The title of a recently released Yahoo! article is: "Flood kills 246 in Philippines; survivors seek aid". As we can see from the caption, many people are pretty distraught over the loss of their property and loved ones.

The impact of the floods caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana was devastating: "Flood victims trudged through ankle-deep sludge to crowded relief centers in the Philippines on Tuesday, as the death toll rose to 246 from water that inundated the homes of nearly 2 million people". The key phrases are "ankle-deep sludge" and "inundated". It's hard for people to not have a roof over their heads. "Tropical Storm Ketsana brought some of the worst flooding to the Southeast Asian country in four decades, chasing some to their rooftops to escape the rising water (and even this wasn't enough for some) and SWEEPING OTHERS DOWN RAGING RIVERS (these folks are even more unfortunate)".

According to Nguyen Minh Tuan, a provincial disaster official in Vietnam, "The rivers are rising and many homes are flooded (and uninhabitable) and many mountainous areas are blocked by mudslides".

Residents told harrowing tales. According to Herminio Abahat, who was separated by his wife by a raging river (his wife is probably dead by now), "What happened was the water suddenly rose. We did not know that it would reach the second floor so we went to the roof but that gave in, so we just floated in the water, holding on to a trunk of a banana tree". Perhaps his wife couldn't hold on.

Ginger Comprendio had a similar experience: "I did not know what transpired. WE WERE ON TOP OF A ROOF, but we got separated. The next day, when I came back to our house, I SAW MY ELDEST ALREADY DEAD and my aunt SAW MY OTHER CHILD BURIED IN THE MUD". Her husband is still missing. If we consider what this lady is saying, perhaps we shouldn't have such large families (i.e. to those people who are not yet parents, perhaps we should have fewer children), because if there is a catastrophic disaster and people are lost, there will inevitably be MORE HEARTACHE.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would say little more than "We're responding to the extent we can to this once-in-a-lifetime typhoon emergency". Apparently, the Arroyo administration hasn't done much.

This sentiment was echoed by National Disaster Coordinating Council chairman Gilberto Teodore: "There is a sense of extreme urgency that we prepare". Again, there is no evidence of this "extreme urgency".

What's our rationale for the above statement? People are angry. Just look at what Pat Uy, a 38-year-old gift shop owner has to say: "The government should not us to go to Katipunan to get supplies.  They SHOULD bring them here", but of course, they won't. Uy's gift shop was also flooded.

If Filipinos expect their government to help them, good luck to them because if history is any reminder, the government is pretty inept. The first president accused of rampant corruption was Ferdinand E. Marcos. Marcos was succeeded by Corazon Aquino, who pursued democratic reforms (Aquino was named Time's "Woman of the Year . However, the presidents after Aquino (Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada especially and incumbent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) were corrupt again. This means that, from the list of the five most recent Philippine presidents, ONLY ONE wasn't corrupt and we're not talking about the incumbent, so this is not a good sign.