Hagupit ng Habagat: Pray for the Philippines

Today I already saw a little sunshine and said Hello to Mr. Brightside, I thought everything would get back to normal and that everybody could already start moving on from this tragic experience but then in the middle of the afternoon, the heavy rain started to pour again and all I could ever hear were raindrops and thunders!

Metro Manila is on red alert now and my place is not an exemption to that condition.

It is my first time to experience something like this. Back when I was still in the province I only get to see these kind of calamities on TV but now that I am already rocking my life and kicking ass in the Metro I am closer to these kind of natural disasters.

I will share to you my current condition at the moment, my place.

I live at Mendiola, Manila specificall at La Residencia 2 within La Consolacion College of Manila's vicinity. It used to be a peaceful, clean and green area but the monsoon devastated the beauty of the place and turned it into a sea of danger and a wetland!

This is the facade of the place, water is all around the corners, nothing dry is left.

This is a very chill place for the students of the school, but how can we relax if everything is so steep and muddy.

This used to be a green field but where are the grass now? All water.

The passage way to my building. Soon the water would rise to knee level or maybe up to the waist and the worst case scenario if the rain won't stop and water keeps on invading it might even be above person level.

I know La Consolacion/La Residencia can still rise up after this experience and the clean, green and calm home would be back!

What I adore most about this institution is that flooding was the only problem, and there was no other worse case other than that. All the people here are safe and sound of course the caretakers took really good care of us. They provided a comfortable shelter after all! I so love my dorm after all!

My major problem the past few days is the supply of food but that was already my fault because I wasn't prepared for situations like this, good thing La Residencia never failed to let me down and so the Vicky's Kitchenette located at La Residencia 1 rooftop was open and was able to accommodate the almost 300 dormers. Food was not a problem anymore. I adore the owners for anticipating this kind of calamity that they never ran out of food and grocery items.

When will I see clear blue skies again?

I am going to share to you a prayer that was taught to us by St. Scholastica's Academy and being a Scholastican we have a very strong faith in God and we believe that prayers are the most powerful weapons in this kind of battle.

ORATIO IMPERATA

Almighty Father, we raise our hearts to You in gratitude for the wonders of creation of which we are part, for Your providence that sustains us in our needs, and for your wisdom that guides the course of the universe.

We acknowledge our sins against You and the rest of creation. We have not been good stewards of nature. We have confused Your command to subdue the earth.

The environment is made to suffer our wrongdoings and now we reap the harvest of our abuse & indifference. Global warming is upon us. Earthquakes, typhoons, rains, floods, drought, volcanic eruption and other calamities occur in increasing number & intensity.

We turn to You our loving Father and beg forgiveness for our sins. We ask that we, our loved ones and our hard-earned possessions be spared from the threat of calamities, natural and man-made. We beseech You to inspire us all to grow into responsible stewards of Your creation and generous neighbors to those in need.

This we pray through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

St. Benedict and St. Scholastica, pray for us.

That In All Things, God May Be Glorified

It may be stormy now, but it won't rain forever!

God bless the Philippines.

Long live the United Filipinos!

Xoxo