While I was waiting for the printing of my Savemore grocery receipts, there’s an old man, who looked somewhat tattered, who placed a small can of sardines on the cashier’s counter. It was P14 more or less. His coins were not enough but he managed to dig into his pockets to complete the amount. I was watching him and wanted to tell him I would pay for the sardines. I have just bought some 2,000 canned goods and what’s one can more? The cashier placed the one can inside a brown bag.
He walked towards the door avoiding the employees who were on the floor busy packing my stuff. I grabbed the old man’s right arm and leaned over to a box of sardines and took two cans and gave it to the man. He was surprised, but he managed to say “salamat”. The people around us stopped for a moment including the cashiers and manager. Para bang biglang na-freeze sila. They were all looking at me. Then I heard one guy said “tiga Tacloban”. As if on cue, after he sad that, they all continued moving. Expect na mauuso ngayon yan. pag merong nanlilimos o nangungutang, baka sabihin tiga-Tacloban.
I cleared some of the racks.
The ones left were more expensive na. Kaya ang hirap pumili. We had to stretch our pesos to be able to give to more people.
A———– “Ihanap mo pa ako nung hindi lampas ng P16 isa.
Guy——— “Mam heto, P26”
A———– “Lampas, yung mga P16 lang”.
Guy——— “Mam, ito, P21”.
Why is bottled water so costly?
They all got tired helping me.
Tony———- “Mam, sobra na yung kinuha nyo na juice”.
A————- “Bakit ilan na ba?”
Tony———- “Eh 1,700 na”.
A————- “Ilang boxes?”
Tony———- “17”
A————- “17 x 10 per box = 170 packs, eh di kulang pa”.
(we placed two juice packs per bag)
I occupied several lanes
We also included some chips just to stave off the victims’ hunger. It was difficult to choose cheaper ones. They all came in very nice world-class packaging, but the contents were so konti. tila 50 centavos lang ang cost ng laman, tapos we’re just paying for the wrappers that clutter mother earth.
Savemore employees didn’t want to accept the tip I was giving them, idagdag na lang daw para sa relief. I messaged the owner and informed him na ayaw mga tumanggap ng tip, para naman ma-good shot sila.
Yesterday, I phoned my friend Katrina Bonnevie-Sanvictores, who’s now based in Cebu with her husband Raffy. I thought she would be able to provide more information regarding possible areas that are reachable by land from Cebu. She said Bantayan Island could be reached within 3 hours by land. She said those were damaged during the earthquake. I told her my rough plan, to drive there and cook lugaw or soup for the people. It doesn’t sound so easy given that there’s no facilities, like water, no transpo, etc. She promised to gather some statistics like how many people are needing help. There are many Cebuanos capable of helping this town. And daming mayaman sa Cebu. But helping is difficult to sustain. Kasi you bring food today, bukas gutom na naman sila. So tulung-tulong na lang, konti-konti, kung ano ang makayanan natin.
Before leaving the office on friday night, I made sample “balots” so the staff would have a guide the next day when they come to pack.
We have several variations, and Oyen added toiletries like shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes.
Meron ding coffee.
Mazda Makati’s conference room had been transformed into a relief center.
Pretty volunteers.
