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A message from Honorable Benjamin Kalalo.

Honorable Benjamin Kalalo is the Chairman of Baranggay 466 zone 46 of Manila.  After the Message, you can see my reflection on the message projected by the chairman. Attached is a picture of me and the Chairman who gave the time to make sure that we are well informed.  I also encourage the teachers to comment or reblog this blog, for us to spread awareness among the people in our social media community. Because I believe that learning is a two-way streak. We put our inputs in and you spread it because this is the main purpose of this activity. But I do not treat this as an activity for schoolwork but an activity that will someday save lives and hopefully will save mine too. 

I also encourage the teachers to comment or reblog this blog, for us to spread awareness among the people in our social media community. Because I believe that learning is a two-way streak. We put our inputs in and you spread it because this is the main purpose of this activity. But I do not treat this as an activity for schoolwork but an activity that will someday save lives and hopefully will save mine too. 

I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to share your opinion about disaster risk management especially the ones near your houses away from the university because I, myself would like to be informed about the way other barangays in other places handle that the risks that surround their community. Opinions are solicited through:

form of a 10-30-minute video that will be uploaded on Youtube. The Video could contain an interview and with 1-3 barangay officials that are knowledgable about the disaster risk management in the said barangay. In the middle of the video, do a community walk with the barangay officials and check for risky places that disaster may occur. Please explain in the video how, why, when will the risks might happen in that place and explain how it should be managed. At the end of the video is a reflection about the things you did and the things you have learned. #NSTPChallenge

I believe that learning is a never-ending process. And we all should be grateful for the things that we learn every day. That day I learned that there are so many risks involving our community that we should be aware of. And as a student with little time BECAUSE OF TOO MUCH REQUIREMENTS, I have the capacity to do this blog. But how about you? What do you do outside school? Besides the things you do now for salary, do you also help in the risk management of the community or are you all doing it just because of money? 

That is something that I and the barangay captain have talked about during our session. And I think that is true. Some people are just like plastics and does not really want to help manage the risks within the community.

“Nature has its own fury and no force of man can stop the devastating effect of it, to caution the effect of it we must study and make necessary preventive action to reduce or even eliminate the risk that may arise.

The importance of BDRRM for us is to be prepared for any human-induced or natural disaster that may occur and by doing so, we minimize the impact of the disaster.

Ultimately to educate the people and be aware, beware, and ready of any impending untoward and unexpected events and incidents that may occur.”

MY OPINION ON THE MESSAGE OF HONORABLE BENJAMIN KALALO.

As citizens of this country, we must know that there is a lot of danger in our area and in our country. As a tropical country, we are a subject of natural disasters that vary from time to time. In the Summer we are subject to many heat problems and in the rainy days, we are subject to flooding, mosquitos, pests, and etc. I agree with Honorable Benjamin Kalalo, the Chairman of Baranggay 466 zone 46 of Manila, When he said nature has its own fury. 

So we must be prepared in order for us to be safe in times of need. But not only that, we must study and make the necessary preventive action as said by the Chairman. This is to eliminate the risk that may arise. 

One of my duty as a student in the Royal, Pontifical, University of Santo Tomas is to be an arbiter of information. Just like as the chairman said, I must be able to educate people and be aware, beware and be ready. 

One of my duty as a part of the community is to make sure that I am responsible enough not to cause risk in society. Especially the ones that endanger the lives of my fellow common men. 

One of my duty as a Christian is to value life. And everything as a steward of the Lord’s creation. I must be able to give importance to things. Especially the things that make me, and other people, happy. I must be able to preserve life because life is an important gift that was given to us by the Lord himself, and gifts are meant to be treasured because it came from the image and likeness of God. 

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How does the barangay help others cope

When there are times of calamity, the barangay is the first responder to these. The barangay said that these are their sworn duty to the people of their community. One of the Prevention done is Quarterly Fire prevention in the place. Declogging of the drainages of the establishments. They also have the Walis Every morning routine that is associated with the volunteers all over Manila to sweep the roads. 

Whenever there is fire, there are sanctions. It will be a subject of engineering and investigation and if it is an establishment. It will have a 3-month suspension rule. Below is the picture of their fire truck with some of their hottest firewoman. Kidding aside. 

Note that the data below is given to us in a flash drive form because the Barangay captain said that he had no more time explaining to us the basics and we should read this. It contains 86 pages of explanation but of all of that had been summarized here.  

Their general Disaster Risk Reduction Management Plan Cycle is to be flashed below.

PREPAREDNESS–Activities prior to the upcoming disaster

-PreparednessPlans    

-EmergencyExercises

-WarningSystem

-Training

 RESPONSE – Activities during a disaster

Public WarningSystemEmergencyOperationsSearch andRescue

RECOVERY – Activities following a disaster 

- Temporary housing 

- Claims processing

- Grants

- medical care

MITIGATION – Activities that reduce effects of disaster

- Building codes & zoning 

- Vulnerability analysis

- Public Education

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Calamities that are common to the area

There are many hazards that are present in the area, some of these are human-induced, that affects mostly the people in the area, and some establishments. The barangay captain highlighted the establishments that are built by wood structures. It causes too much debris and it sometimes has a hazardous tendency to collapse because of the seasonal raining in Manila. 

Other hazards such as Earthquakes and typhoons easily cause the community to be in chaos. Sometimes typhoons cause flooding within the area because it is kind of a catch basin structure of other areas in the vicinity. That’s why the area is more prone to flooding. Below you can see the picture that has been given to us by the barangay captain, it represents the risk analysis project of Manila, that has been ongoing, throughout 2018-2020 as part of THE BARANGAY DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN 2018-2020. Which the barangay captain happily explained to us. But first, let's talk about the hazards present in the community.

The geographical location of the Philippines has rendered it susceptible to more than twenty (20) storms and typhoons annually. These are expected to strike during the wet season in the months of July to September. It can be inferred that there is a probability that flooding can be inevitable and residents have to endure damage to property, traffic congestion, work interruption, class suspension, diseases, epidemics, and other related cases. It is well to note, however, that flooding within the barangay generally subsides within a few hours of its occurrence. That is why it is more likely to flood in the manila city. Some of the flooding is also caused by the lack of trees that surrounds the vicinity. Also lac of garbage disposal that has been a topic of the decade as describe by the barangay chairman. 

The barangay chairman said that it is one of the problems of the barangay that occupants are not aware of these hazards. Mostly because of capitalism. Some of the most contributors of trash in the community do not know how to properly dispose of their trash especially the plastics and the paper type of garbage. 

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Disasters but not the disaster that you thought of

The barangay has a lot of crimes happening around it because Manila is a very busy community, and being apart of it is sometimes “crazy” as mentioned by the barangay captain. One of the most frequent crimes that had been happening around the vicinity and inside of the community is the snatching of cellphones and some important stuff like wallets and other kinds of gadgets. The barangay captain said that there are multiple reports and multiple cases that have overlooked by the barangay to let the police take over. 

One of the most talked about crime in the area is the  “Puting Van” controversy. Some of the residents, specially the students residing in the dorms and establishments in the barangay has expressed their fear of the “puting van”. The barangay chairman also expressed his fear. He said that ofcourse he is scared, specially for his children. He said that they are the source of happiness in their home especially the little ones. 

I reflected upon what the barangay chairman said. And it hit me. I too am scared of this. Because my safety, inside and outside my home is being jeopardised. But, I must stay strong. Because there are people who love me, just like my family. 

For me, some safety precautions can be done to avoid these kind of crimes. Precautions such as. 

Cary a pepper spray - always carry a pepper spray with you, so that when you encounter bad people, you aim for their eye to give you time to escape.

Use keys as defence weapon - you can use a set of keys as a defence weapon when you put them in each space of your fingers and act as a knuckle with a slice to it.

Keep you cellphone inside your bag at all times.

Keep your local emergency hotlines on dial. 

That are just things on top of my head that popped out during the conversation I had with the barangay chairman. There are a lot of techniques especially online. 

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The Baranggay itself

The Baranggay is proud to have one of the oldest universities in Asia in their vicinity, the University of Santo Tomas, home of the most astonishing students, home of the most well-performing students in the Philippines. But that does not define the barangay. It is more than that. 

The community itself is filled with 500-700 people in the community. All have different dreams, different status and different aspirations. But is a community through and through.

As you can see below it is located in Barlin Street, just in the corner of Eloisa Street. It is home to many establishment such as the well known university as stated above. The University of Santo Tomas. The famous Mang Tootz Food Haus. Just beside is Cafe UK and Skylabs which is home to many students that likes to pull out all nighters for the sake of ACADEMIC REQUIREMENT. And many more establishments such as Barbershops, Vape shops, Coffee shops, and most of all, Dormitories.