A lot of areas in Marikina, Cainta, and Pasig are still reeling from the devastation caused by Typhoon Ondoy, which flooded large areas of Luzon, Philippines last Saturday, 26 September 2009.

With classes suspended, that will help decongest the roads, and will help speed up rescue and relief efforts. Aside from lack of electricity and water in various places, people are scrambling for drinking water.

Several stores in Marikina, for example, are closed. Residents who are cleaning their mud-filled houses are having a difficult time getting around, because vehicles used for public transportation got submerged in floodwaters over the weekend.

The floods in some areas of Marikina have subsided, but the roads are filled with mud. Hopefully, the few stores that are still open will be able to replenish their supplies. For now, however, everyone is living on just a day-to-day basis, because groceries are limiting the number of bottled water that you can purchase.

Public markets are open, so people can still buy rice and vegetables.

I don’t know how long it will take to recover, and there are reports of another storm arriving in the Philippines this coming Thursday. Here is the Weather Satellite Map.

It shows how the storms or low pressure areas near the Philippines have moved in the past 5 to 6 hours. From what I see, there are two storms coming in from the east (they’re much closer to Guam, for now).

They’re not as large as Ondoy (Ketsana), but given the situation in the Philippines, I pray the coming rains do not severely flood the badly hit areas.

To my kababayans, we still have time to prepare. Either we seek higher ground, or find ways to make it easy for our family members to survive on some food and water good for 3 to 5 days.

Please set aside some plastic bags (garbage bags) where you can pack your emergency clothes, flashlights, batteries, candles, matches, drinking water, bread, a can opener (if you like canned goods).

Keep monitoring the news, and for those with internet access, try monitoring Twitter: @juliusbabao, @giboteodoro, @mlq3

We can and we will survive this. Let us help one another, remain vigilant, pray, and have faith.

Several SMS text messages have been floating around warning us to avoid certain popular snack products. What is the DOH of the Philippines doing about this?

MELAMINE-LACED MILK: 7 products free from contamination — Emedia.com shares the latest findings from the Malaysian Health Ministry. The MOH even has a melamine watch website (although I’m still searching for the English version).

What about the DOH here in the Philippines? They need to disseminate more information.

UPDATE: Farm-Raised Fish Given Tainted Food — Looks like the contamination is not limited to milk/dairy products. It also involved wheat flour, according to this May 2007 article.

If you visit the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (http://www.ava.gov.sg), you’ll find their latest news on products suspected of having melamine, as well as background info on the said chemical.

If you visit the website of the Department of Health of the Philippines (http://www.doh.gov.ph), what do you think you’ll find?

I did a search for “melamine” on the homepage of the DOH, but did not find anything. So I clicked on the Press Release page and found articles dated 2006! The Press Release page contains a link to DOH Advisories, and the latest advisory I saw there (just a few minutes ago) was dated April 18, 2006.

Perhaps the DOH needs a WordPress blog so that they can easily update their web site?

[UPDATE: That was fast! Just a few minutes after I published this blog post, the DOH web site now shows a completely different look. Wish I had made some screenshots awhile ago, but what's the point. At least they're now updating their site. Kudos to the DOH!]

Anyway, does this mean we can safely consume dairy products from other countries? Well, not so fast…

Read about New Zealand’s Melamine Contamination, which has some relation to pesticides. You do realize where they use pesticides, right? And what animals consume plants? Right. I hope the health departments sort this one out quickly.

Here’s another update: Products With Melamine — list of products pulled out of racks in Singapore.

Here’s yet another Products with Melamine post which provides a list of products which the Centre for Food Safety in HongKong has found to contain melamine.

In Cainta, however, a bank robbery was preceded by bomb threats at the town hall. Perhaps the threat was a way of ensuring the policemen were massed far away from the bank?

Speaking of bombs, a bomb joke delays a Cebu Pacific flight. Sheesh. When will people ever learn?

In Indonesia, the VP approved of marijuana as a spice, baby.

In La Union, one person is killed in a blast.

In other developments, an “Extreme to Severe” terror alert remains over Central Mindanao and the ARMM region. Meanwhile, the CHR hits the ISAFP “innocence” over the disappearance of Burgos.

The Senate, on the other hand, ratifies the new UP charter, as higher oil prices push inflation to 2.4% in May.

In showbiz, Vandolph plans to marry his girlfriend in December.

The NTC can now block the SIM cards of sms text pranksters, so that should help ease your occasional texting troubles.

Congratulations to Miss Japan for winning the Ms. Universe crown. Ms. Philippines did not make it to the Top 15, but she was named Ms. Photogenic.

Meanwhile, the SEC clears the BDO-Equitable merger. The RP-Australia military pact, on the other hand, is ready for signing.