Typhoon Ondoy wreaked havoc in four regions in the Philippines. In Metro Manila, 45 barangays in Marikina, Malabon, Muntinlupa, Quezon, Makati, Pasay, Pasig, Valenzuela, and San Juan experienced floods of various levels.

To help the plight of the typhoon victims, the Sanggunian ng Mag-aaral created the Ateneo Task Force (ATF) Ondoy which managed relief operations from September 27 until October 6. The relief operations were first stationed in Colayco Pavilion and Cervini Hall before transferring to the college covered courts.

They also coordinated with the Office of Student Activities (OSA), Office of Social Concern and Involvement, Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB), Council of Organization in the Ateneo, Ateneo Resident-Students Association, Ateneo Dream Team, administration, and some non-government organizations.

ATF Sector Head Philippe Thomas Disini explained that the operations began when he and other students were stranded in school due to the storm. OSA Director Chris Castillo assembled the top officers of the Loyola Schools and other members of the Sanggunian to form a communications center in MVP-CSL.

“The communications center tried to locate where Ateneans were, especially those who were stranded and flooded,” he said.
“Our first worry was the people’s safety, keeping in touch [with] those who are not at home,” said University President Fr. Ben Nebres, SJ.
Collective efforts

SLB Director Bro. IJ Chan-Gonzaga, SJ, said that he was impressed with the speed and efficiency that the Sanggunian displayed, especially during the first three days of relief operations.

“They did it so well and there were so many volunteers—dormers, athletes, [Blue Babble Battalion], even Ms. Earth candidates and celebrities,” said Chan-Gonzaga.

He clarified that although the base of the operations was in Ateneo, not all the volunteers were Ateneans.

Disini said that on average, there were at least 1000 volunteers everyday, the most leading to 5000.

Volunteer Francisco Rodriguez’s (AB PoS ‘07) birthday was during the day of the storm.

“Birthday ko tapos… maraming tao sa Pilipinas na namamatay (It was my birthday and, there were so many Filipinos who were dying).” This was his motivation to help.

Jay Duhaylungsod, another volunteer, also celebrated his birthday during the second day of operations. He invited everyone who greeted him to go to the covered courts.

“Everyone has to get involved,” he said. “Just because [a person] is safe, does not mean he shouldn’t do anything.”

In the flurry of grown-ups and teenagers lugging heavy boxes and plastic bags, children also helped in sorting food and filling bags. Michella Avanceña-Cruz, who brought her son, said that they have been following for storm updates over the weekend.

“My son knows about it, I want him to be exposed to this at a young age,” she said. “He has to know this.”

Apart from helping, relief operations became some sort of a work-out. English Assistant Professor Ada Loredo said that her favorite part was the assembly line, calling it “biceps and triceps exercise.”

Organizations also lent their services to the relief operations. To assist the Ateneo Dream Team in collecting money, SLB opened a checking account for monetary donations.

The Ateneo Dream Team is a university-wide disaster management committee.

However, School of Management Chair Daryll Santillan said that the devastation caused by Ondoy needed more than a committee. To address this, ATF was created to mobilize relief operations and to help in rehabilitation.

Ateneo ROTC Corps Commander Gil Aquino said that “the relief ops was a sight to behold.”

“I have never seen Ateneans unite and work [this] hard for something, except for Ateneo-La Salle games,” he said.
ROTC members helped in the covered courts in 18-hour shifts. The School of Humanities also held a mass called “Magis: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves.”

Volunteers could also opt to be deployed in relief areas.

Overmanned
Looking for volunteers was not difficult. Sanggunian President Gio Tingson credits the large turnout to social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. “Through them, we were able to get more people to volunteer, disseminate information, and get donations even from Japan and the United States.”

Disini said that people themselves initiate that they want to help, they only had to direct the volunteers where to go.

However, at some point, the operations became overmanned. Volunteers would just be talking or loitering in the corners.

“The traffic of people was hard to contain because there were so many volunteers and not enough goods to pack,” said Santillan.

Some of the volunteers had to be sent to other relief efforts in the University of the Philippines and La Salle.

“We really tried to get everyone involved because it was their initiative to volunteer.”

However, for ROTC Second Lieutenant Giovanni Angelo Balaguer, the volunteers weren’t enough.

“Ang daming tao na gustong tumulong pero mas marami ang kailangang tulungan (There are many people who want to help but there are more people who need help).”

Chan-Gonzaga said this problem was caused by the misallocation of volunteers. He said that some areas had multiple deployments while others had none.

Blue Bayanihan
“Ondoy is different because we got affected,” said Chan-Gonzaga. “If [a student] enters his classroom, he can be sure that at least one of his classmates is affected.” He added that 74 percent of the University members were, in one way, hit by the typhoon.

In the Ateneo alone, nearly 1,200 students and 185 faculty members were affected by Ondoy. One of which was Julie Bagasbas, OSA office staff, who lived in Provident, said Sanggunian Secretary-General Kacci Morales.

Provident is one of the most devastated villages in Marikina City.

“Ate Julie went back to [her house] to get her dog,” said Morales in Filipino. “When she entered her house, she found her landlord dead.” The landlord’s body also went missing, she added.

Junior Jemika Soledad, who dorms in Provident, said that the water rose quickly. She even saw carabaos swimming through the flood. “The neighbors were asking us if we called for rescue but no one was coming.”

Soon, the roofs of their houses were submerged in water. Soledad had to grab hold of electric wires to help her get through the current.
Soledad remembers that people around her were screaming in desperation. A weighty girl, who said that the wires would break if she clung to them, announced that she would just be swayed by the current.

A little boy also slipped off from his nanny’s hand.

“You would just want to cover your ears because you might burst out crying [with what people were saying],” she said in Filipino.
Apart from the relief operations, Ateneo has also begun cleaning devastated areas such as Ateneoville, where many employees stay, and Provident. “We are also going to focus on rehabilitation of these places,” said Nebres.

Tingson said that they plan to have a project called “Kadakila” where they would hold tutorials for students and job fares. However, as of press time, details are still being finalized.

ATF also began the Blue Bayanihan. “It’s where we ask for donations in the form of appliances, furniture, and other household items and we try to see who are most in need of these things,” said Tingson.

Tingson said that these are an agenda for a new beginning. “It might continue until the elections where we try to account the running officials as to what they will do in terms of disaster response.”

Although relief operations have stopped, Tingson said they still accept donations, help in clean-up, and continue medical missions.

Outside the classroom
In a memo on September 30, Loyola Schools Vice President announced that final exams would be cancelled so that students could focus more on helping the victims.

As future leaders of the country, Nebres advised that students listen to each other’s stories so that they could learn from the experience.

“Many teachers are affected and students lost their books, we have to give more flexibility,” he added.

“Students have always been thought of as apathetic, but when given a chance like this, leaders really emerge [in them] and people help out,” said School of Humanities Dean Luz Vilches.

For Sanggunian Finance Officer Rob Roque, in light of the events, there’s no longer a need for traditional classes. Instead, students can move to an alternate class where students can learn and help at the same time.

“This is really a struggle for all of us but the end point is to help those in need,” he said.

Tingson said that these events expose the realities of how Ateneans are shaped and the positive ones can be seen in the volunteers. He challenges the students to live up to what they were taught and to not take advantage of the situation.

With reports from Bea C. Cupin, Klarisse P. Felix, Lourdes M. Jimenez, and Joan C. Medalla.