First, there was this outbreak of war in Zamboanga City during the month of September. It took more than sometime for the government to contain the insurgency. The people of Cotabato were afraid that the war might spill over to Cotabato City where MNLF, MILF, BIFF and whatever factions and other criminal elements were ever present in our infamous city. The military was in red alert. There were aplenty of rumors of rebel sightings and other war mongering news. Many town folks quietly stashed food in case of a break out. But thank God, although there were few local skirmishes but none of that war connected to the Zamboanga MNLF rebellion.
After the war in Zamboanga, a typhoon that started in Mindanao swept away the war torn streets and flooded Zamboanga City. I wasn't able to keep track of the other places affected in Mindanao. All I could remember was telling an old old story regarding the shrine of Our Lady of Pilar near the port area. It was deemed miraculous by the people of the coastal town. People claimed that the Lady came down from the shrine to pick up the little boy who was playing with the flood water. People said they found the feet of the statue of both the Lady and her child covered with mud. According to the old stories, after the Lady picked up her child, the flooding miraculously stopped. The military encampment nearby and the people of Zamboanga have ever since venerated the small shrine on that fortress wall. I was telling our store secretaries that the people of Zamboanga should turn toward our Lady of Pilar. She could help them in time of distress.
After Zamboanga, typhoon Santi came and created havoc in the southern part of Luzon. The province of Isabela was greatly affected. I followed the news through my tv set. The people in that area were more prepared and resilient but still there were lots of damages and many unwanted lost of lives too.
Few days (or a couple of weeks) after the typhoon, Cebu and Bohol were hit by a major 7.2 magnitude earthquake. The tremor was felt even at far flung Cotabato City with an intensity four shake down. We had many friends in Cebu. We quickly called them up to ask of their where-about. It so happened that the earthquake struck during a holiday of Edil Adha. There were no classes and it helped spared the lives of many students when pubic schools buildings toppled down in many places. More than Cebu, Bohol suffered worse. More structures were destroyed, many lives were lost and old churches fell into total ruins. A friend of my daughter Martha said something to this effect. "Maybe Philippines needs to set a day aside for all Filipinos to pray and ask forgiveness from God, for why else are all these calamities happening to us. They were too soon and too close, just within a few months time only."
October 4, I was awaken by my husband at 7:30 in the morning. He first informed me that everything was okay and that the children were all alright, and then he broke the bad news that my second home in Manila had a break-in during the wee hour at 1:30 AM. The first thing I did was to say a prayer of thanksgiving that God had protected my children from harm, then I quickly called up Manila to learn more details. Nothing was lost or taken but my family in Manila was greatly shaken by the incident. It happened that my children were all sleeping when the thief climbed up to the second floor window ledge. He was in the middle of getting inside the girls room when Marion woke up and saw the shadow of the thief half way entering through the window. Commotion quickly ensued as she screamed and Martha woke up, who saw the silhouette of the thief too. Marion ran out of the room and Martha followed suit. They screamed and banged on the door of their brother Emil hoping to escape the robber and to warn other people at home. "May tao, may tao" they kept on shouting. The thief left the premise immediately but our sense of security at home were all shattered. As of present, we are doing our best to continuously secure our abode. I hope that all the safety devices that we are putting up will keep us out of danger from robbers and thieves. Yet above all, there is only one refuge and fortress, it is my Lord and my God in whom I trust! I thank you God for protecting my children. The danger was really too close at hand. Thank you for saving them. Thank you O Lord for giving them guardian angels to watch over them. O Lord, please continue to love us and protect us. I am most grateful. I will try my best to be worthy of thy love. I love You my God!!!
While I was in Manila in October, news came from Cotabato that Mike the owner of Sugni, a chain of department store in the south was kidnapped in Cotabato City. He was kidnapped at Bonifacio Street at around 6:00 PM while he was supervising one of his stores. Two of his body guards were killed and he was carted away to the hinterland lairs of the muslim kidnappers through river passages for many weeks. We just heard that he was released this morning. O lord, protect us from the kidnappers!!! O Lord, protect us!
While still in Manila, my son Roy came home to the Philippines for a vacation. We went around a couple of places in Luzon, then we left for Thailand on November 6. While we were in Thailand, we followed up news from CNN regarding the massive intensity 5 storm that was to hit Philippines specially along the Visayas region on November 8. Lucas and I were quite worried about the family members left in Manila. We tried to text and/or call them to inquire about situations there. We were relieved that Manila was only slightly affected, but we pity our countrymen in the Visayas who had to bear the brunt of the biggest storm in the world. The storm hit Tacloban directly. Nephew Apollo and his wife Liezle and children lived in that city. We were confident that they would survived the typhoon because they lived in more sturdy houses. However we had not heard from them for several days for there were total power and communication blackouts due to massive damages. We only heard from them in the evening of November 10. Here I would like to reprint the letter I wrote to family and friends to inform them of the situations as far as I know of............
Written on Monday November11, 2013........
Hi,
Apollo and Leizle and children arrived Manila last night via military plane. They left Tacloban by foot to go to some military airport to come to Manila because they thought it was too dangerous to stay there anymore. The place after the aftermath had become lawless. There were no more law and order to keep. No electricity, no water, food or shelter. People were fighting for survival, looting, etc. Their building was intact but all their store merchandise were destroyed. In 5 minutes the water from the storm surged up to the second floor but luckily the building that they were staying which belonged to the brother of Leizle was a six floored building. They left Tacloban without bringing their clothes. They did not even dare tell people that they were going to the military airport to leave for Manila. There were many bodies along the way. Leizle told the children to close their eyes, so they won't see the corpses but the stench was terrible. Then while on the road, somebody I think who was also going to the airport took pity on them and let them hitch a ride. They arrived Villamor Airbase at night and that was the only time that anybody ever knew they were safe and sound.
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