#3 What Really Happened

A week before Christmas, tropical typhoon Sendong   hit the Philippines particularly in the Northern Mindanao. The flood was too strong and unexpected that it took thousands of lives in a snap of a finger in some parts of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro City. Some of my relatives were directly hit by the devastation and some of my college classmates were majorly affected also. Just like Kim Ashley Escalona, one of my college classmates.  According to her, it happened around 10 o’clock in the evening. Heavy rain started to fall. She thought that it’s going to be an ordinary rainy night but it’s not. Then by around 12 midnight the electricity went out. She and her father heard a wave-like sound coming towards their house. Her father went outside to check what’s going on. She heard her father shouted to come out of the house immediately and to leave everything and just run as fast they can so they can get out of their house. When she reached their living room the water level is already high. She thought that they’re going to be trapped inside their house but luckily the back door can still be opened. They all climbed to their roof for it is the safest place for the mean time. By 2 in the morning the rain stopped and the water is already taming so her parents decided that they should take a rest for it was a very energy-consuming event. After hitting Iligan and Cagayan de Oro City, the government responded accordingly. Donations from private sectors in the society rushed in.  Neighboring countries like Taiwan and China. Government agencies like DepEd, DSWD, DOH, DILG and PNOA also helped by setting out money to help the victims. The City Public Plaza of Iligan was made as a packaging area of donation and even the Mindanao State University- Iligan Institute of Technology opened its gates to be an evacuation center.

-with Noriegin B. Daitia

#2 A Situation I Could Never Imagine

When I heard about the devastation that occurred in some areas in Iligan City and Cagayan, I was stunned for a moment because I could never believe that such phenomenon could happen. It was all over the news. Houses, buildings, cars, and even lives were washed away by Typhoon Sendong. I saw thousands of homeless families on evacuation who are helpless and weeping because they had lost their loved ones.  It happened few days before Christmas and it made me very sad because how can they celebrate the birth of Christ in that situation.  I can hear sorrow and despair whenever a survivor of the typhoon recalls how bitter that night was.  I can’t find the exact words to say to them but I manage to say “I’m happy you’re safe. I know God is always with you. He will never leave your side.”  We can’t blame God for what happened. We can’t question why He let this happen because all the things that our Almighty Father does has a reason. Everything happened for a reason. I may not know what it is but let's just thank Him that he gave us another day to prove that we are worthy to live in his wonderful creation, the Earth. 

#1 What's Up With The Writing in The Discipline?

Writing in the discipline for me is all about writing your thoughts in a very systematic way. My idea of it is you follow certain guidelines, rules or policies to make your writing organized. It can help us organize our thoughts so that will get to the point of what we are thinking. It will also help us correct our grammar because we often misuse it. We might often write our thoughts in a way that someone might not get the idea of it. So writing in the discipline might be able to help us in a way that we can emphasize our thoughts perfectly. Well for me, being engaged in the course English 2: Writing in the Discipline will guide in me making my writings understandable, organize and maybe perfectly done in a way that I will not embarrass myself for using wrong words and not writing in a systematic way but all in all my idea of this course is that it will make your thoughts organized into writing.