life in Pinas..

The Philippines once again hit the international press due to the visit of recent tropical storm "Ondoy" (international name Ketsana) and typhoon Pepeng (international name Parma). It's not the best publicity the country can get - but once again, the Pinoys showed the world that we are survivors.

Even with strong winds and rain, our life goes on...

Here are some practical pointers to those who have decided to settle back in your home country, we lovingly refer to as PINAS.

Do's

01. Map out your future plan specially regarding your source of income. Are you retiring, going to work again or start your own business?

02. If you are going to start your own business, venture into something you know. It's always better to invest in your own knowledge. Perform due diligence like observing the traffic of consumer and see if the location is right for the business that you have in mind.

03. Bring home the greens. Don't convert your hard-earned dollars into Pesos immediately. Remember that the forex exchange is very unstable. Get a 'feel' and observe the daily rates and change your dollars when rates are on its highest.

04. Be practical. You're moving back to the country for good so don't spend too much on gimmicks and good time. Remember that you're not on holiday, you're back for good.

05. Bring 'pasalubongs' only for your very close family since they are the reason why you worked away from home anyway. You don't need to explain anything to anyone since this is your life and your future that you are preparing for.

Don'ts

01. Don't compare the Philippines with the country where you came from, pointing out that other country is better. Remember, this is where you came from. Pinas is where your roots came from.

02. Don't convert the local prices to the currency that you used to earn. If you do, you will eventually get lost in conversion - not in translation.

03. Don't stick to the imported brands that you got used while living away from Pinas. Always remember that the products made in the Philippines were specially designed for the environmental factors of the country. Buy local and support Philippine-made products.

04. Don't make yourself a foreigner to your own country. Try to familiarize yourself with the places and things that you got used to growing up. Believe me, it'll all come back to you.

05. Don't ponder on the notion that you are new in the country. If you do, you'll only make yourself a prey to the fierce shady people who are ready to eat you alive.

In the morning of 26th September 2009 (Saturday), we were all set-out to have a nice fun day in the city. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, popularly known as PAGASA - raised Signal No. 1 that day. However, Signal No. 1 is just like our normal rains, only a little stronger so we decided to go ahead with our plans.

Where we were live in Laguna, we only had some light rains but it was still cloudy when we were leaving. By the time we got to the Southern Luzon Express Way (SLEX), the rains became stronger. It was pouring fast, in fact faster than my wipers making driving a little difficult. The other cars had their hazard signals on making it even more difficult since you just don't know when they are changing lanes.

After we reached Alabang, there were some parts where cars are slowing down due to some small puddles on the highway. However when we were a little over 1 km from the C5 exit, traffic started to slow down and eventually to a complete stop. That was around 10:45am and SLEX became a big parking area.

I decided to just stay in the car, hoping that it was just the regular flood that everyone's hesitant to cross - scared that their cars might be stalled by the flood. What we didn't know was that the water was quickly rising. By lunchtime (a little over 12 noon), we decided to have a look around like everyone else. We were all "uzi's" (short for "usisero" or rubberneckers). We were shocked to see what was in front of us, the highway was filled with water that you can no longer see the barriers that divides the north and south bound lanes.

Soon enough, we were all hungry and thinking that we might be forced to spend the night in our cars - we had to look for a way to get out of the highway to buy anything that we can eat. At first, we managed with local delicacies that I bought from a man who alighted a provincial bus and was supposed to deliver the sweets to Manila. He decided to walk back to the South when the bus was not moving for over 2 hours.

But these were not enough, we were hungry and thirsty so we decided to brave the storm and try to get out of the highway. There was a supermarket closeby and a fuel station on the service road. We had to crawl through a small gap in the highway fence to be able to enter the service road. By this time, we were now hungry, thirsty and wet. We got to the store, bought whatever we can - chips, biscuits, water and bottled drinks - used the restroom. We decided that we should just go back to the car in case the water subsides and traffic begins to move.

Finally , the water subsided leaving behind a lot of mud. Traffic started to move and we managed to get out of SLEX by 2:30pm. We tried to go to the nearest mall but the roads are again blocked due to neck-high water. There was no way but to turn around. We decided to just take the chance and head back home. This was a little before 3pm.

The roads were promisingly clear of any traffic, except for the cars that were earlier stalled by the floods. Passing them, we thought that we should just hurry home and rest.

What we didn't know was that there was even more traffic ahead of us. Apparently a dam from the nearby province needed to release some water. It was now 3:30pm.

Since we were on the southbound lane of the highway and this area where traffic stopped, there was nothing to see, just the plants and the trees. I was turning the car on and off to save on gas but after being stuck there for over 4 hours, I decided to go on the shoulder and see where it would take me. My gas level was low and by this time, we were hungry, thirsty and desperate to get home. The rain actually stopped by now but everything else was the same.

I took the longer road home - through the old national highway - not expecting anything at all. We need to eat so we were searching for anything - McDonald's, Jollibee or any fastfood. In one town, nothing was open so we moved on towards where we live but on the prowl for the next food stop. There were some stops in between our slow travel because some areas were still flooded and I had to assess if we can cross the waters or not. Most of the time, I drove behind the big buses that were sweeping the water away when they pass.

Finally, we got to a fastfood - they had no drinks but luckily we still had some water in the car and soon we arrived home at 11:15pm - close to midnight. I thought that what we have gone through was horrible until we saw the news the following day..