Typhoon Gener

I did a little research about the number of typhoons that hit the Philippines in a year. Some sources say that we average about 19, some say 26. The typhoons doesn't hit Metro Manila all the time, but more often than not we'd feel it especially if it hits Northern Luzon. I can no longer count the number of typhoons I've experienced, but I can fairly say that I've been through at least a hundred in my lifetime.

Last weekend Typhoon Gener hit the country. It brought both winds and rain. Some of the typhoons I've experienced would just either bring wind (Basyang) and some just rain (Ondoy). Typhoon Gener was different because for the first time I heard the wind howl. It was strange and scary and I knew that we'd eventually lose power.

I was trying to blog when I heard a loud explosion and a few seconds after electricity was gone. We tried to monitor the weather situation through an Android radio app, but soon realized it was draining Sweetie's phone battery too fast. I remembered we had a tiny radio and Sweetie dug it up so we can check what's happening (standard technology is still in for brownouts!). (I never thought I'd be just like my parents haha).

I woke up the next morning freezing because the fan was already on. Power was back so I immediately turned on my desktop to check if Miguel's school called off classes. After that I checked my social networking sites and was surprised with a post made by Kuya Edwin.

One of our old trees in our church vicinity toppled over during the evening, narrowly missing Mama Mary and the Unborn Child Monument. Check out how the tree avoided hitting Mama Mary.

My Mom dropped by to visit me yesterday morning and I asked her if she heard about it. She didn't, so I showed her the photos. She was really surprised and immediately left to check what happened.

No one was hurt, especially not Mama Mary. This makes me believe furthermore that Mama Mary is looking over our parish. :)

*Thank you to Kuya Edwin who lent me his photos for this post. He is btw our #1 barangay kagawad.

Fire!

I was at Ateneo yesterday at the Tech Tanod training when my long time Kuya pinged me on Facebook. He said there was a huge fire in our village and that the Parish Convento was partially affected. Good thing no one was affected.

I was shocked.

It was the first time in my entire life that I heard about a fire in our village (I've lived here since birth). I have heard of incidents within our barangay but not inside our village. It made me antsy since we were far away from home when I was told about it and I really have this crazy fear of fire (yes even matches and candles). I think that phobia started when I watched Firestarter when I was a kid.

Anyway, my friend said that the fire spread quickly and since it was windy it immediately affected the Parish Convento. Good thing there were quite a number of people in Church attending a BEC meeting and they helped save the house and Convento and prevented the fire from spreading. Tulungan talaga my friend said (he is also btw a barangay kagawad). He also said that the priests were okay and that their vehicles were saved, except for Fr. Lito's car because the roof was singed.

The location of the house and Parish Convento is our regular route. We passed by it last night on the way home. The house was totally damaged. The only thing saved was the tarpaulin that hung on the gate. It was hard to see the damage on the Parish Convento. Will probably see it when we hear mass later.

Thank God only material things were damaged and everyone's safe.

I'm pretty sure that the priests and family needs help. If you are interested to send help (hey Sun Valley neighbors!), please direct them to:

Fr. Ramon Ramos, C.P.
Parish Priest
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish
4068 Bougainville St.
Sun Valley Subdivision, Paranaque City
Or call +632-8231210