer away, the water was already waist-deep.

“It was good that Ate Gigi had an air mattress which we used to transport her, a 6-month-old baby and a 63-year-old grandmother, to our house,” Rhuniel said.

Others marooned helped

The brothers—sons of a worker in Saudi Arabia—then went on to help other marooned residents.

A police team, led by Manongdo, who was also using his own air mattress, saw the teenagers and asked his men to guide them in the grim task that went on until 1 a.m.

“Our mother was very much worried and continuously called us on our mobile phones, but we thought we could help more people. We just turned off our phones so she could not text or call us,” Rhubert said.

“We did not have dinner that time, we just picked guava fruits along the way,” Manongdo said.

Heroism of others

Four other young men also helped in the rescue, Manongdo said.

Archival Bautista, 20, his brother Arnel, 18, and their friends Arnel Bandong, 19, and Jonathan Cayabyab, 18, used a small inflatable boat to transport residents of Barangay Pag-asa to the evacuation centers.

“The boat got deflated after every trip, so the friends needed to inflate it again using an air pump. They did that several times until late in the night,” Manongdo said.

Their heroism, however, went unmentioned in the official police reports.

LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET—The mud and debris that claimed hundreds of lives last week when the rains unleashed by Tropical Storm “Pepeng” (international codename: Parma) toppled mountainsides here and inundated towns in Pangasinan and La Union are now disgorging mementos and memories.

On Oct. 9, rescue workers dug out “Mister Men”—a banana-shaped stuffed toy that served as 5-year-old Kurt Guinaran’s pal and confidante.

The bodies of Kurt and his parents were found under a mountain of mud that buried their house in Sitio Eastern Buyagan in La Trinidad town.

Kurt’s grieving kin asked volunteer rescue workers to find Mister Men. When the toy was found, it was cleaned up and tucked in the boy’s arms, according to his grandaunt Erlinda Dulnuan.

It will be buried with him, she said.

A kilometer away in the community of Little Kibungan, where a landslide killed 73 people while they were sleeping, survivors and their relatives took heart in a teenager’s journal that was recovered from the debris.

Ruthify Valdez, a junior at Benguet National High School, left a poem along with her thoughts in the journal, which served as her class exercise in creative expression.

These were the last lines she wrote: “But once you’re up/ and back on track/ you will be a better one./ That’s the way of life,/ you just don’t live it/ you LEARN from it.”

Ruthify’s teacher Rachelle Basalong said she had lost three of her students.

“I don’t know how I can meet my class again. Many of them lost their homes and families,” she said.

Counseling services

In Baguio City, Rafael Valencia, president of the civic group 911 On Call, said rescue workers recovered the body of a barangay councilman from the rubble in East Bayan Park.

The councilman appeared snug and peaceful in bed when found. Under his feet lay his dead cat, which had stuck by him to the end.

Mementos like Mister Men and enduring images like the loyal pet often help survivors because these represent attachments to a relationship that was abruptly severed by tragedy, said Shirley Socalo, a social worker and coordinator of the Cordillera Parents Federation Inc.

The group has been conducting trauma counseling services for 130 children
who survived a landslide at Barangay Kayan East in Tadian, Mountain Province, that killed 39 other residents.

The landslide occurred at 6 p.m. on Oct. 8, as families prepared to sit down to dinner.

How to explain

The mementos comfort the adults more than the children, but they also serve as a lifeline for children confronting tragedy for the first time, Socalo said.

On Monday, Kurt Guinaran’s younger brother, Ivan, asked his relatives about his missing family: “I miss my mama, papa and Kurt. Is my brother dead? Can I kiss him? ... If they are dead, who will buy Coke for me? Is Mister Men dead, too? I want to see them. I miss them all.”

Dulnuan, the boys’ grandaunt, said she and other kin did not know how they would explain to Ivan that his parents and brother were dead.

“I feel sorrow that four members of my family are dead, but it is sadder to learn that there are more families who died in the landslides,” she said.

Photo albums, books

In Pangasinan, Susan Yadao, a reporter and program host of Aksyon Radyo in Dagupan City, clutched at photo albums that surfaced as the floodwaters began to recede.

The albums contain pictures of her daughter Zharlene, a nurse, who was killed by unidentified assailants in July.

“My husband Noli had been looking at the photos, so the albums were in his workshop. I was not able to put them in a safe place before the waters
rose,” Yadao recalled.

In the town of Rosales, happiness for Shirley Morden was discovering the little box that held a gold necklace in the mud.

The necklace is her only memento from a jewelry retail trade.

In Barangay Salay, Mangaldan, one of the hardest hit towns, grade school teacher Gerwillyn Moulic recovered school books she had not seen for decades.

Moulic, 23, spent hours trapped on her house’s roof during the flood.

When the books surfaced, she was reminded of a school achievement—earning first honors at Pangasinan Christian Education Center in Mangaldan.

During stress debriefing, children caught in the Kayan East landslide were asked what they lost in the tragedy, Socalo said.

What they said may provide psychologists and social workers insights on how well children can adjust to trauma, “because the children who no longer miss little [attachments] would be the first to move on from the calamity,” she said.

A 10-year-old boy admitted that when his father ordered them to flee their house as the landslide struck, his first instinct was to return to look for clothes. He ended up grabbing an umbrella before he ran to join his family.

“I asked him why he did not stop for his favorite toy. He said he wanted something he could use,” Socalo said.

Gratitude, guilt

Many children who shared their thoughts at the debriefing admitted feeling a jumble of fear, gratitude and guilt.

One of the Kayan East children said he ran away from his home “and did not anymore think about his mom and his papa,” Socalo said. “When he saw his little sister, he felt a little regret.”

Other children complained of nightmares.

The town of Tadian is still plagued by blackouts, Socalo said, adding:

“The children told me they pray a lot or allow their parents to tuck a bolo (big knife) under their pillow, like old folks, so the nightmares won’t occur.”

The tragedy has also hurt the heroes, and this requires children some time to process, Socalo said.

Kurt Guinaran’s rescuers, for example, also died.

Siegfried Ngoloban, Richard Balusdan and Rex Mang-oy, all firemen, died under an avalanche of mud and rocks while they were rescuing landslide victims. With reports from Frank Cimatu, Inquirer Northern Luzon

MANILA, Philippines—It will take four to five months before floodwater could be drained from areas at the fringes of Laguna Lake inundated three weeks ago by Tropical Storm “Ondoy,” Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) General Manager Edgardo Manda said Wednesday.

Testifying at a hearing of the Senate committee on climate change, Manda said that about 2.5 billion cubic meters of floodwater had to be taken out of Muntinlupa City, Taguig City and the towns of Pateros, Taytay and Sta. Cruz.

“It could take us four to five months before this volume of water can be taken out from the lake,” he said, adding that this could be done through the immediate dredging of the Napindan Channel.

Manda sought to explain the continued flooding in areas surrounding the Laguna Lake watershed that covers six provinces, 12 cities, 49 municipalities and 2,656 barangays, 187 of which are within the lakeshore. Around 12 million people live in the watershed.

Pasig River is the only outlet of Laguna Lake and that 100 streams drain into the lake, he said.

P10B needed to dredge river

During the rainy season, water in the lake usually increased by 0.8 meters every month, but for three months this year, lake water rose to some 2 meters or 0.67 per month.

With the onslaught of Ondoy (international codename: Ketsana), water level at the lake reached 1.2 meters.

As of Sept. 29 this year, the water level was at 13.82 meters elevation and if this trend continued, it may exceed the all-time record of 14.6 meters in 1919.

It would cost P10 billion to dredge Laguna Lake over five years and prevent its swelling, he said.

Illegal logging?

Manda presented pictures taken a day after Ondoy struck on Sept. 26 showing an aerial view of the heavily flooded San Mateo town in Rizal province from where the floodwater swept toward Metro Manila. One photograph shows mud and water rushing from the Sierra Madre mountain range.

Asked by Sen. Loren Legarda, the committee chair, whether the mud and water indicated illegal logging, Manda said this was possible.

The Manggahan floodway spilled 3,000 cubic meters per second of water coming from Marikina valley at the height of the storm and inundated Taytay, Cainta and certain parts of Pasig, Manda said.

He said the Pasig River was “constricted” and a canal had been illegally built going to Manggahan floodway, thus making it impossible for water to come out in Cainta.

Manda showed a picture of several houses built on outlets for floodwaters of the Manggahan floodway.

Squatters warned

He said the LLDA had urged illegal settlers to relocate from places like Lupang Arenda in Taguig—a reclaimed landfill—three months before Ondoy struck.

Some 5,000 shanties were inundated and their residents subsequently fled. Some squatters had been renting out their shanties, Manda said, recounting that one overseas worker had told him he was paying a monthly rent of P800 for his space.

Around 400,000 squatters were estimated to be in the lake area.

Illegal fish pens demolished

Pictures of fishpens around the lake that were destroyed also were presented.

Manda said that he had been ordering the demolition of illegal fish pens and that under his watch, 600 hectares of these structures were destroyed.

He said he would ask the Coast Guard to see to it that these pens are not reconstructed.