Typhoon Ruping: My First Super-Typhoon Experience Before Last Year's Odette

As the first anniversary of recovering after Typhoon Odette will be arriving (December 17), I'd also write about Typhoon Ruping which happened in 1990. I was only in Kinder-1 so it wouldn't be easy to remember especially since I'm already in my late 30s. Typhoon Odette was an experience made hard but we soon had a generator, repairs soon started, and there was higher technology. I'd still think about Odette and what it was like living without solar lights, relying on that smelly methane lamp as a source of light, and studying was hard. Reading with insufficient light is very bad for one's eyes. It was also that time that everywhere, just everywhere, it was brownout, and electricity returned before Christmas. In the case of Odette, Christmas and New Year were delayed to January.

I could remember living in an old house in downtown, Cebu. I'd say it was like living in a haunted house. The childhood trauma was there. I could think about all the shaking in that old house which I think was built around the 1950s. If all my grandparents (on both sides) were alive--they'd either be in their late 90s or 100s by now. The typhoon caused great devastation in Cebu. It seemed hopeless. A lot of people lined up to get water from our house. That cramped neighborhood was really something. I really remembered how hot the weather was after the incident.

During Odette, it was a good thing to be invested in solar lights. At least, there was some light in the evening. It was good to have a generator (eventually) which was used to power up the house for certain periods of time. Former Cebu City mayor, Tomas Osmena, said that Ruping taught him that Cebu should stop over-relying on the national government. That's very true regardless of who the next president will be. I believe local governments should work first instead. It was when CEBOOM happened--the rise of Cebu after the storm. We need to stop the #NasaanAngPangulo (Translated: Where is the president) tag because the local governments should be the first to work.

It was hard navigating the house without the solar lights during Ruping. True, Odette did leave some rooms not usable--at least there were lights. At least, there was soon some order done allowing people to slowly buy stuff to repair their houses. We even had good neighbors who allowed us to charge our devices. It was a pain (for the first few days) to charge the vehicle. The car battery would be destroyed sooner or later. Still, I felt that Odette got manageable because of solar lights, having a generator and that there's currently better technology. Soon, repairs in the household were becoming more manageable. Electricity came back around January. Before that, there was limited electricity via a generator.

After Ruping, I sort of developed a trauma every time there was a brownout. Well, brownouts were very frequent during the 1990s. It could come in the way of projects and exams. Sure, there was no Christmas celebration in 2021. However, it was still l manageable to have a not-merry Christmas with the conveniences of a generator and solar lights. Ruping was probably still a traumatic experience. Fortunately, Cebu has pulled through Typhoon Ruping. It's also pulled through Typhoon Odette. Though, we need to have more public utilities (whether Filipino or foreign) to make better disaster preparedness regardless.

What's the Use of Complaining About Celebrities and Political Dynasties Running for Politics While DEFENDING Presidential and Rejecting Parliamentary?

2025 is just around the corner for the midterm elections . People keep emphasizing the need to "defend the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines" for any amendments whatsoever. If that were true then we really need to remove Article XVII entirely if the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines was meant to be set in stone (read here ). Several camps whether it's PDP-Laban supporters, Liberal Party of the Philippines supporters, Uniteam supporters, etc.--I can expect social media mudslinging at its finest . I keep talking about the need to amend or even replace the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. However, they keep acting like it's the best constitution in the world, they cite Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (and others like the Monsods) to idolatrous levels , and when I talk about the parliamentary system--I can expect the whole, "Boohoo! It will never work because we already tried it under Marcos! The proof was Cesar Virata!" However, I wrote a refute on that

Today in History: Remembering the Earthquake That Hit Bohol (and Affected Cebu)

It's been more than 10 years (and I forgot it was the 10th anniversary of this incident in 2023) since the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Bohol. Certain centuries-old historical spots were damaged. All that was during the reign of the late former president Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III. The Philippines is under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. I forgot about the earthquake then I checked my Facebook feeds today. The photos above are taken from the Facebook page Pmi Confession . I went to Bohol in 2008 for a family reunion. Who'd have thought it was the last time I might see those historical landmarks. I can't exactly remember the places. It's disheartening to watch as these places were all destroyed, after centuries of preservation. It was like the Notre Dame De Paris cathedral fire. Junior Rangers Cebu Brigade It also affected my hometown of Cebu City. What a day to start the morning huh? The famous Sto. Niño Church was already centuries old--hence explaining the dama

Today in History: Hanoi's Liberation Day

Vietnam Times October 10 is mostly associated with Double 10 in Taiwan. However, Communism has its celebration with Hanoi Liberation Day . I got this information from the Vietnam Times on what the day is all about: Along with the victory of Dien Bien Phu campaign, the Geneva Agreements on armistice in Indochina was signed. After many days of struggling in the Geneva Conference, agreements on transfering Hanoi to the Vietnamese people were finally signed on September 30th and October 2nd 1954 in the United Armistice Center Committee. Following the Resolution on September 17th 1954 of the Government Council, the City Troops Committee of Hanoi was established with General Vuong Thua Vu, the commander of the Pioneer Division, as the Chairman and doctor Tran Duy Hung as the Vice Chairman. The City Troops Committee of Hanoi had the task of taking over and managing the city. The Military Commanders ordered the Vietnamese soldier units to take over the city of Hanoi and abide by the policies

Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad: Just a Matter of Strong Leadership Without a Good System?

Jakarta Globe It's very easy to talk about how we need character change only, not a charter change. I say that having a charter change (better termed constitutional reform ) will lead to character change. The old saying of some boomers goes, "It's common sense that nothing is wrong with the system, just the people running the system." However, when I ask something like, "If that's so then why do other nations have better leaders? What about Mahathir Mohamad and Lee Kuan Yew?" Their answer is, "Well, that's proof that the system isn't defective, it's just the leader." This can also come from people who believe what Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. said that there's nothing wrong with the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, that it's the "best in the world". The arguments are clearly illogical at best . Some say that the parliamentary system worked in Malaysia and Singapore because those heading it aren't corrupt. T

I'm Trying to Understand How the Modern Table of Elements Came to Be

GeeksforGeeks I remember the dread of having to study the periodic table. Then again, wasn't school really a dread because of one thing--the fact that the system cares more about grading for the sake of grading instead of grading based on learning . Chemistry is one subject I had some disgust during the second grading (since I personally dislike doing stoichiometry problems). Sure, I can overcome my fear of stoichiometry by watching videos on how it's used but I still feel doing those problems can be a chore. I would like to revisit another wonderful tool in science--the periodic table. Sure, I hated memorizing it back when I was a child. I had to memorize it at 10 years old. We had to restudy it at 3rd year of high school under the K+10 system. Doing the history of science makes science a lot less tedious. I remember my hilariously stupid line of asking, "Who invented math?" back in 4th year of high school. It's part of growing up or not? I looked at the inventio

Most Anti-Constitutional Reform Advocates I Run Into are Stubborn Boomers

As an advocate for constitutional reform, I've been looking at the campaign for more than just voting wisely . Sadly, the Vote Wisely campaign hardly works since the presidential system focuses on popularity. Some people think that a trolling campaign is going to help. I try to explain why the parliamentary system will be better. However, they will continue to throw in the same old narrative where it says, "But we were a parliamentary system under Marcos!" The idea itself has been long refuted . The late Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" A. Aquino Jr. even mentioned the absurdity of it . The way he mentioned, "We had a parliamentary without a parliament ." (read here ) showed how the 1973 Constitution of the Philippines wasn't a real parliamentary government. Even the words of the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. showed that his government wasn't parliamentary (read here ). More importantly, I noticed that many of those I run into on Facebook are actually stu

Today in History: Why Revisiting Paco Larrañaga's UNJUST Arrest is Still a Must Until Today

A diagram found on Facebook, apparently owned by the late Miguel "Juan" Del Gallego y Ripoll I have updated my review of the documentary Give Up Tomorrow more than once. The late Charles Edward P. Celdran even called it a trial by publicity. I could remember the shocked face I made when was told that Francisco Juan G. Larrañaga was innocent . What amazed me is that my friend (I will not mention his name) was also with Paco on that night . Cebu City Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin N. Garcia was among the many witnesses who testified that Paco was in school. There's no denying that Paco himself had previous cases. But the basis of making Paco a suspect can be very loose. There was his alleged kidnapping of a certain Rochelle Virtucio. It's possible that Rochelle never saw the faces of the real perpetrators of the kidnapping attempt. How in the world was Paco suddenly identified as the suspect? It's probably because Paco had a bad reputation it was easy to pin the crime do

Case Unclosed on the Chiong Sisters

Apology: I'm sorry that the video above is in Tagalog, so sorry in advance to non-Filipino readers. As long as an injustice happens, nobody should shut up about a case unclosed . Like the Vizconde Massacre case, nobody really knows who did the crime. With Davidson Rusia's story put into question, one must wonder what really happened in detail. I still believe that the body found in Carcar is really Marijoy Jimenea Chiong . However, the claim that the sperm of the main suspect, Francisco Juan "Paco" G. Larrañaga, and the rest weren't found, makes you wonder who did the autopsy. In my case, the body found in Carcar wasn't formally identified until fingerprints were taken by the police. Nobody claimed the body of the woman found in Carcar. It's easy to say that Give Up Tomorrow is biased because the maker of the video, is a "relative" of Paco (read here ). However, Marty Syjuco is the brother of the brother-in-law of Paco. The brother of one's

REAL TALK: The Liberal Party of the Philippines Can ONLY Become The Genuine Opposition Under A Genuine Parliamentary Constitution

PhilStar It's difficult to talk with people who are still comfortable with what they already know, right? However, the term Dilawan need not be drowned in negativity, but it can be drowned in negativity if the brand gets marred in a popularity-based political system. The Philippines currently uses the presidential system. If we were in a parliamentary system right now--chances are Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. wouldn't be prime minister due to the difficulty involved as explained in " How to Become Singapore's Prime Minister, Explained in 7 Steps ". That means all candidates would need to do the following: Study and specialize Wait for the call Tea sessions and panels Take a test Perform well as an MP Win the trust of your peers Prepare for office The Dilawans can call themselves the genuine opposition, march in their proud yellow t-shirts, and more. However, under a presidential system, there's no real opposition, and the platform of any party

The Chiong Sisters Case Muddled by the Philippines' RAMBUNCTIOUS PRESS?

Here's a clip of the late Carlos P. Celdran and Teddy Boy Locsin Jr. from Michael Collins' YouTube channel. Until now, I still wonder if the director of that awful film Animal (2004) namely Federico "Toto" Natividad Jr. was also there during the Cinemalaya premiere. The film Animal (2004) was once entitled Butakal: Sugapa sa Laman in 1999, meaning Male Pig: Drunkard in Body . This clip talks about just how the whole media frenzy caused a double miscarriage of justice. Celdran, a known reformist and vocal anti-Duterte critic, voiced out the unethical making of a Maalaala Mo Kaya episode. Did I miss something back in the 1990s? All I remember was broadcasting an episode in The Calvento Files. Until now, the ABS-CBN YouTube channel hasn't uploaded it. How both Marty Syjuco and Collins got some clips of the film isn't specifically said. I believe Marty and Michael went to the late Tony Calvento, asked for his permission, and were given permission. I believe tha

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