my friends in Philippines were also victimized by the flooding caused by Typhoon Ondoy. i just hope that you guys could recover soon from this natural disaster. `

it is very unfortunate for our Filipino brothers to be hit by typhoon Ondoy. i have seen the massive flooding and the flood victims on TV and it is really horrible.

You do not make sense at all. That is why no one really visits your dailyrandomsites blog. BenK is spot on.

I totally agree, BenK, a hundred and one percent. The comment I made above was in reference to benign0′s last sentence “the resulting flashfloods can be attributed to our failure to properly manage the environment.” I agree with all you and benign0 said except for that statement.

Hi, Benign0! I almost always agree with your point of views, that is why you are in my sidebar now under “The Pundits” roll. Keep it up.

Muelmar Magallanes is a hero, and deserves every bit of praise for it, no doubt.

The problem is there’s one Muelmar Magallanes out of 12 million people, and sadly, he’s gone. He doesn’t represent the power of humanity, he represents the power of a single extraordinary human. The other 11,999,999 need to get their act together.

I think you’re partly right, but consider this: shouldn’t the country have figured out a long time ago that the city is in a high-risk area, and developed a way of living there that takes that into account? Granted, probably not even the Dutch could develop a flood-control system that could prevent damage from a storm like Ondoy — but the Dutch know their limits, and have a specific, efficient response plan for those odd times the limits are exceeded. And the rest of the time, their systems handle even very bad storms with ease and with little to no inconvenience to anyone. Whereas here a normal afternoon rain will flood big sections of Camanava and put ponds on major streets all over town (Shaw Blvd. and Pasong Tamo readily come to mind). When those things happen regularly under circumstances that must be regarded as perfectly ordinary it makes the assertion that Ondoy was something extraordinary sound more than a little hollow, even if it’s true.

There is only one name that summarizes what I’ve rediscovered about the Filipino character amidst the devastation of Typhoon Ondoy: Muelmar Magallanes. Read more about him at: http://www.theage.com.au/world/philippine-man-loses-own-life-after-saving-dozens-from-floods-20090928-g8o4.html

As pundits/bloggers, it’s been too easy for many of us in the “blogerati” to pontificate, to find blame, to be sanctimonious, to project, or worse on the Philippines, the Filipino character, and on hope in general. Muelmar Magallanes just brings it all home for me. Indeed, Muelmar comes from the “masa” that much of the blogerati seeks to reform, to chastise, to blame, and to reduce to mere historical/class/economic “forces” in the great chess game of social engineering only the (self-?)anointed can play. His sacrifice reminds us of the power of humanity and hopefully buys us some real perspective.

Thank you, Mr. Magallanes and other men and women that have sacrificed themselves for others. Your story is humbling and washes away much of the ego’s clutter.

@ betterphilippines:
Our collective “memory” as a society is an asset that we seem to fail to tap into in those rare occassions that we decide to look to the future. It’s ironic that Filipinos can be so fixated on the past yet fail to pick up any learnings from it and then apply it to our future.

i don’t know if the flashfloods can be blamed on our failure to manage the environment. much of metro manila is below sea level which is why it always floods somewhere in MM when it rains. ondoy brought in more rain, ergo, more flooding and higher water levels. at any rate, i pray and hope those affected can recover quickly.