Priest: A woman foretold tragedy

I remember when I was eight or nine when the Ormoc tragedy happened and our homeroom teacher told us a story of an old woman in Ormoc, asking for water. She was shunned away by the villagers. The floods and landslides occurrsed soon after... (?) Anyway, be it true or not... such tragedies could have been prevented. Studies from geological and mining groups as well as the denr's surveilance should have been able to foretell and warn these residents.

Priest: A woman foretold tragedy
Published: 19 February 2006
by Malou Apalisok
Cebu Daily News

THREE days before the mountainside collapsed on a village in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte, an old woman went to see the parish priest to warn of a coming calamity.

Her name was Carmen and she was known to be a devout woman in barangay Giunsaugon, said Fr. Bonito Labrador, parish priest in an interview with radio station dyRF in Cebu City.

She came to see him in the afternoon of February 14.

"Padre naa koy isulti nimo.Gisugo ko sa Ginoo. Tulo ka adlaw gikan karon ang Ginoo mokuha og daghang mga tawo. (Father, I have something to tell you. God told me to tell you this. Three days from now God will take the lives of many people)," she said.

Fr. Labrador said he didn't think the woman was serious so he replied, "Ingna lang ang Ginoo di lang ipalahos (Just tell God not to let it happen)."

"Pero kagahapon, pagkahitabo, akong giihap three days gikan sa Feb. 14. (But yesterday, on Friday, when it happened I counted and it was three days after Feb. 14.)

The priest said his hair stood on end when he heard about the tragedy and recalled the woman's message.

Fr. Labrador, who lives in Cebu City, was in Cebu when the tragedy happened. He belongs to the Diocese of Maasin under Bishop Precioso Cantillas.

Although he couldn't remember her last name, he recognized Carmen as a member of a charismatic group and the Holy Face community. Her message, according to the priest was "prophetic."

Fr. Labrador said he believed Carmen perished in the tragedy.

The priest said he had spent the whole day blessing the dead, praying over corpses in groups of five and six. As of 4 p.m. yesterday, he placed the dead at 43 and survivors at 57. He described efforts to rescue victims as "impossible" because the mud that covered Ginsaugon reached 20 feet deep.

Leyte Vice Gov. Miguel Maamo in a separate interview over radio dyRF confirmed this, saying rescue teams decided to undertake a "surface retrieval."

This means only bodies seen from the surface would be taken. The barangay has a population of a little more than 2,000.

Original Link to Article

just a little tribute to those who have not been rescued yet, especially these children. i was looking for inspiring features about the landslide so i can see a different light amidst all the grim articles. i still hope that they are still alive. please say prayers and wishes for their immediate resuce because they really work - especially if in a herd.


Buried school was home to math wizards
First posted 02:09am (Mla time)
Feb 20, 2006
By Volt Contreras
Inquirer Editor's Note: Published on page A22 of the Feb. 20, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

ST. BERNARD, Southern Leyte -- It was one of the town's best performing public schools, its pupils especially excelling in math competitions and academic exams.

That was Guinsaugon Elementary School before it became a virtual tomb last Friday.

Three days after a massive landslide, the fate of pupils full of promise despite their poverty, and of teachers dedicated to their calling despite their meager pay, remained uncertain.

Earlier, rescuers retrieved the remains of Gloria Navos, the teacher-coach of the Grade III pupils that emerged as champions in last year's Math Challenge. She also mentored this year's team that won 3rd place in the same competition.

Team of wizards

Along with more than 50 bodies taken to a barangay hall now serving as a makeshift morgue, Navos was positively identified through her wedding ring, District Superintendent Erlinda Diaz said in an interview yesterday.

Presumed trapped in one of the four GES school buildings are Navos' 2006 team of Grade I math wizards, Aira Mae Solis, Jeffrey Coquilla and Marvin Berdon, according to Diaz, citing records of the annual contest among the 27 public elementary schools in St. Bernard.

The Grade I pupils' victory was no fluke: Also this year, the GES teams from Grades II, III and V all placed 2nd in their respective categories, Diaz noted.

The school has long built a sterling reputation with its classroom aces.

Diaz said it ranked No. 2 in terms of the average scores posted by its pupils across all levels during the District Achievement Test last school year.

If other major indicators are considered, like the Division and National tests, GES was ranked 3.5 overall that same year, she said.

"It's never far behind when it comes to academics and teachers' performance," she said, noting that while Barangay Guinsaugon may be relatively poor compared to urban villages, she doesn't recall it having alarming cases of malnutrition or dropouts among its pupils.

'Idyllic spot'

The school official said GES pupils must have been "reviewing" for this year's division test scheduled on Feb. 24 covering the key subjects English, math, science and Makabayan -- when disaster struck.

She believed the majority of the pupils finished with their morning recess and were inside their classrooms when portions of nearby Mt. Kan-Abag came tumbling down on the village at around 10:30 a.m. that fateful day.

Official figures placed the number of GES students at 246.
Diaz said the campus was already there, occupying its otherwise idyllic spot by a lush mountain, the day she first moved to St. Bernard in 1968.

This means the villagers had never considered the school -- or their homes -- to be in a dangerous location, she noted.

That was until Mt. Kan-Abag moved and bitterly snapped the winning streak of the school's fledgling math Olympians and budding topnotchers.

Original Link to Article

WHAT WE CAN DO :

Donations - clothes, banigs, food, medicine to your local churches or deposit donations to your local banks ( they will have account numbers for GMA foundation or ABS CBN or other account holders where you can deposit). Will post other deposit sites soon.

What's with La Niña? What's causing it? One key and major cause is the rise in global warming levels which fuels intense weather like el niño and la niña, forest fires, drought, extreme winters ( you need not read too much, just feel the weather!!!!, well, check out the news too!)

Sign up for clean energy! Dirty energy like oil and coal is adding up to global warming. Click here to join the Star Power for Clean Power Campaign by Greenpeace and ask our government to make at least 10% of our energy to be produced from clean and renewable resources.

Also, join the virtual march on Stop Global Warming.org

Well, let's minimize our use of energy - commute and don't pollute! hehe