In the midst of tropical storm Kristine, the whole Bicol region sank in waters. For what seemed like a rare occurrence before, flood became a common sight to see in every corner of Bicol that fateful time in late October.
We’ve all seen the photos of Naga City, an urban community filled with residences and public establishments suddenly turned into a wasteland after the flash floods of Kristine. But even though it was very shocking to see it happen in a place like Naga, it wasn’t technically the same for other areas surrounding it.
Enter Mangayawan. That is the name of my hometown where I grew up as a child and where many of my family still lives in. It’s a coastal village in the municipality of Canaman, located directly in front of the Bicol River.
It was named Mangayawan because it was known for the numerous mango trees and bamboo stalks that you might chance to see spread so abundantly if you head to the fields and forests beyond the houses of the people who lived there. It had mangga and kawayan. Mangayawan.
With that area of Canaman being filled with coastal towns, using boats and going around the river was like second nature to the people who lived there. There was only one high school available for those villages — Mangayawan High School — so students from nearby villages had to catch a motorboat to go to school every day. It was also the only mode of travel that can be used to go to villages on the other side of the river like Iquin and Maalsom.
But no matter how used to water these people are, none of them were prepared when Kristine came rushing in with its floods accompanied by the high tide. Affinity to water won’t matter when said water is rushing with a speed so abnormal and starts reaching the roofs of everyone’s houses.
In Mangayawan, families who fortunately had houses with a second storey were able to stay safe from the flood. But it’s an unfortunate reality that many, if not all, of those living in the other neighboring villages only had low bungalow houses that the flood could swallow so easily.
Imagine being one of those people in the neighboring villages of Mangayawan — stuck in the unstable galvanized roof of your house as you see the water rushing beneath you. There’s no electricity, no lights, no signal. All you have is yourself and a motorboat you use every day to get to other villages. What would you do?
It might seem like a hopeless case to others, with some probably resorting to wait for rescue. However, search and rescue operations in that part of Canaman are incredibly slow and nearly impossible to happen instantly, at least in comparison to Manila or even Naga, because of how remote the area is.
But luckily, those people from neighboring villages knew what to do. Before the flood could swallow them with their houses, they packed their salvaged things and used their motorboats to go to the nearest village they knew they had a chance to survive in: Mangayawan.
Although the village of Mangayawan was also stuck in flood, it was a little safer compared to the other nearby villages because it had a big multipurpose hall, a few more two-storey houses, and most importantly, we have the Mangayawan High School.
That high school had three buildings built with a second floor, and so all villagers with houses ravaged by the flood and those from the other side of the river rushed to the high school to evacuate.
Some of the villagers in Mangayawan immediately went to help those who needed to be evacuated.
For several days, they stayed in the high school, only able to use boats to get in and out of the institution. In a span of a few hours only, the school became an evacuation center to house all those who are in need of shelter during that dangerous night.
Alma Basmayor, the barangay captain of Mangayawan, went around the village with other men and women who were able to assist. They were able to provide help to more people, giving them food and water as much as they could.
Basmayor said in a Facebook post: “An importante po dae kita naarog sa ibang lugar na dakol an nawaran buhay asin mayo nang harong na nabalikan. Blessed pa din po kita maski arog kaini an inagihan ta.”
(What’s important is that we didn’t become like other places where lives were taken and had no homes to get back to. We are still blessed even though we went through something like this.)
And perhaps, there is truth in what she said. The village of Mangayawan somehow had this stroke of luck because no casualties nor injuries were reported despite how intense the village was ravaged by the storm.
It’s a testament to how resilient Mangayawan is as a village. As a coastal town, it had seen its fair share of ferocious storms and floods even in the past. But it remains to be a safe haven for people who live in smaller villages in the other side of the river.
It’s also an important wake up call to the local government that it’s important to reach even the most remote places in our cities and municipalities. Because once we provide these people the necessary support and build them the needed facilities, then maybe they don’t have to go to Mangayawan anymore. Maybe they’ll get to stay in their own villages and have a more sustainable storm preparedness plan.
But until then, the village of Mangayawan will always be there to stay. And it shall continue to function as a sanctuary of its own in the next few storms to come.
