Even MMDA chief powerless to aid daughter

Even Metro Manila’s czar who could deploy cranes, trucks and heavy equipment in a snap was rendered helpless to assist a family member, while the country’s seat of power proved powerless against Tropical Storm “Ondoy’s” fury.

Widespread flooding prevented Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Bayani Fernando from getting to his only child, who was among the thousands stranded in Rizal province at the height of the storm on Saturday.

Fernando said that as of early Sunday night, he had yet to see his 23-year-old daughter Tala Maria, who worked at the family-owned steel factory in Cainta, one of the structures ravaged by Ondoy (international code name: Ketsana).

Tala Maria was still at the factory and sounded okay when last reached on the phone by her mother, Marikina City Mayor Marides Fernando, he said.

“It’s a low-lying area and all communications there were down the whole day and night. I haven’t spoken with her,” Fernando told the Inquirer on the phone.

Though extremely worried about his daughter, Fernando said: “I felt embarrassed to send a rubber boat just for her because there are many others in dire need of help.”

Even President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wasn’t free from the aggravations brought about by the floods.

Portions of Malacañang remained underwater on Sunday despite improved weather conditions in the capital.

As seen from the gates, the waterline had risen and reached the steps leading to the President’s official residence. Nearer the gates, utility men were seen wading through knee-deep water.

The President’s car (a black Mercedes Benz with license plate No. 1) and escort vehicles that included black Chevy Suburbans were also idled by Ondoy at the parking area.

Ms Arroyo on Saturday afternoon motored out of the Palace in an Army truck, and later took the Light Rail Transit’s Line 2 to get to a meeting of the National Disaster Coordinating Council in Camp Aguinaldo.

The whole stretch of Jose P. Laurel, the main street outside the Malacañang compound, remained underwater and impassable to cars as of Sunday morning.

The flood extended to the interior of the New Executive Building (NEB), which houses the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) along Laurel.

Murky water cascaded from the streets and into the basement offices at the NEB on Saturday night, filling them up to the ceiling. Valuable files, computers and equipment were destroyed.

“This is the first time we got hit by floods,” said an OPS staff member, one of the many employees, along with journalists and photographers, who were forced to spend the night in Malacañang.

After a 12-hour interruption, Malacañang’s power supply was restored at around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Fernando said the MMDA was still on rescue mode in Marikina, Pasig, and Cainta, San Mateo and Rodriguez (Montalban) in Rizal as of late Sunday.

He said pumping stations servicing the low-lying areas around Metro Manila went underwater themselves.

The stations were designed for “80-100 mm rainfall per hour, but it went up to 294 mm per hour during the storm; they really could not cope with that,” he explained.

Fernando appealed for understanding from the public for the delayed government assistance, saying the storm had also waylaid some of the MMDA’s rescue personnel.

“Almost everyone got hit, I hope our people would understand,” he said in Filipino.

Taguig Mayor Freddie Tinga said some 1,400 families were evacuated in his city on Saturday.

He said only the areas of Napindan, Tipas, and Bay Breeze remained flooded as of noon Sunday.

“Many of the families have gone back to their homes, so we’re expecting about 300 families left in schools and gymnasiums that served as evacuation centers,” Tinga said.

INQUIRER.net