THE Philippines remains one of the most disaster-prone countries on the planet – devastated by an average of 21 typhoons and storms every year.
A challenging place indeed where one gets to learn more about true human spirit in the face of adversity.
To most Sarawakians, being stranded in a hotel room for two days because of bad weather does not immediately qualify as a good vacation, especially if it’s a first ever trip to a foreign country.
I was in such a situation a few weeks back — and I dare say throughout the 30 years of my life, I have never truly had such an unforgettable and humbling experience.
MAJESTIC: People walking past the grand Quaipo Church in Metro Manila.
The country was the Philippines and the nightmare was devastating Typhoon Nesat or Pedring to the locals.
Ironically, the trip turned out to be my bragging vacation story to families and friends and I have been telling and re-telling them how I saw the roads around the hotel submerged in water up to the waist; how the wind velocity reached up to 165 kph and almost broke the hotel windows and how the whole of Adriatico Street in Malate, Metro Manila, was enveloped in semi-darkness at night due to power outage caused by flooding.
That was the ‘bragging’ part. The humbling part was when I realised the ferocious storm had claimed many lives. At the time of writing, the death toll from Nesat and the following Typhoon Nalgae — locally known as Quiel — had reached over 100 with 27 people still missing, according to the Philippines National Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Bouncing back
The sight of the victims was really heart-rending.
Millions were directly affected by the powerful storm which damaged crops and infrastructure worth billions of pesos (RM1 = about 14 pesos).
Despite the devastation, the people around Adriatico Street — less than an hour’s drive from the centre of Manila – came out to clean the streets in the aftermath.
Manila City Hall workers, roadside shopowners, trishaw, jeepney drivers and even some of the hotel staff worked together in darkness the whole night. And come morning, I couldn’t see any signs that waist-deep flooding had occurred the day before.
Perhaps, it was due to familiarity with the situation and the fact that the Philippines is one of the most natural disaster-prone nations on Earth.
Howling on the heels of Nalgae early this month was Typhoon Ramon or Banyan to the Filipinos — the 18th weather disturbance to have hit the archipelogo this year.
Moreover, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) expects the country to endure three or four more typhoons before the end of the year.
“Pedring and Quiel weren’t the worst ones. We had it really bad with Typhoon Ondoy back in 2009,” said Michael Marcus Reyes, a local tour guide and a Facebook friend of mine.
Reyes, 27, is a native of Pasig, a province about three hours’ drive from Manila. I was thankful he and another Facebook friend Mark Noblé, 26, from Pampanga, took me around at least part of the city, making my one-week trip a bit more interesting — notwithstanding the bad weather.
Latin roots
As one of only two former Latin European colonies in Asia – the other being Macau — the Philippines is replete with Spanish influences in language, culture, architecture and even lifestyle. This is much more evident in Metro Manila.
“We take our siestas whenever we can,” said Noblé, referring to the relaxing afternoon naps, a vestige of a past practice where Spanish farmers take short mid-day rests to escape the hot sun.
Even their very names mirror their deep Spanish roots — Reyes, Noblé, Marcos and Aquino.
Rod Orlina, 35, a linguistics and cultural scholar from Quezon City (also a Facebook friend) related to me how the Filipinos began acquiring their Hispanic-sounding names.
“The Spaniards founded their base here in the early 16th Century, establishing their dominance throughout the country over time. Catholicism was adopted but with many Filipinos having very tribal names, it was quite hard for the Spaniards to compile data for demographic purposes.
“So, what they did was summoning all heads of families — usually the patriarchs were the only ones who could understand the conquistadors with some even able to read and write Spanish — and told them to choose a family name for their households.
“Many chose the Spanish versions of Biblical names like Santiago (St James), Pedro (Peter) … or other Spanish words with religious connotations such as Domingo or Dominico (Sunday) and Batistuta (baptiste). Quite a few took their masters’ names as well,” Orlina explained.
He said should I meet a Filipino with any of the names stated above, he woud usually come from a very old — and more often than not, very rich and influential as well — family. Quite interesting.
Rich in history
As I said earlier, I was cooped up in my hotel room for two days due to the typhoons. Thankfully, the third day was lovely and sunny. So I went out to see the interesting spots around Manila.
My programme for the day was taking a ride in the famous jeepney. Fashioned after US military jeeps left behind by American troops after World War II, this trademark public transport has now become the icon of Filipino ingenuity.
Even as a foreigner, it wasn’t all that hard for me to locate my destinations since all jeepneys have the stopping places conspicuously written on them. And as it was so much fun and convenient, I continued from then on to go everywhere by jeepney.
With its open-air carriage, I got to enjoy the historical beauty of the city.
As most of the population here are Roman Catholics, it isn’t surprising to see at least one church every 100 metres along route.
Arriving in Quaipo, about half-an-hour jeepney ride from Malate, I saw the famous Quaipo Church right in the town’s centre. But it wasn’t this beautiful church that caught my attention.
Dispelling myths
A mere 20 metres from the church, I caught sight of a golden dome, very much like that of a mosque. Indeed it was as I found out after a few minutes’ walk to the site.
The aptly named Golden Mosque of Quaipo, or Masjid Al-Dahab in Arabic, is considered the largest mosque in Metro Manila. Under the supervision of former First Lady Imelda Marcos back in 1976, the mosque is now representable of Quaipo as a predominantly-Muslim district in Metro Manila.
So for Muslim travellers going there, food shouldn’t be a problem. I could see a good number of halal restaurants around the area. And I wouldn’t even start to talk about buying souvenirs in the district.
“Here, you’ll be a winner if you’re very good at ‘tawaran’,” said Noblé, the master of ‘tawaran’ — or bargaining.
I ended up a winner that day in Quaipo — thanks to Noblé.
QUICK RECOVERY: Malate citizens get on with their lives soon after the storms subsided.
Price for freedom
The next stop was the Intramuros or Walled City — a landmark site housing the 16th century military bastion of the Spaniards, — Fort Santiago.
Of course, I got to see another church but not just any church. The Manila Metropolitan Cathedral or according to its official name, the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, was built in 1581 to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, the ‘Patroness of the Philippines’.
True to its Spanish influence, the Manila Metropolitan Cathedral is really a huge, hard and rocky church with Romanesque statues adorning its facade as well as a medieval clock tower at one side.
Even the foreground is so Andalusian with cobblestone pathways snaking through pretty gardens and leading to a fountain.
But those who still remember their Asean history lessons will know that within the walls of Fort Santiago, many Filipinos lost their lives at the hands of Japanese invaders during the Second World War. Known as the 1945 Manila Massacre, the atrocity resulted in the death of some 100,000 Filipinos.
Notably, Fort Santiago once housed a very famous resident — the late patriot José Rizal.
His execution by the Spaniards on Dec 30, 1896 sparked the 19th Century Philippine Revolution, a date now celebrated as a public holiday in the country.
A park was named after Rizal with a big statue, the Rizal Monument, now standing near the place where he fell.
But what was disturbingly touching to me about this Filipino hero was seeing the Rizal Shrine inside Fort Santiago. I got to stand near the cell where the patroit used to be detained.
The iron bars barricading the entrance, coupled with Rizal’s life-sized bronze figure inside, provided an eerie glimpse into the past.
“This man had lived, fought and died for his people, his country,” I told myself.
And then, from where Rizal’s statue stands, I noticed bronze footprints neatly imprinted on the ground, marking some sort of a footstep-trail leading out of the cell towards Rizal Monument.
“These were his last steps,” noted my friend Reyes.
Lesson learnt
Living in Sarawak for the three decades of my life, I have never had to worry about fixing my house or the risks my loved ones may face from the vagaries of the weather.
I’m blessed to be born as a Sarawakian — instead of a Filipino — because my only weather concern is whether or not I can hang my laundry out to dry.
However, complacency can also be a very dangerous thing when one takes all the comforts and blessings in life for granted. Getting used to weather-related hardships like many Filipinos is not really desirable but it does make you appreciate and value life more.
My lesson? Experiencing the typhoons; meeting many interesting people and getting to really know the country’s history throughout my one-week stay in Manila had culminated in creating an enriching chapter in my life.
It made me more aware of the things in the book of my life not many of my peers have experienced before. Definitely, I’d like to add more chapters to the book soon.