‘Nakapagtataka’

Netnet Camomot

IT was bed—zzzzz—weather last week and it all started with a rainy Monday. By Thursday afternoon, Limketkai Center and even uptown along Masterson Avenue were flooded.

Yes, a flooded uptown Cagayan de Oro. When an earthquake hit some areas in Japan in 2011, the threat of a tsunami was enough to make them evacuate to higher ground. Uptown is already higher ground. So, where do we go from there?

In July last year, we were driving to Lumbia, which meant passing through Masterson, and we considered ourselves lucky when the Honda Civic we were in survived through the rushing water. I was shocked then to experience flood on higher ground. But water does find its way from uptown to downtown and Masterson has become one of its preferred routes.

Nowadays, the shock that comes with watching flood and landslide videos is not as much. It’s like watching, hmmm, “A Love to Last”? All that swooning for Anton. But since I’ve stopped watching teleseryes, I can only pine for “2 piece Spicy Chickenjoy with extra rice and upgrade to pineapple juice.” The secret to life is to have both feet on the ground. Yes, higher ground. Fried chicken and fruit juice—attainable. Outside of that—not.

But the one worth pining for in the movies must be Gaston, the non-beast in “Beauty and the Beast.” He’s not in the title since he’s the distraction, the diversion, the friend-zoned, while Belle is on the route to realizing the meaning behind Erap’s famous quote: “Don’t judge a book for you are not a judge.” In Belle’s case, Beast is the book, and once his eyes begin to reveal more, she’s hooked.

The videos to watch, though, were the ones posted by Ramon Kwan Mortera on Facebook of the flood and landslides at Lanao del Norte last Thursday. Please note it’s landslides—plural. Mortera was traveling from Ozamiz City and would have been among those stranded, if not for his ever reliable motorcycle.

I now avoid going out when it’s raining. Better stay home and listen to the rain.

CDO’s weather forecast as of last Thursday showed rain for the next seven days. Gosh. Back to that Apo Hiking Society song again: “Walang tigil ang ulan/At nasaan ka, araw.” Good thing the sun appeared by Friday.

Rain, flood, add to that the damaged and unfinished bridge in Opol, Misamis Oriental causing hours-long traffic, and we start to wonder if this is progress or regress.

Yup, unfinished na, damaged pa gyud. How is that possible? Well, there’s the bridge that’s under construction. And part of the project went down the drain. Or down to nowhere. If this were a mountain or a hill, it could have been called a landslide. Okay, soil erosion? The rain loosened the soil, thus, the erosion. Hmmm. Let’s ask the project’s engineers who of course know the correct term for that.

The traffic in Opol was so bad, a friend, who was desperate to catch her flight, had to take her first ever habal-habal ride in order to reach Laguindingan Airport. What a way to start a Taiwan vacation.

SM CDO Downtown Premier will open two months from now. We could already imagine the traffic and flood. That area is already experiencing traffic and flood now, how much more when SM Premier opens.

Buildings and houses on higher ground are the lucky ones. But then, uptown CDO is already on higher ground but the main road there still gets flooded.

There was a time when rain was a welcome respite from life’s ups and downs. We savored that rain while sipping hot choco and feasting on strawberry and cheese sandwiches. Nowadays, rain makes us go to the Facebook pages of Cagayan de Oro City Philippines and CDOinfonet Group. “Like” those pages, in case you haven’t yet, so you’re informed on the latest weather advisory for the city.

Friends were then travelling by land to CDO on Thursday afternoon and they asked about the weather here. I became their instant forecaster, sending them updates on Limketkai flood levels and the codes which went from Yellow to Orange to light moderate to Yellow. Make up your mind, weather! Gosh.

“Walang tigil ang ulan.” Oh, well. And guess who wrote that song—Jim Paredes, who has inspired Duterte fans to kind of say, “Nakapagtataka.”