Gross

WIPED OUT At Barangay Tubo-Tubo, Monkayo, Compostela Valley

A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, I was so sarcastic about the impact of Pablo compared to a few typhoons that passed through the island of Mindanao, particularly Sendong that brought Cagayan de Oro City to its knees in 2011. When I wrote that Pablo was nowhere near the magnitude of Sendong, I was merely comparing what I have seen of Pablo’s when it passed through Agusan del Sur that fateful morning, which was a scratch compared to the destruction Sendong gave when it hit Cagayan de Oro City. It was only later when I found out that Agusan was so close to the eye of the storm, which explains why it wasn’t felt like a super typhoon as anticipated, and it was only then that I realized that my claim was a gross miscalculation.

Pablo was more than just a scratch. And I could certainly make a case that Sendong was a bit frail compared to Pablo, that it seemed like its only target was Cagayan de Oro City, and that everything else was just a coincidence. But Pablo was a different breed. Its path was anything but straight; drunk even as far as direction is concerned, ravaging not only a city but a better part of the southeast portion of Mindanao (Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur, Davao Oriental, and Compostela Valley). That its casualty is on the verge of toppling the statistical records of Sendong, a feat nobody could have imagined would happen only a year after that devastating deluge in Cagayan de Oro City.

Pablo was supposed to be Caraga-bound when it caused some heavy waves on the shores of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, a coastal town in the region where its residents had been advised a day before to evacuate the area, especially those living along its shores in preparation for a super typhoon. 

And, as forecasted, it did hit Hinatuan with an accelerating force that could uproot trees and houses into the air and could wipe out an entire town in a minute. It was, by far, the strongest typhoon ever to hit the southern part of the country with an estimated P34.4 billion in total damages, its casualty almost 2,000 and counting. Pablo almost wiped out half of Davao Oriental and a significant portion of Compostela Valley, a sight so hurting, so shocking, so disappointing to all concerned.

"If Tubo-Tubo had seen the effects of Pablo as a mere recipient of those illegal activities allegedly proliferating in the area, how much more in Diwalwal where the Grand Central Station of mining activities are taking place? "

I WAS ABLE TO GET a close look at its destruction a couple of weeks ago when we had our relief operations, along with my officemates, in some areas of Agusan and Compostela Valley. There, I had a rare glimpse of those houses decimated by its strong winds; a family in bunches begging out of hunger and want, and places looking more like ghost towns with nothing but a sea of rubble and uneasy silence. Everything in complete disarray, from scattered street posts to buildings in utter ruin. We felt helpless just by watching their damaged goods, and we wonder if they still have their spirits to go through it.

We then visited Barangay Tubo-Tubo in Monkayo, Compostela Valley. Flattened by a 260 km/h wind and rain at the height of Bopha (Typhoon Pablo)), Tubo-Tubo struggled to rise from the jetsam and the flotsam of that super typhoon as its residents stumbled to find any means of living after surviving the scare. 

They were so elated, however, when we arrived on the scene, that finally, help arrived despite its delays and anticipation and that the smiles flashing on their faces proved to be so consummate we could almost hear a sigh of relief gushing out of their weary nostrils. The devastation culminated with the death of their Barangay Chairman as he has accidentally buried by his own house following a strong push from Pablo, eventually killing the hapless barangay official.

WELCOME TO THE RUBBLE Amid fallen coconut trees

Perhaps I could only imagine myself fighting my way through those falling trees and debris as the typhoon lashes its strong wind and rain around me. Those who have gone through the ordeal could attest that it was a terrifying and traumatic experience, something they hope they would not go through it again, if possible. 

The destruction was so extensive that until now people are resigned to the fact that they will go through some days, if not months, without electricity, and a short supply of food and other basic commodities. They even relied on their reliefs as their Noche Buenas, something that bespeaks of extreme want and deprivation. Imagine if you were in their shoes, the discomfort would have been an understatement.

It was an oversight on my part, had I known that Pablo was thrice as fast and strong as Sendong, I would not have written that article with confidence that Bopha was simply a weakling compared to Washi (Sendong). I should have listened to Noli de Castro. When I did have a glimpse of what happened in Tubo-Tubo, where almost all of its trees were either uprooted, waylaid, or skinned, and that most of its houses have gone through a gauntlet of a severe beating, I was convinced that if that type of typhoon had passed through the whole nine yards of the Caraga Region, I might be among those who have been traumatized and bludgeoned by its indiscriminate whipping.

But Pablo exposes the sad state of our environment. In Compostela Valley alone, where small-scale mining activities had become a staple to their day-to-day economy, we had seen the effects of haphazardness concerning the preservation of the environment. 

I was expecting that the damages would be so pronounced in Diwalwal where these mining activities are at its peak, but surprisingly there was no news from it, not even a hoot. Perhaps there has been some news blackout in those areas so that the country would not have to deal with those lifeless bodies piling up in heaps. Suffice it to say, what we have seen in Tubo-Tubo can be measured up with the way mining activities on that side of that valley are conducted.

We saw barangays on our way to Tubo-Tubo like refugee camps, weary over its recent battle (with nature), children becoming accidental beggars, old folks staring blankly at their wasted homes with hunger on their dour faces. An entire elementary school decimated from top to bottom, a local gymnasium no longer has its sturdy roof for some shade, hectares of land washed up like in a cesspool drowning, clean with nothingness. My officemates even suggested to me that the sandy loam invading the beleaguered barangay has vestiges from some ball mills proliferating in the mountains of Diwalwal. 

Despondency seemed to be everywhere, from a mother who just had her relief goods as her measly lunch to a father who wearily picked up the pieces of his tattered house. The promise of that elusive gold inside those mines vanished just as Pablo went out of the country. All hope is lost, including their meager shanties. And nothing else matters.

I did consider myself a lucky man when I left Tubo-Tubo (though I don’t believe in luck). Pablo, by and large, was just a natural phenomenon, in the same way, that its unusual course was simply an isolated case if you consider the trend of typhoons passing through the country. It was only intensified and became a destructive force when it somehow rammed into our indiscriminate use of our environment, mining, illegal logging and all that. 

If Tubo-Tubo had seen the effects of Pablo as a mere recipient of those illegal activities allegedly proliferating in the area, how much more in Diwalwal where the Grand Central Station of mining activities are taking place? I wouldn't know certainly which one is gross, the number of dead bodies or the degree of destruction.  

A HOUSE DIVIDED Pablo was more than just a scratch