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Ondoy Survivors at Ultra Victimized Twice Over

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
As if the trauma of losing their homes and belongings were not enough, evacuees at the PhilSports Arena, formerly known as the Ultra, faced more problems as the government seemingly backtracked on its promise to relocate the displaced families. Worse, the Pasig government allegedly had to use underhanded means to force the refugees to leave.
Coal-Fired Plants Undermine Arroyo’s Approval of Climate-Change Law

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
The Arroyo administration will have to work extra hard to prove that it is sincere in addressing climate change and its impacts. Signing the climate-change bill into law is one thing – approving the operation of coal-fired power plants, which have been identified as one of the dirtiest power-generation methods, makes a mockery of it.
Help Comes to Devastated Folk of Laguna Town but They Fret Over What Comes Next

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
With the flooding after Ondoy and the blaming of poor peasants and fisherfolks around the Laguna de Bay, many in Pila, Laguna, fear that the demolition of their homes is now just a matter of time.
Class and Ondoy: The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Ideological Distortions

By GILL H. BOEHRINGER
By seeking to convince its readers that the effects of Ondoy were “felt equally by rich and poor” and that it was a “great equalizer,” the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the most influential newspaper in the Philippines, was attempting to bolster the view that the Filipino class system had nothing to do with the disaster, and that the lives of all Filipinos are shaped by the same forces of nature, even by fate or by God.
Cordillera Most Ravaged by Pepeng

By ARTHUR ALLAD-IW
The Cordillera region incurred most of the damages in Northern Luzon with 309 dead and P1.398 billion of damaged infrastructures and agriculture caused by typhoon Pepeng.
Closure of ‘Destructive Dams’ Urged

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
"The dams, particularly San Roque Dam, are supposedly designed and used to control floods. However, the floodings these infrastructures have brought us prove that they were not really designed for that function. These dams just bring profit to its proponents and more harm than benefit to the people."
Dam Nation: A Bloody History of Struggle Against Dams

By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
The construction of dams has always been opposed because of their destructive effects on whole communities. Several anti-dam leaders have been killed as a result. The recent devastation by the dams of Luzon proved that they were right all along.
Analysis: Ondoy, Pepeng and the Bane of Development Illusion

In the years ahead, the number and magnitude of disasters will increase with colossal human and economic losses. The task of rescue, recovery, relief and rehabilitation will have to fall more and more on the people themselves as they have in fact done in recent years.
Relocation Solution Poses a Dilemma to Slum Dwellers Made Homeless by Ondoy

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Days after Ondoy struck, the government declared that it would no longer allow these poor Filipinos to return to their shattered homes.
Ondoy, Pepeng Underscore Need for ‘Pro-Active’ Disaster Management System

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
The Citizen's Disaster Response Center urges the passage of the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Bill. But even without this law, trainings in disaster mitigation should be conducted down to the barangay level, it says.
After Ondoy and Pepeng, Now Comes the Hard Part
By ARNOLD PADILLA
The challenge that policy makers now face is how to raise the needed resources to fund in a sustainable manner and without placing additional burden on Filipinos the requirements of relief and rehabilitation.
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