Leyte

Amongst the many segments I've produced for Women's Desk/Draw the Line, a show hosted by Rhea Santos in QTV Channel 11, the most unforgettable was the one I did in Ormoc in 2008. I initially interviewed the complainants in Tacloban, almost 2 hours away from Ormoc. As members of a religious group called Sun as the Kingdom of God, they were complaining against their sexually abusive 'supreme' leader, Rey Mahinay. He was said to take advantage of female members, even as young as 12 years old. He housed all his partners together and worst, also took advantage of his own daughters.

With a search warrant on hand, we went to Mahinay's house situated in the mountains. It was a nerve-wracking rescue operation, documenting in detail the authorities' every move. By the time we reached the target location and found Mahinay's wives and children, we heard succeeding gunshots. It was blood pumping and scary at the same time. It turned out that Mahinay resisted the authorities. What we saw upon our descent was unexpected---Mahinay, dead.

It was a liberating ending---for the members and for all of Mahinay's victims. Quoting the ending I've written in my script in 2007: Ang pananampalataya ay may kakayahang magpabulag ng isipan at kayang magligaw ng landas. Ngunit habang may mga taong maglalakas ng loob upang matigil ang mga pang-aabuso sa ngalan ng Diyos, marami pang tulad nila ang magmumulat ng mga mata.

I was supposed to go to Tacloban again in November 2013 for a dive trip to Sogod Bay. But because of the onslaught of Typhoon Haiyan in eastern Visayas, I was sent to Tacloban for a work-related reason. As there were no commercial flights available days after the typhoon, we had to ride a private helicopter to go to the area. Seeing Haiyan's effect, from an aerial point of view, was simply devastating. My first day on field was beyond tiring. There was no question we had good material and compelling stories. But what I felt was beyond physical exhaustion. It was more like disbelief that such tragedy can happen to my fellow Filipinos, that a place I've been to before has experienced such damage. =(

After staying in Tacloban for more than a week in November 2013, I came back for another remote coverage a month after. It was in time for the start of the 'simbang gabi,' a Filipino tradition of a series of nine dawn masses leading to Christmas. Though gradual, the improvement was apparent. A sign of hope---a mark of a nation's resilience that weathers any kind of storm.