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This is the church that is located in the huge area of the UP (University of the Philippines). It is an UFO that is open for praying. Mostly students go here to pray they pass their exams. The whole area of the UP is as big as a small city in Germany. And it is the most green place in the city, covered with field and forest. Good air, less noise, good thinking. The UP is and always was home to all dissidents and critical minds in the Philippines. 

When it rains, it often rains very heavily. And maybe for hours. I was lucky to wait for people inside a friend’s place here in Manila. The rain comes very fast and within 30 seconds you are wet as if you were swimming.

just around the corner, where I was waiting for people, as it is a huge market area, workers were unloading this truck of bananas.

So I bought a new camera… Cheap again, maybe it will function at least until the end of my trip…

Today I mostly rode the 3 metro lines,which are going mostly overground and are operated by different companies, so you need different tickets for them. the lines in front of the ticket vendors are easily 100 meters long, so you end up waiting quite a while to buy your ticket. But there are multi-travel tickets…

But I guess famous for the Philippines and also unique are the so called jeepneys:

i could post tons of pictures of them. they all have a different style, but they are not very comfortable for travelling, the more if you are not asian-size grown, as me.

So, they are a colourful spot in the grey and smog-polluted traffic ways

and then there are tricycles with and without human powered engines, here are some human powered ones:

 And shantytowns everywhere. I dont have any numbers, but I guess that a big part of metromanila’s population is living in places like this

from a bit closer, you understand that this is sort of a normal way of living, nothing temporally or rare. the yo Oung people on the photo below are simply hanging out shortly before sunset (which is very fast and the whole year almost exactly at 6 o’clock.

when seeing these buildings, it is more easy to understand why a typhoon and heavy rainfall can cause such desasters. climate change hits the poor people much harder than the rich. this is why climate change is primarily a social issue and should be treated like one. 

tomorrow I will go with some locals to devastated areas that are still suffering a lot from the flood. 

Ketsana has flooded the homes of at least 400000 people here and the body count is around 200, rising. I have been walking around the city most of the day, but my camera refused to witness. I couldnt find a spot where to buy a new one so fast, so what remains are words to report.

Today it was very sunny and hot, this is good for the city to dry a bit, I guess. But the sun was a bit too much for me and so I decided to go home and rest after four hours of strolling around. 

I didnt see many places that were still under water. I saw fireworkers emptying low layered sites, but only rarely. Most of all, I saw mud and trash and dirt all around and everywhere, that started to smell in the sun. I guess this will increase in the next days. The fear of diseases being spread is high. 

Reading local newspapers, the flood is of course the only subject here. For the next weeks it is forbidden to rise prices for basic food and everyone is collecting goods and money for the new homeless people. 

For that purpose, if you want to add a contribution, fellow readers, this is a good and trustworthy address:

						>>> >>> -------- Original Message --------
						

Subject:        URGENT APPEAL for flood victims in the Philippines
Date:        Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:00:07 -0700 (PDT)
From:        GABRIELA Philippines <gabwomen@yahoo.com>
To:        GABRIELA IR <gabwomen@yahoo.com>
Dear Sisters and Friends,
Yesterday, 26 September, typhoon Ondoy brought tons of rains to
Metro Manila, some parts of southern tagalog and central luzon.
Water in our area in Roxas, Quezon City was three stories high;
whole families had to get-up their roofs for safety where they
had to be rescued.  In Sitio Veterans, Brgy Silangan, four
houses  were swept away by the raging waters from the  river.
Whole families were inside the houses; so far 50 bodies have
already been recovered, many of whom were children. Our members
are helping find some of those who are still lost.  In one of our
areas in Muntinlupa, the overflowing lake and river drove people
out of their homes; some were carried away of the current. So
far, three children are still missing.
Even some of our staff have been affected. Water reached up to
the ceiling of the second floor of the house of Obeth, the
coordinator of our services department. The family of louie, our
nurse, was forced out their house by the fast rising water that
reached to the ceiling of their home. The water rose in seconds
so they had to leave hurriedly with only the clothes on their
back. All are badly in need of food, drinking water, blankets,
clothing and even candles.
We are still awaiting more reports from our chapters. But more
than a hundred families from our areas have sought shelter
outside their homes.
We are appealing for any help you can give.
If the donation is in kind, please directly bring to GABRIELA
office at #35 Scout Delgado, Brgy. Bagong Handa, Quezon City. If
the donation is in cash, please let us know so we can give
instructions on how to send money. Also please cc all e-mails to
gabriela25th@gmail.com.
Maraming salamat! (Many Thanks)
In solidarity,
Gert Ranjo-Libang
Member, National Secretariat
GABRIELA Philippines
35 Sct. Delgado St, Brgy. Laging Handa
Quezon City, 1103 Philippines
TeleFax: (632) 374 44 23
E-mail: gabwomen@yahoo.com
GABRIELA is a grassroots-based alliance of more than 200 women's
organizations, institutions, desks and programs in the
Philippines. We seek to wage a struggle for the liberation of
women and the rest of our people.

Yesterday I arrived in Manila, only 12 hours after the heaviest rain in decades. I am fine, but a lot of people here have lost their homes and around 10 died in Manila only due to the floodings.