The Philippines has seen so many tragedies the last few months – the Zamboanga battles, the earthquake that shook so many buildings to rubbles and now, the typhoon that drowned all hopes and lives.

That one horrible day

It was just a rainy morning for me and my family, and as usual, I was in front of the computer to see if there were a lot of write-ups for me that day. As I kept typing away, suddenly the screen went blank and the power went out along with the supply of water. Just great, I thought. Might as well sleep it out after the rain and the wind die down.

While I was in dreamland, some of my countrymen in other places where in wasteland – houses swept away by the strongest of winds, children getting separated from their parents, old people shivering in the cold while attempting to climb the nearest tree to survive – and the winds lashed and lashed as if it was the last of its huff and its puff, ravaging even the strongest and oldest of churches that came its path.

When the terrible winds died, I woke up as if it was the same morning for the last few months – the sun was slowly giving out slow rays of sunshine, there was no visible strong winds or a hint of lashing rain in the horizon, and my daughter and I went out for a small walk to see the neighbourhood. I was shocked to see some trees were uprooted, leaves and garbage everywhere and I thought well, and at least this was it. I was very wrong.

When the power came back, we automatically tuned in to the news. Our place was actually very lucky compared now to Tacloban, Samar and a few places in my hometown were devastatingly damaged. They have lost their homes, lost their slippers, and lost a lot of lives with that one day of wind whipping and rain ravage. I can’t help but shed tears at the pitiable situation of my countrymen – bodies scattered everywhere you go, people crying and shouting for their missing loved ones and just debris of trees and scraps everywhere you turn.

Television reporters said that even they feared for their lives as water went up where they were doing the coverage. Suddenly it all dawned on me how fast a life can go during disasters like this – there is no rich or poor, celebrity or normal citizens, man or women – anyone can go in a snap as easily as that. The worst part of watching the news are the ones now left with absolutely nothing – no home, no loved one – absolutely alone in the world.

The Philippines was in shambles and action has to start.

An act of love and movement

As the news of devastation spiralled like some virus in news rooms all over the world, the Filipinos started to act for their countrymen who has lost so much. I would say that the private sector like ABS-CBN and the likes acted first in sending relief operations to the people in affected areas. We saw that the government was very slow in handling the situation and had press cons here and there without having to do immediate action as the bodies began to rot in the streets and children got sick within the minute.

I wondered what they are doing while simple people were moving as fast as they can to help. Common citizens were offering anything that they can pull out of their closet, and their shopping bags and even a few digits from their credit cards found its way to the relief operations. It was what we had always called “the bayanihan spirit” or the spirit of helping each other in any situation.

Amidst all the positive movement coming from the social media and the relief operations, there were still a lot of bad blood being seen on the news. Politicians promising relief goods and three days after, the residents are still hungry. People in position giving out goods and clothes with their pictures on it, making people think it could be a strategy for the Presidential elections in 2016 – disgusting but true. Some news also surfaced that the Department of Customs were asking taxes from donations that are coming in – news more of this nature surfaced in social media harbouring rage from the common people who are spending more of their time in relief operation places packing goods and knowing that there are still some people who have the guts to delay the help that was coming in. It was more than the Filipinos can take – and they voiced out their anger.

But, our morale was lifted up when countries from all over the world sent their help. It showed us that no matter how life has been so cruel, in times of need, we all have each other and hep will come even from the most unexpected people. Medical missions were sent, and so were water, food and a lot of money were given to the government to speed things up in getting these people back to their feet. We can only wish that people of pure hearts make sure that these donations make its way to the victims, and not to their own personal accounts.

A day of hope

Now, we only wish for the fast recovery of everyone who has been affected. We hope and pray that each and every heart be healed from the aches it has experienced and that all pain be faded with the passing of time. For as Filipinos, our strength has been tested and yet, we showed everybody that even when a lot of tragedy has made its way to our doorstep, we can still sum up the courage to put smiles in our faces.

Now more than ever, we stand together and fight the ugly debris Typhoon Yolanda has left us to clean, and stand as an even stronger nation than we had ever been.


Author: Maria Jevska Nicolau is a 23-year old trainer on sales excellence who has a long love history with writing and won many journalism awards at college and region. She has a one year old daughter and a baby boy on the way. She likes Harry Potter and it is her ambition to write a book.

Read from author at women page.

We were told there was going to be a storm – but we were not told about the kind of storm typhoon that Yolanda will leave behind. One day – all it takes is one day to eat an entire town’s crops, ravage a city of strong people, bring down a hundred year old church, and take away a lot of people who didn’t deserve to go.

I was sitting in the front of the computer doing my online writing as usual, when the clouds have turned from grey into an almost dark that the usual nine in the morning where the sun usually burnt me looked like it was still four in the morning. The rains started to lash, and yet, I kept on typing and typing, the flashlight charging beside me in anticipation of being used sometime within the day. My daughter and partner was sleeping in the room – this was a day where sleeping in was so tempting because the weather was cold and the bed was warm.

Then, the lights went out. Good thing I was able to save the article I was working on, and I went to the room and slept as well. While the three of us slept, other people in other places in the Philippines were fighting for their lives. Our parents, who lived in different cities, texted that they were okay and making preparations for evacuations in case something happens. We didn’t know how big the situation was until we got power the day after and saw the devastating results Yolanda left.

I was very grateful that I was in a safe place, and yet I was very sad seeing that a lot of people died because of this one day. It makes you think how one day can actually affect a lot of lives – drown it, take it and for those surviving, this one day will always be marked in their minds as the day that God gave them one more chance to live. The damage was so great that words are not enough to explain the picture you see in social media, in the news and even in the streets.

As I watched in the television with my daughter, we saw how strong the Filipino people are when caught between so many problems and how we all come together to bring back hope and happiness to those who have lost so much. Even relief goods and constant encouragement only have a temporary relief for the survivors – for what matters most is a roof in their heads and a continuous supply of love and support at such trying times.

How can they sleep at night when bodies of people whose relatives have not yet found them are sleeping endlessly beside them? How can they eat when the thought of relatives still missing keep circling their minds? How can they smile when their houses went down and they call the streets their home? But, maybe, out of all these horrible questions, I would rather ask myself: How can I be of help?

I took out all the clothes I didn’t need because I was too big for them and all the clothes my daughter didn’t need because she too outgrew them. Without much, these were the only things we could offer – and our prayers, and our songs of hope for those who still continue to cry in the winds that the strong Yolanda has left us.


Author: Maria Jevska Nicolau is a 23-year old trainer on sales excellence who has a long love history with writing and won many journalism awards at college and region. She has a one year old daughter and a baby boy on the way. She likes Harry Potter and it is her ambition to write a book.

Read from author at women page.

People of different walks in life have called out to one woman for the last month in the Philippines: Janet Napoles, bring back our money. This woman who has had access to billions of Philippine peso from the government has been keeping mum about her part in probably one of the biggest secrets of the Philippine government.  She and a couple of senators have been shoved in the limelight because of this million peso scam.

Denials, lies and a lot of death threats and argument from all sides of the opposition and the majority are all over the news. We open the television and see her face. Open the newspaper and there is her face too. She has haunted millions of people at night that has come to think of the wasted time and effort given working for the government and non-private sector and paying these supposed taxes that will eventually fall in the hands of one woman who will just use the hard-earned money of Filipinos to buy herself an expensive car and expensive condos.

Young professionals like me find the issue terrible. It broke my heart that tax that is big enough to pay my apartment rent, just goes to pay for the condominium unit of Janet’s daughter, Jean Napoles. It angers me that the money that I thought went to the government is actually going to individuals who already have more than enough in their table while I am looking at my family without enough viand to make them full.

Even for those who have been in the government for a long time has found it hard to believe and felt dismay against the action that the government is taking against the criminals who have played with our money like it was theirs. A lot of unfinished projects now lie around everywhere in the Philippines – projects that aimed to help the Filipinos but has now been a sense of reminder of the kind of leaders that we have put up there in office.

Janet Napoles is but a bit player in this controversy, but it is her face amongst unknown others that have grazed the magazines and the televisions. She is in jail – but why do we all feel like we are the one who are imprisoned?

The Philippines is a beautiful place, filled with a lot of tourist spots that foreigners visit all year round. Yet, underneath the beauty of our country, lies the crooked and putrid heart of rich, greedy people who want all the money to themselves. Even celebrity politicians who have great stash of money all over the world are involved, and yet again, the impoverished part of the Philippines is still the same, impoverished.

Janet Napoles, people of Philippines are addressing now this to you. Name your accomplices and hand over the money you did not work for. Earn your money with dignity because we, the people who pay you, work as hard as we can to earn a living. Give it back, or suffer the hate of thousands of Filipinos.