Creative public transpo now floats in Pasig City streets
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JAM SISANTE, GMANews.TV
09/30/2009 | 12:51 AM
Disaster can also be the mother of invention. It only takes a pressing situation, no matter how dire and tragic it is, for an average Pinoy to turn into MacGyver – one who can whip out something out of discarded household objects in order to survive.
In Barangay Pinagbuhatan in Pasig, where flood waters have been slow to subside, enterprising Pinoys have fashioned crudely-made rafts out of almost anything that floats: plastic pipes, styrofoam, airbeds. These makeshift rafts take stranded residents from their flooded houses to drier areas, enabling them to go to work despite the seemingly hopeless circumstances.
For Sonny, a 19-year-old engineering student, it all started with a common predicament. Knowing that many in his community needed transportation through filthy brown water, he and his 13-year-old brother Jessie set up their bike to make a pedicab that would bring commuters to commercial areas outside the village for a fee.
For Sonny – as well as for the countless others who saw business opportunities in these trying times – business is good. Sonny said he gets about seven passengers a day within a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. working period.
The prices, ranging from P75 to P150 for a two- to three-kilometer ride, can be steep for some. But many are willing to pay so they can stay dry, keep their jobs and continue to put food on the table.
Elsie de Leon, 56, is one of those people. Riding in one of the rafts to get to a nearby grocery store, the mother of three told GMANews.TV that she has to brave the flood that has seeped into their house to buy food.
"Wala kang makain, puro itlog lang. Itlog at dalawang de-lata, pinagkasya namin (We had nothing to eat but eggs. Just eggs and a couple of canned goods that we made do with)," she said.
Mrs. De Leon lives with her husband, three children, and her 80-year-old mother in a subdivision. She said she had never seen rainfall as heavy as what "Ondoy" brought during her 13-year stay in the area.
"Ngayon lang kami binaha kaya talagang memorable yung Ondoy na ito (This is the first time that we got flooded so this Ondoy is really memorable)," she said.
The waters outside her house remain nearly knee-deep to this day, she said, adding that water inside her home is ankle-high. "Pag may dumaan na sasakyan, papasok uli, maglilimas kami (When a vehicle passes, water will seep in again and we'd have to get rid of it again)."
As of Tuesday night, a total of 246 people have been confirmed dead while 334,959 families or 1,939,729 people nationwide have been affected by "Ondoy," according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council. - GMANews.TV
In Barangay Pinagbuhatan in Pasig, where flood waters have been slow to subside, enterprising Pinoys have fashioned crudely-made rafts out of almost anything that floats: plastic pipes, styrofoam, airbeds. These makeshift rafts take stranded residents from their flooded houses to drier areas, enabling them to go to work despite the seemingly hopeless circumstances.
For Sonny, a 19-year-old engineering student, it all started with a common predicament. Knowing that many in his community needed transportation through filthy brown water, he and his 13-year-old brother Jessie set up their bike to make a pedicab that would bring commuters to commercial areas outside the village for a fee.
For Sonny – as well as for the countless others who saw business opportunities in these trying times – business is good. Sonny said he gets about seven passengers a day within a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. working period.
The prices, ranging from P75 to P150 for a two- to three-kilometer ride, can be steep for some. But many are willing to pay so they can stay dry, keep their jobs and continue to put food on the table.
Elsie de Leon, 56, is one of those people. Riding in one of the rafts to get to a nearby grocery store, the mother of three told GMANews.TV that she has to brave the flood that has seeped into their house to buy food.
"Wala kang makain, puro itlog lang. Itlog at dalawang de-lata, pinagkasya namin (We had nothing to eat but eggs. Just eggs and a couple of canned goods that we made do with)," she said.
Mrs. De Leon lives with her husband, three children, and her 80-year-old mother in a subdivision. She said she had never seen rainfall as heavy as what "Ondoy" brought during her 13-year stay in the area.
"Ngayon lang kami binaha kaya talagang memorable yung Ondoy na ito (This is the first time that we got flooded so this Ondoy is really memorable)," she said.
The waters outside her house remain nearly knee-deep to this day, she said, adding that water inside her home is ankle-high. "Pag may dumaan na sasakyan, papasok uli, maglilimas kami (When a vehicle passes, water will seep in again and we'd have to get rid of it again)."
As of Tuesday night, a total of 246 people have been confirmed dead while 334,959 families or 1,939,729 people nationwide have been affected by "Ondoy," according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council. - GMANews.TV
