6 displaced families stay in Malacañang's Ceremonial Hall

MANILA, Philippines - Upon entering Malacañang’s Ceremonial Hall Wednesday night, six families from Tatalon in Quezon City who lost their homes in Saturday’s flood could not believe they would be living there temporarily.

It was the first time for all six families to enter the famed halls of Malacañang where all the formal ceremonies were held.

The six families were the second batch of flood victims brought to the Palace from the Diosdado Macapagal Elementary School, which is being used as an evacuation center for the residents of Tatalon.

Last Tuesday, the 16 families whose homes were destroyed by the flood and fire, arrived at Malacañang and were placed inside the Mabini Hall where a lot of the offices were located.

It was not clear why or how the six families were chosen to stay at the Ceremonial Hall but one thing was clear – they were more than appreciative of this gesture from President Arroyo.

For Roger Oclarit, he felt excited and anxious when he and his family were brought to the Ceremonial Hall and given a spot to occupy.

His cousin, Andrew Moran, said he had to carry his wife, Ivy, and each of their three children on his back to take them to the school for safety.

The school was quickly filled with hundreds of families who also lost their homes last Saturday.

While there was food provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Ivy said it was a challenge for them everyday because they had to compete to get food stubs with the rest of the people there.

They lost everything they owned in the flood but still they considered themselves more fortunate than some of their neighbors, who had to cope with a fire that broke out while the floodwaters were rising.

Now that they are in the Palace, they expressed gratitude for living in a clean environment, being fed three times a day, enjoying air-conditioning and donations from the First Family.

Viktoria “Kakai” Arroyo, wife of Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Arroyo, and her children Eva Viktoria and Diosdado Miguel visited the occupants of the Ceremonial Hall yesterday and handed out some old clothes, bags and toys for the families.

Kakai said her children personally picked out the clothes and toys they wanted to give to the children of the displaced families after seeing on television how the residents of Metro Manila lost their homes to tropical storm “Ondoy.”

“I am happy because even though they are still young, they already know the importance of helping others,” she said.

She was with her children at one of the relief centers in the first few days after the flood, helping repack relief goods.

Mrs. Arroyo’s daughter, Ma. Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo-Bernas, had been leading the operations at the relief center in Malacañang, which was spearheaded by the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

Kakai said she does not mind getting tired from helping the relief operations because she just wanted to do something to help.

PMS director general Hermogenes Esperon said the evacuees at the Palace would stay there until the evacuation centers are no longer crowded or they are able to find new homes.       – Marvin Sy