Flood Horror Stories (Part I)

Yesterday, at the height of the floods, my sister's husband Rey whose family lives at Provident Village in Marikina, got a call from his brother. They were already at the roof of their 2-storey house -- his brother, his wife, 2 kids, his sister, and their 85-year old dad who just got out of the hospital last week.

Not wanting to rely on our USELESS government to rescue them, Rey went to Makati and scoured the stores for a motorized boat that he can buy. At around 6 p.m., he finally found a store at Reposo Street selling a 6-seater motorized boat for over 100k. But since water at Reposo was lagpas-tao, he persuaded the store owner to just ride the boat and bring it to Greenbelt where he was.

Immediately after, Rey put the boat on his pick-up and drove as far as he could en route to Marikina. The nearest dry land was the Sta. Clara Church which was still way too far from Provident.. Suffice it to say that for somebody who was maneuvering a motor boat for the first time in his life, Rey arrived Provident at 12:30 a.m. When he entered the village, everyone was screaming thinking that it was already the government's rescue team. REY WAS THE FIRST TO BRAVE PROVIDENT ON A MOTORIZED BOAT with just SHEER WILL steering him. Meanwhile, our USELESS GOVERNMENT was holding a press conference announcing their relief operations as they kept on saying that they could not get into Provident just yet to save people hanging on to their dear lives on top of their roofs because the currents were too strong for them!! HELLO!!! Please tell me why they can't and my private citizen brother in law who does not even know how to drive a boat before he purchased it could???

Rey had to turn a deaf ear to people screaming for help as he entered their village because he had his family, especially his 85-year old dad in mind. The waters were too high that he was actually holding on to the Meralco wires! He was shouting for his brother's name as he could not even locate where their house was amidst the sea of mudwater. When he finally found them, he had to hold back from breaking down as he saw his dad at the apex of their roof holding to a string of blankets just so he will not get swept by the currents! He "parked" his boat on their roof gutter and first loaded his dad and 8-year old nephew who by that time was already chilling from the cold. They have been atop the roof since 1 p.m. with wet clothes on and no food or water to even drink.

It took Rey 2 hours to navigate back to Sta. Clara church to drop off his dad and nephew, came back for his sister in law and another nephew. It was 3 a.m. by the time Rey reached Sta. Clara church again, with his sister in law and nephew, before making a final trip to get his sister. By this time, media were there and NDCC people assisting his sister-in-law to get off the boat. GIDO TEODORO had the gall to tell media that government rescue operations are now on-going, alluding to the footage of my brother in law rescuing his family!!! And these stupid NDCC people were even asking Rey's sister in law to remove her life jacket and return to them! Hello, everything was theirs, from the boat, to the life jackets, to the sheer will and determination to keep their family alive!!!