Inside Philippine politics & beyond

Anderson Cooper, I Also Saw What You Saw . . .

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This is an open letter from a woman in Manila who flew to Tacloban and rescued 14 of her relatives. That woman is Geraldine Uy Wong, a dentist by training who now manages an educational toys distribution company.

Here is her story –

Geraldine Uy Wong

Geraldine Uy Wong

Mr. Anderson Cooper, I want to thank you for reporting on the miserable conditions that you saw when you covered the Tacloban calamity scene 5 days after the typhoon. Your report came out on Tuesday, the day I was herding our relatives to the airport to finally get out of Tacloban. A day before, I was able to board the relief cargo plane of Air 21 Express from Manila to Tacloban when I was given the chance, getting there on Monday noon, and immediately I set out looking for my family members. On the way to the city, I saw what you saw, countless dead bodies strewn on the ground in various stages of decomposition, extensive destruction everywhere I looked, injured people walking on the streets looking like zombies – hungry, confused, desperate. The stench of death permeated all around us and sent chills down my spine. Countless times as our vehicle moved down the road, we were stopped by people in the streets begging for food. The roads were only passable by one lane, and along the way, I saw officers of the BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection) manually remove the dead bodies, along with the unbelievably massive amount of debris scattered all around. Because of this, what would normally take 40 minutes or less to traverse became an agonizing 2 hour ride. I saw what you saw, Anderson, and it angered me as much as it did you. I was also heartbroken, for this is the place where I spent some of the most wonderful summers of my childhood. I vowed to myself that I would speak up about the government’s incompetence as soon as I got out. If I ever get out. . .

I arrived at the city hall tent as was part of my plan, because when I was still in Manila, I did hear that there was a command post of the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) where we can get celphone signals and internet connection. From there, I was supposed to make some inquiries before I would set out on foot to look for my relatives’ houses. It was while I was there that I saw with my own eyes how this government agency led by its head, Secretary Dinky Soliman, tirelessly and heroically worked almost 24/7 to immediately bring relief not only to the city of Tacloban but also to the outlying municipalities and towns that were affected by this calamity. I could not even begin to grasp the massive amount of work that needed to be done. I wanted to know why the government action seemed to be excruciatingly slow, but I couldn’t stay around long enough because my mission there was to find my relatives, and I did not want to be distracted. Thankfully, thankfully, I found them in two separate locations. They were cooped up in their houses, whispering in the dark, afraid to attract criminal elements that were reported to be going around looting. They could not believe I was there right before their eyes, and it was the first time in so long that they had a glimmer of hope that they would be rescued. We hastily fled their houses in the middle of the night, I placed all of them in one location, and then I went back to the city hall because it was a strategic point where I could get the proper celphone signals and stay connected to the outside world. I made some frenzied phone calls to my family in Manila, and it was from them that I found out that Cebu Pacific Air was offering humanitarian flights beginning Tuesday morning! All systems were in place for our eventual escape, and all I could do was pray to God that my plan would go on smoothly. After I instructed my cousin to look for 2 vehicles that could transport all 16 of us the next day to the airport, I decided to stay in the city hall overnight so that I could still keep in touch with my family in Manila. It was critical that I get all the assistance from the outside world so I could strategize better. Oh, how I proved now more than ever that communication or the lack of it could be one of the determinants for life and death!

As much as I was staying around for the rest of the night, I started going around to ask the officials why things are what they are. These are what I found out:

1. After the typhoon struck on the first day (Friday), the whole world lost track of the areas hit by the calamity. ZERO COMMUNICATION! It was even said that satellites could not locate Tacloban, Leyte, and Samar from the map, as if they were totally erased from the face of the earth. Unlike the tsunami event that hit Japan, where they were still connected to the outside world, Tacloban, Leyte, and Samar were shut out. How can we even begin to help them? And so, even as the magnitude of this calamity is being identified as similar to Japan’s tsunami event, circumstances were totally different. It was only the next day that we heard from Ted Failon of ABS-CBN what happened, and as the world watched in shock, it was then that we began to realize the massive destruction that hit this part of the country. This generalized cut of link to the outside world was to continue for the next 3 days, until Globe Telecoms was able to slowly bring back some of the signals on the 4th day.

2. Unlike the tsunami that happened in Japan where their airport was not affected, supertyphoon Yolanda destroyed the airport, which was just beside a big body of water. I need not say more, for CNN did cover the airport scene. All equipment, radar, watch tower destroyed. Absolutely no electricity. With that, Tacloban was even more cut off from the outside world. Nobody could either come in or go out. No relief to be brought in, no means of transportation for the national leaders to arrive with, no means of escape for the suffering people . It was only on Sunday, or the 3rd day since the typhoon hit, that the airport had a generator to make it operational, because Air 21, a Philippine cargo company, took it upon themselves to bring some much needed generators to make the airport operational. And that is how the airplane of the Philippine president and the first few government C130’s was able to land in the airport. 3rd day served as the first day when things just started to move. And lest I be taken to task for mentioning the benevolence of Air 21, yes, I admit that this was the same cargo plane that I took to be able to get to Tacloban on Monday, but it is precisely because I heard that the company was one of the first to offer humanitarian help gratis to the government that made me act to get quickly hooked up with the owners of the company and be able to hitch a ride.

3. The super typhoon decimated a big part of the population that so many people are still missing and unaccounted for to this day, and the rest who survived were either maimed and injured, were grieving for the loss of a loved one, struggling to cope with the tragedy that befell upon them, or simply looking for ways to take care of what remained of their family. In other words, everyone was a victim. And who are these people? These were the soldiers, police, red cross staff, social welfare staff, airport staff, bureau of fire protection (BFP) people, nurses, doctors, even the officials like the mayor and vice-mayor! And so if we look at things in this perspective, we begin to realize why there were no military and police to protect the people in the first few days, no staffers to repack or distribute relief goods, no BFP personnel to take care of clearing up the roads filled with dead people; in other words, there was hardly anyone there to put order into things as they were all victims themselves. I found out from one of the officials I spoke with that the people who came in much later to fill those places were flown in from Manila or pulled out from the other nearby towns that were not as badly affected. And so, those BFP people I saw clearing the road on Monday, the soldiers who were helping to slowly put order into the place, the red cross staffers who tried to address the health concerns of the victims, and even the DSWD staffers who were being deployed to evacuation centers and relief centers to distribute food and water, were mostly imports and volunteers from other places, and they were only able to start streaming in on the 3rd or 4th day! Therefore, the lack of manpower was not due to a lack of preparation but because of the unexpected loss or absence of these people who were supposed to be the government’s frontrunners!

4. And of course, let’s not forget that logistics is the lifestream of relief operations, but how could logistics have been tapped properly this time around when all roads were practically closed, nearly all means of transportation were destroyed, and if there were any remaining vehicle to move around with, either the key could not be found or there was not enough fuel! Even the ships could not dock on Tacloban shores, because the Coast Guard could not risk inviting another naval disaster seeing that the bodies of water were littered with debris. Is all this due to an ill-planned disaster preparation? I don’t think so. For after all, we have heard that the warehouses filled with food and rice in preparation for the typhoon were all soaked with water, the fuel depots were flooded, and even the evacuation centers where the residents were filled into, precisely to prepare for the coming supertyphoon, practically served as the death chamber of these same people. In our language, the fact that these people were properly evacuated and the government had food stocks stored is enough proof that the government prepared for this. But then again, this was no ordinary typhoon. In fact supertyphoon Yolanda is now being called the worst typhoon in the WORLD’S history.

These are only a few of the major points – not to justify, but rather to rationalize and logically explain why things happened as they did. To put things into their proper perspective. If America, which was hit by Hurricane Katrina, a far tamer weather disturbance in comparison to Supertyphoon Yolanda, struggled as well for several days and weeks to cope with the disaster, with then Pres. Bush earning the ire of your countrymen, how in the world could we expect that the Philippines, a much poorer country with very meager resources compared to the massive resources of a superpower country like yours, be able to miraculously stand up on its feet just a few days after this magnitude of a disaster? Even the spokesperson of the United Nations admits that they are really struggling to cope with the efforts to distribute help in this present situation.

And so I write you, Anderson, to let you know that at this time, when our country is at its darkest moment, Filipinos need to rally for each and every one of our countrymen as well as for our leaders. We hear that our government officials like Sec. Voltaire Gazmin, Mar Roxas, and Dinky Soliman arrived at Tacloban a day before the supertyphoon was to hit the place, meeting it head-on. And even as they struggle with their work and commit lapses along the way, we see that our leaders are doing the best that they could under the present circumstances. I still hope that you do your part to report on the truth and cry out in disgust if you find the conditions detestable. We appreciate what you and Andrew Stevens and the rest of the media are doing, because it keeps our leaders on their toes as they know that the whole world is watching them.

And even as we grieve, we are immensely grateful and overwhelmed with the help, support, and love that the whole world has sent our way. As I write this, it is the 7th day since the disaster struck, and now we see more and more people able to escape out of Tacloban. We did our own escape on Tuesday through Cebu Pacific Air, the airline that was the first to offer humanitarian flights for evacuees, with absolutely no charge! More and more roads are opened up for transportation, buses and trucks are filing in to bring relief, as well as to bring the people out. Same goes for the military ships which can now dock on ports. More and more people are given relief distributions, and doctors and paramedics from all over the world are able to come in to set up their medical missions. The ten choppers brought in by the USS warship was an immense boost to ease the logistical nightmare we have initially encountered, with just 3 government C130’s for use in the first few days. The UK, Australia, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Israel, Hungary, Singapore, UAE, and many other countries sent in valuable equipment and transportation aside from aid. And I’m sure it’s hard not to notice, but practically all the citizens of this country contributed in his or her own way to ease the pain of our fellow Filipinos. Corporations readily offered their products, services, and facilities for use in this whole national operation. Our bayanihan (helping each other) spirit is a source of great pride! All told, we expect the sufferings to ease up a little, but it would be ignorant to say that we expect all things to be well. Tacloban, Samar, and Leyte will never be the same again. Our country will never be the same again. But if there is one thing that we have learned, it is this: we need to bring back the lost trust of the people with our government. For the longest time, we have been ruled with corruption and greed. Even to this day, we continue to suffer the effects of these evil thieves in our government. I wish they had been the ones swept up by the storm surge and thrown back into the seas. But not all are rotten tomatoes. I hope that Filipinos will now learn how to choose their leaders. It is time for the Filipino to stand as a nation and be strong again.

Anderson Cooper, after all this is done, please do not forget our country. If you have the time, I invite you to go around the other parts of the country which you will find to be extremely good-looking, and you will also find out that the Filipinos are some of the most wonderful and kind-hearted people in the world. Aside from this, I would also request that you and your colleagues do the following:

1. Please please please do whatever you can to make sure that the immense aid in CASH that we have been receiving and continue to receive, rightfully go to the rehabilitation of the devastated areas and not to the pockets of the corrupt few. Along the way, you might want to do a prize-winning documentary on the corruption problems of our country. On this, you will do well to be introduced to Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago to get most of your resource materials. With her by your side, your job will be half-done and I assure you an immensely enjoyable experience in her company.

2. Because you are Anderson Cooper, a well-respected veteran journalist who the world listens to, we ask you to please help the cause of our Philippine Climate Change Commission negotiator Naderev Sano for concrete steps to halt global warming. It is global warming and climate change that cause these disasters to happen, and the Philippines is said to be one of the countries most greatly impacted by this. We have suffered for so long, how long will we suffer more?

3. Anderson, can I also ask you to commend and show the pictures of our brave men and women as they perform their tasks, just as you show the ineptness and slow response of our officials to the current situation? Just to be fair to both sides and create an equal balance into the picture. The last thing we want is to see our dedicated volunteers lose their morale.

4. Lastly, I ask that someday, when the time is right, and the country has hopefully risen up from this fall, please come back and show the world that this time we did right. If that day does not come, I will be the first to get out of the Philippines and declare it a banana republic forever.

Anderson Cooper, for all that you and your colleagues do, we salute you! Please help our country as we struggle to be a strong nation at last. Thank you.

Comments

  1. This post has so many non-sequiturs, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.

    What I really only want to say is STOP SAYING WE ARE POOR COUNTRY. We are NOT a poor country. There are disadvantaged people, yes, but the country is not poor. The government gets enough taxes and employs enough smart people to have prepared better for this.

    The PDAF alone for each senator for EACH YEAR could have bought a helicopter.

    There are smart people in government that would have had the common sense not to put rescuers in harm’s way.

    Knowing the failed Katrina response, why even compare yourself to that? You knew this storm would be 3X stronger and you did not prepare better? how stupid is that? Really. And THAT has nothing to do about being “poor”.

    What others call perspective is just a euphemism for excuses. If we don’t demand better of yourselves and those who are tasked to govern then we deserve what we get.

    • masha:
      much as i hate to admit, but the truth is we really are a poor country. until such time that our own leaders get it in their thick skulls that the PORK BARREL (renamedPDAF) is not a gift to be used for their own personal use, our country will remain poor.. some people are asking to cancel it. cancelling is not the solution. they will just change the name of it and continue the plunder. the solution is to monitor the PDAF more strictly and have better accountability on the part of the recipients. they must not spend, even a cent of the PDAF for their own personal use. they have salaries for that. PDAF is to be used for improvement of roads and infrastructures and for the communities under their jurisdiction. the solution is to punish the corrupt officials through our court system. our court system must also do housecleaning itself. jail term/expulsion from office with no re-election or appointments to any governmental positions allowed in the future / confiscation of the plundered money back to the government office and very stiff monetary fines imposed to the guilty officials. until such time that these be implemented, prepare to accept the fact that our country is a third world poor…

      • @kore, you’re absolutely right. pero mahirap mangyari . hanggang merong perang makukurakot ang mga politico gagawin nila para sa kapakinabangan nila. dapat ang batas natin ang mabago. batas mula sa paghawak ng kaban ng bayan hanggang sa justicia dapat mabago. AT DISIPLINA NG MGA BOTANTE AY DAPAT MABAGO DIN.

        KAILAN KAYA!!!!

        • Pinay:
          let’s hang on to the things we have….GOD and HOPE……
          let’s pray to God for the blessing of a good government for our people…..
          and lets HOPE that our prayers be answered…..

        • KAILAN NGA KAYA? lam mo ba, you can’t really blame the voters who sell their votes, did you know vote buyers have a way of knowing if you really voted what they bought you for, and if you voted contrary to what was contracted they can/will kill you, you know.

      • every PESO should have FATURA (RESIBO), DI NA PEDE YUN HINDI MALALAMAN ANG PINAGKAGASTUSAN, ILAGAY SA BLOG NA MA-ACCESS NG LAHAT NG GUSTONG MAKITA ANG GINASTUSAN… HAYYYY

        ANG KAKAPAL NG MGA MAGNANAKAW NA YANNNNNN, KAINISSSSS

        HOOOOOO, cool

        cool

      • You are all correct and I whole heartedly agree with you all. I believe, our laws are in place, being in the Law Enforcement Field myself, we need ENFORCEMENT of those laws. NO EXCEMPTIONS! It doesn’t matter, for example, if you crossed the pedestrian illegally or operating a vehicle with expired plates or registration, rich or poor, and especially government officials who are in trusted positions must be held to a higher standard, the full law and penalties must be used and enforced. NO EXCEMPTION! Yes, you are correct to site our country is poor but it should not exempt anyone from obeying these laws. Is this too far fetch from reality? Maybe. But until we use basic fundamental discipline and consistency in the application of these laws then we will always have the same result.

    • @masha…you are right in a ‘sense’…pls don’t call me ‘bobo’…in terms of ‘income’ or money side of the majority of the people…maybe poor is correct.

      But our country is so rich and not poor in term of ‘natural resources.’ We can say we are rich on that. Many other countries envy us.

      In terms of ‘thinking’ by our political leaders, maybe you are correct, we or they are ‘poor in thinking.’ In ‘voting’ an election term, yes, maybe again you are correct …poor in voting.

      In political dynasties, OH, we are rich in this! Maybe many countries envy us again on this.

      So, the term ‘poor’ is relative. Depends what is specifically applied to it. Compared to highly industrialized countries, we are poor as we are yet agriculturally focused, unstable at that.

      As to making ‘signs of the Cross’ OH, we are super rich in that too! The only ++++ country in Asia.

      Corruption term, AHA, this country of ours have millionaires and billionaires rich! Many countries can envy us too on this.

      Now, you and us can know where to begin. Thank you for coming in.

      • Hala!! so sensitive ka ano….the word ‘bobo’ is also relative, like it depends on how drunk you are, like I am now, he he he
        anyway you know you are right,the term ‘poor’ is’ relative’ is true. One Qatar guy went to the Philippines for a vacation, was surprised to find out that onion here cost like120 pesos per kilo when it cost only 25-35 pesos in his country, he said “Why is everything expensive in your country when you have everything”.
        Come to think of it, Qatar has everything. A country of 2 million people whose GDP is 195B compared to ours (a country of about 90+M) at a GDP 250B something in 2012.
        He says we have everything, you cannot blame him, all thet have are deserts.

    • They did prepare, as she said in the article, the warehouses supposed to house the relief goods became inundated itself, everyone was a victim, all rescuers had to be imported. the same thing Katrina did to the US Government, no amount of preparation could have helped them control the situation.

  2. JUST THINKING OUT LOUD…

    1. Imelda Marcos is nearing the end of her mortal life. She has been in and out of the hospital recently.

    2. Much of the Marcos loot remains unrecovered; and there is concrete proof that her family has been in control and shielding it from the PCGG. Estimates put the range at US$ 5 to 10 billion.

    Let’s concentrate on just one piece that’s been in the news lately: the $32M sold by Imelda’s former secretary Vilma Bautista, who was convicted to a prison sentence. At the exchange rate of $1= P 44 this already amounts to P 1 billion, 408 million. How many food packs, rebuilt classrooms, houses can that buy?

    Imagine how much that one painting can help the Tacloban victims! And that’s just one painting! How many more are in the collection, the jewelry, the deposits, the gold, real estate?

    Was God giving a signal that justice needs to be served to one of the poorest regions of the country by allowing the destruction of Tacloban? Does God have to allow the destruction of Ilocos next for them to make amends to the Filipino people?

    Was God telling Imelda you cannot take it with you? That this is their last chance before facing the Ultimate Judge?

    • as i mentioned before, there was a 500billion US dollars in deposit at an offshore bank, in an account controlled by ferdinand marcos. this is just one account. this was deposited in 1983, while he was still in power.

      • upon his death, dictator’s money most probably changed name and got passed on to his next of kin. the interest alone must have been humongous. yet the people of leyte remained as poor. during the exodus after yolanda, none of them yata asked that they be repatriated to ilocos to be close to the one time rose of leyte, be refugees there. wala yatang invitation extended to them when they arrived at villamayor air base to come to ilocos and be sheltered there, be given roofs over their heads, maybe sing to the rose dahil sa yo.

    • he he he TANG ORANGE JUICE NA MAGNANAKAW YAN, DI NA NATAKOT SA PARUSA NG ALLAH, AUP SYA…

      DI NA SILA NAHIYA SA MGA SARILI NILA, ANG KAKAPALLLLLL

      HAYYYYYYYY

      • Hindi na nila maiisip yan. Ang mahiya dahil sa pera na pinagpapapasaan nila pero di nila pinaghirapan?

        Sa sarap ng buhay nila ngayon, magarang bahay, masarap na pagkain, magandang unibersidad (sa anak at apo at kaapo-apohan pa), maraming sasakyan, prebelihyo, kapangyarihan at baka literal na pwede nilang higaan ang sandamakmak na pera…. nabulag, nabingi at namanhid na sila sa kahihiyan.

        Dahil yan na din ang ipinkain ng mga magulang nila sa kanila kaya yun na din ang ipapakain nila sa mga anak nila, at yung anak nila ay yun na din ang ipapakain sa kanilang anak.

        Kailan mapuputol ito? Kapag ang mga botante ay magiging matalino na pumili ng politiko

        • Mahirap isipin kung paano nagagawa ng ibang elected government officials, yet in cahoots with some private individuals like Napoles, et. enriching themselves at the expense of the Filipinos. It just breaks my heart sa mga nababasa kong pang-aabuso sa kaban ng bayan ng mga nasa national and local governments, in particular. Tutoo, kung hindi mapuputol ang kanilang masamang gawain, mamanahin ito ng mga kaanak for generations. Kaya kailangang matuto na ang mga tao pagdating sa elections, vote wisely!

    • Marcos Jr is on the run for 2016 and most likely, you people will vote for him and history will repeat itself again.

  3. Just to repeat: For everybody’s information, it seems the entity known as showstopper has been on Twitter (account showstopper_29) the past week pornographically, treacherously and serially cursing Raissa like the true coward that his parents raised him to be. The mildest thing he’s called her” “Hayop”. Read the tweets to find out how sadly deficient and limited his upbringing was.

    Shall we kick out the cretin?

    • @ Alan

      Edit him out.

      But in honor of him, Mr Falcon and the other Marcos loyalists, I suggest to you and Raissa to write an article on the recent conviction of Mrs Marcos’ secretary Vilma Bautista in NY for selling one of her looted paintings. Then a commentary on how Imelda can make a final amend before her mortal life ends ( it is quite near) to the Filipino people by returning the loot and help the people of Tacloban. Rene Saguisag has been writing on this as well.

      There is no motion for reconsideration, no appeals and all decisions in the afterlife are final and executory. Estelito Mendoza cannot be hired as counsel in the afterlife, since he will be busy defending himself as well. LOL

    • Definitely.

      Can you and Raissa do a piece on the recent conviction of Imelda’s secretary Vilma Bautista in NY for selling one of the looted paintings?

      Then a commentary on how Imelda may have been given a final chance to make amends to the Filipino people by the destruction of her hometown Tacloban by returning the loot.

      I want to remind her that there are no appeals, no motions for reconsideration and the ruling is final and executory in the afterlife. Estelito Mendoza cannot be hired as counsel in the afterlife, either as he will be too busy fanning himself. LOL

      That would be a fitting requiem for these Marcos loyalists.

      • Thanks for the heads up, it reminds Raissa and me that we have a cache of materials — clippings, xeroxes, PCGG documents — going back to 1986 that we should really organize. So many articles to write about the Marcoses and their crimes.

        I doubt any of the Marcoses will suffer any remorse or contrition anytime soon, or ever; what they really need is a good dose of judicial whomping punishment such as incareration and breaking rocks. Until this happens I’ll settle for continuing to list their crimes and making fun of them — which they hated and made dangerous when they were in power.

        • Kamison: re Kennedy quote: “without debate, without criticism………..

          have you heard of Singapore?
          it has a dictatorial government, one that is so very corrupt also, but the person in the highest office knows where to divert the country’s assets. a true leader of his people……..very admirable….

    • Kailangan pa ba ng consensus?

      sige lang chong. ban his email adrs, and re-tweet he’s been banned at Raissa’s blog.

    • Away for so long but sad to say APO ni General Fabian VER iyan si GRASSHOPPER hehe maybe , billion of dollars stollen during Marcos regime is now woth trillion of dollars….and yet he doesnt care about, so close relative ni MACOY iyan… SHOWSTOPPER ala GRASSHOPER…..tipaklong na maraming pakpak he he… BARILIN iyan sa Luneta and DUMP him at NAVOTAS clothed with cement on the whole body..

    • you can banned me or kick me out, i don’t care.you can do anything you want
      goodluck n lng sa inyo, mga yellowtards ni Saint Corazon Aquino.ahahaha
      Mr. Alan&Raissa gawa din kayo articles about sa mga corruption ng pamilya Cojuangco-Aquino,oligarchs,KKK pra d masayang kabaliwan nyo s mga Aquino lol
      Simula 1986 hanggang ngayun NGA-NGA prin s kayo mga Marcoses hehehe
      mga member din b ng CPP-NPA ang mga yellowtards?lol kasi si Ninoy yata financier ng NPA nun nagsisimula pa lang sila ahahaha ska c Ninoy nyo mastermind ng Plaza Miranda Bombing,hanapin nyo yung libro ni Jovito Salonga n npigil ni Santong Cory maisa-publiko. kaya ginawang PCGG Chairman ni SCA c Salonga kplit nun libro n yun.bwahahaha…napakalinis tlga ng mga Aquino.
      Good Luck sa pinaglalaban nyo mga YellowTards Army

      • “you can banned me” — and you claim you LIVE in the US? Obviously you’re not an English teacher. I don’t think you teach honesty or ethics either.

        Probably you’re too busy focused on a full-time career as a scabrous dirtbag. Consider your maggoty punk-ass banned. Cry home to mommy, but then I’m assuming your parents didn’t give you away not that I would blame them.

        • ahahaha ALAN&RAISSA ROBLES=HYPOCRITES
          Alan akala ko kick out mo na ako dito?lol
          nagkamali lng sa grammar,duda n agad?ahaha
          Good Luck ulit…sana bago kayo mapesteng mag-asawa eh matapos na yang hopeless cases nyo sa mga marcoses bwahahaha

        • @Raissa

          those kind of people are LOSERS, mga katulad din sila ng mga magnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan, hayyy mabuti nga block mo agad, nakaka sira lang sila ng hope for a better Philippines…

          anyways …bungtong hininga for relief…hayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
          hayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

          good, back to myself…

        • Aww, no speak da English? SOCAL ba o SOCALOOCAN? Anyway your bad odor is just too much for all the other commenters. Smells like ignorance and cowardice daw.

          So bye bye, Aaron Duwag, good luck with kindergarten, I’m sure you can pass it on the 5th try.

      • showstopper:
        i for one does not condone any political misdeed. what we filipinos need is to come together and try to get rid of those termites in our government out of office for life, confiscation of the plundered goods, a very stiff fine and prison term that our court system will impose on all the guilty politicians. lets just work together to rid us of the graft and corruption in our government… that’s where we should divert our time and energy.
        exchanging insults and fake self-gratification will not result in anything positive towards our real goal of a better future for our people.
        we must unite/join forces/fight for a better government for our country, for our people…..

      • @ SHOWSTOPPER:
        you should change your call sign to ‘Stripper’ or ‘Pole Dancer’ or ‘sharmoota’. or something more civil than what your thinking represent….you’re so decayed I wish there is still a way to rehabilitate you.

    • @ALAN

      BLOCK LAHAT NG KOKONTRA SA GOOD AMBITION NA UMUNLAD ANG BANSA PILIPINAS, MGA AUP YUN. PAG MAY KONTI HINT LANG NA WALANG ITUTULOT NA GANDA>>>BLOCK<<<NA AGAD

      HAYYYYY LALO LANG AKO NAGTATAGAL DITO SA MID EAST KUNG GANYAN MGA TAO DADAMI, KUNG MAY SIXTH SENSE AKO, MAGIGING ABO NA SILANG MGA BWISET NA MAGNANAKAW AT SUPORTERS NILA…

  4. Now this is the real Filipina Wonder Woman

    From ABS CBN NEWS: “Woman spends 50k to rescue family in Tacloban, Guiuan”

    No powerful connections, did not abuse government largesse or use private entities humanitarian gifts.

    And she did not boast her travails in Facebook or Twitter.

    Congratulations Mabby Holoyohoy. You will be blessed more!

      • Welcome, @crichton_prime to Cyber Plaza Miranda,
        Pls try to be imaginative in your insults , but welcome.

      • gaybasher, huh! and do you really think you are a better person than who you’re bashing? they are more trustworthy than you, i am sure of that. “you are not so perfect of a person to cast the first stone”. love unconditional your fellow man……

    • Johnny Lin@124

      The link: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/focus/11/22/13/woman-spends-p50k-rescue-family-tacloban-guiuan

      I salute Mabby and others, women and men, who as true Filipinos performed their filial duties with utmost devotion. Setting up a command center in Cebu, Mabby launched a simple rescue mission for her kins trapped in Tacloban and Guian which could be a template for the military and civilian establishment. She gathered information first, made plans, organized by recruiting needed persons from Manila and putting a logistic hub in Calbayog City, mobilized her resources (human and material) , implemented the plans, monitored the operation and made the needed follow through to complete the first phase. She is now in the second phase consisting of rehabilitation of their house and business operation. Mabby is a woman of substance.

      • I guess Mabby is in her thirties, single and good looking Just a guess. But am sure Mabby is very intelligent and brave.

        • Most admirable of her, nobody with more serious illness from the typhoon were displaced by her efforts. Tangentially, she saved lives by not bothering those helping the poor.

      • you have a shade of being bakla, ayaw mo lang accept-in ang katotohanan kasi ang tunay na lalaki, is much more than you.

        • @kore: my point kore is that Johnny Lin is a misogynist, you can see the compulsion in his comments, the uncanny way at which he tries to disparage what is plainly a noble act on the part of Geraldine Wong. He is jealous and it shows. I have nothing against gays, I do hate people who malign other people in the guise of being just socially responsible.

    • Well done Mabby Holoyhoy! Nakakapanindig balahibo ang story kung paano niya ni rescue ang family niya without using any connections, just a team of friends and family. It took longer than Ms. Wong heroic rescue efforts but she got the job done.

    • Oh yeah, misogynist Johnny Lin, your musings betray the real you…how’s my generic insults getting into you?

  5. The main reason why the government of Philippines had difficulty carrying out the urgent task of providing emergency assistance & handing out relief goods to the people, it’s because Philippines is not adequately equipped with the type of aircraft needed to respond to a broad scope of area severely devastated by the typhoon.
    I don’t blame the President for the unfortunate delay of relief operations because long before he assumed power, the nation have we’ve been ill-equipped with the type of aircraft it needs in time of disasters.

    • Someone complained on Twitter that the government sent “only” three C-130s to Tacloban. Btw, the country has only three C-130s.

      • Yeah, CURSE the government for sending ONLY THREE (3) C-130s.

        However, contrary to common belief…the planes do not number to one-hundred thirty (130).

        Perhaps, the best is to CURSE the past governments for not attaining even a hundred of such planes! That’s DISASTER PREPAREDNESS par excellence!

  6. if cooper, whom miss wong called a well-respected journalist, failed to do his job and ms. wong herself did it superbly, why did she call on cooper for further help. the answer is right here in our midst.

    are we not fooling ourselves? do we have to?

    • someone ought to let ex-lady dentist know that well respected journalist is commented by one of the commenters here to be gay, and may not be that particularly interested in women. therefore, no need for her to be extra creepy crawly, or tapdancing for him. thank him, yes, for what he has done, but going through the notion that he might be the alledge messiah of climate change and savior of the world when he has heavy and mileage of carbon footprint, is a just a bit too much.

      • yeah, and she should also not pretend to admire him. but you are missing the point, as usual.

    • who said cooper failed to do his job?
      wong did not say she did it superbly.
      the question remains there in your midst.

  7. When corporations say Humanitarian flight or project, it means saving the weak, the injured, the sick or impoverished people. Usually this is a CHARITABLE endeavor meaning free to those being served.

    If they sell tickets, it is not humanitarian, it is called Business transaction.

    If for some reason, the company is making up their flight for cancelled tickets, it is still business because they earned money from the tickets sold earlier and the flight is not called Humanitarian but actually a Replacement Flight.

  8. Let me be blunt.
    Some people try to defend Wong but actually are acting so to defend their position in praising Wong from the start, later realizing there were lots of loopholes and inconsistencies on Wong’s narrative. Instead of analyzing facts written only by Wong, they justify their stand by putting out different info, not coming from Wong, and apply to Wong’s predicament.

    Lesson:
    late news from US healthcare, Obama was justifying for months his healthcare position on the failure of his website. When he was advised to admit that he was wrong and say sorry, he apologized exactly last week.

    “Win some, lose some but know the time when to fold”

    • Blunt…me too. You are ‘one of those’ that added ‘alleged facts’ to Ms. Wong’s… hahaha…and a couple many here ‘swallowed it’…adding more ‘alleged facts’…and it exploded into world of Wong Fact…hahaha. Kaka tawa itong topic!

      • yes, Facts I said Wong was good sales lady and she knew powerful people in government.

        Now, tell me one thing I wrote about Wong that is not a fact. Since the beginning I said she is a liar.

        Here is another fact. I condemned her, you praised her. That’s really funny and blunt too

        He he he

        • Crichton
          Read this too, makes you more tipsy and hallucinatory

          ABS CBN News: Senator Alan Cayetano proposed Emergency Response Department. All his plans sounds like he read Raissa Robles Blog “Why President Aquino can’t declare Martial Law”

          Concentrate reading post#40
          Did Alan plagiarize the post? Even though he is more than welcome.

          He he he

        • Ikaw pala ang mahilig sa link, ng longaniza. d ikaw ang homo.
          Tamo force of habit ka, link kaagad nasa isip mo.

          Aaay naku girl, d kita pa papatulan bruha, wooshi wooshi utak mo, pwedeng gawin sarsa.

          He he he

        • Crichton & Johnny @ 121.

          Just a trivia.

          In an engineer’s perspective a link is equivalent to about eight (8) inches long.

        • Thanks Rene for proving Crichton is gay

          You see Prime Optimus, your thinking link at the snap of his mousers vealer your identity. Force of habit comes naturally, aside from the truth you are a relative of Geraldine.

          He he he

        • @ Johnny Lindol & Rene-Ipil: Just a fact that profiles to Johnny…..In a psychotherapist perspective a person who correlates the word ‘link’ to words like ‘longaniza’, correlating w/ the fact that he is a misogynist…..is…..voila!!!!! …a HOMO!!!

        • Assuming you and the others have already ‘slain’ Ms. Wong here and ‘dead as can be’. when are all of you ‘burying the corpse’?

          It got to be. haw haw haw

        • Leona
          Did you not hear the trumpets for her burial?

          ABSCBN News cremated Wong with their latest news: ”
          Woman spent her own money 50k saving her family in Tacloban”

          He he he

        • One thing I did not read as a fact in her article is that “she is a sales lady’. Where did you get it? You injected it through research maybe? Another “she is a liar’…another injected fact.

          If I go on, I’ll bring out many … but I prefer not to. haw haw haw. The ‘dead slain body’ is going to lay here in the available ‘two lanes’ in this blog, to my left and to my right. Where will it be? haw haw haw.

          My guess is that this ‘body’ will still be lying making more ‘lies.’ hew hew hew.

        • I will just quote @Rene_Ipil here. A very nice statement he wrote. He says –

          ‘My point is that we should leave Ms. Wong alone for now and focus on the significance of her message to Cooper. We have said more than enough about her story on a personal note. And I am sure that future events would unravel the truth about her “escapade.”

          I will add another fact to the above from @ netty, also a very true subjective view of Ms. Wong, as @netty honestly believe –

          ‘Omygoodness, what has become of the CPMERS, a whole lot of nitpickers for either the benevolent and malevolent deeds of MS .WONG. What is so wrong about saving one’s family even paying for their fare using their own wealth? ”

          What’s ‘so wrong’? If wrong is it ‘so wrong’? tsk tsk tsk

        • Good gracious! Here is @Cha saying –

          ‘Goodness gracious! Can you just leave me be? I already said I am not interested in what you have to say on this issue. Why does it bother you so much that I do not see it the same way as you? And just so you know that’s a rhetorical question. No need to answer.’

          That is a ‘reply’ to @Johnny. But @Johnny won’t so @Johnny ‘rejoins’ –

          ‘x x x and you are telling lies that she [ Ms. Wong ] bought her plane tickets’

          Telling lies? Cha? OMG! cluck cluck cluck

        • @Cha is about to burst! She gets back to @Johnny, saying –

          ‘Now I’m the one peddling lies! You are really getting desperate.

          For the nth time, go find someone who cares what you think. Stop stalking me. Have some self-respect.’

          HAHAHA…! But @Johnny gets on some more . . . – ‘Now I’m stalking when you were the first one who initiated sarcastic comments on my post. You are going to deny this too, ain’t it?

          Lies beget lies

          Stay out of the kitchen if the heat is too much
          He he he”

          More ‘lies’ @Johnny believes are coming from @Cha! There’s now a new fact… ‘a kitchen’ somewhere here in this blog. hahaha I really am smelling somethin’ cooking here but where’s the kitchen?

          Am hungry! chump chump chump…what’s to eat?

        • @crickton_prime joins, – ‘So when do you want Miss Wong to apologize?
          Are you sure there is a direct correlation between Miss Wong and Obama’s healthcare position?”

          The ‘fact’ of alleged ‘correlation between Miss Wong and Obama’s healthcare position’? Where is it? Or is it an honest ‘theory’ only? But not a fact. fck fck fck…

        • Leona
          Sa dami kasi ng sinasawsawan na kalimutan mo na ang istorya. Ang kumpanya niya nagtitinda at distributor ng educational toys, sales manager, pampataas ihing titulo ng tindera. Para sa car dealer, yung manager head salesman dahil di aprobahan ng sales manager tawad mo, di ka makabili kotse.

          Kaya pala umiikot sagot mo di mo man lang alam klase ng trabaho nya.

    • So when do you want Miss Wong to apologize?
      Are you sure there is a direct correlation between Miss Wong and Obama’s healthcare position?

      • Told you, stick with reading komiks
        Your brain correlates better with pictures

        This blog is for big leagues

        He he he

        • @ Johnny Lin: wooo the Big league…..since when did commenting correlate with words like..’.big league’….the only reason you are here is because you seem to make sense only to yourself, go ahead fool yourself all you can “OBNOX!!’

        • Thanks again Rene for proving my analysis that he does not really understand written statements. He can correlate better with pictures because his favorites are comics characters, Crichter_Prime from Transformer.

        • @ Rene_Ipil: Yeah I think you’re right…..sped read too fast I guess I missed her point, so sorry Leona!!

        • Yep…bobo pala ako…hehehe…fcking cricket! hahaha, that was for @johnny lin…ako ang na suntok! hahaha.

          Thanks @Crichton!

    • @ Johnny LIn: and so I have profiled you…’.instead of analyzing facts written (only) by Wong, they justify their stand by putting out different info’…..
      YOU KNOW WHAT, THAT’S EXACTLY YOU, NYA HA HA HA HA!!!