The recent demolition of shanties in Sitio San Roque, Barangay Bagong Pag-asa in Quezon City spurred riots started by the illegal dwellers. The settlers opposed of resettling to a resettlement site in Rodriguez, Rizal, which according to them has a lot of disadvantages.

The disputed lot will turn by the City Government in partnership with a private company into a Business District.

See the Quezon City map.

See the video of the riot, courtesy of Philstar.com

A 37 year old man named Remus Fuentes died of multiple organ failure as a consequence of the heatstroke he suffered about 40 hours earlier.

A detailed account from the father of Remus can be found at PinoyFitness.

I’m copying the entry just in case the link above is off:

REMUS FUENTES died of multiple organ failures as result of heatstroke two days after he ran the 21K in the recent 34th Milo Marathon last Sunday, July 4, 2010.

His death was the result of fatal mistakes, sheer incompetence and gross negligence in the event organized by the Organizing Team.

My son, 37-year-old Remus ran the 21K together with a running buddy when he collapsed at 19.9 kilometer mark. There was none of organizer’s ambulance nor marshalls to respond in the incident. Policemen hailed for a taxi and they, together with his buddy, assisted in bringing him to the nearest hospital, Ospital ng Maynila. At the ER, the diagnose was suspected heart attack. My wife and me, upon being informed by his younger brother, Roy Fuentes, who also ran the 21K, rushed to the hospital and saw that Remus in coma, had seizures and struggled breathing in spite of hand-pumped oxygen and dextrose attached. His body temperature was 40 degrees C and when asked, the medical attendant told us he had fever. She introduced paracetamol intravenously twice at interval of about 15 minutes. Remus continued having seizures even until the arrival of Medical City doctor & ambulance attendants that we have arranged for his transfer. The Medical City doctor attending said his status was unstable, contrary to the earlier advice to her by the Ospital ng Maynila ER doctor. They rushed him with the ambulance to Medical City at about 11:30 AM. There, a series of tests were done, including blood chemistry, CT scan, etc. Cardiologist told us his heart was strong and no intervening medicine was necessary. Blood Chemistry results showed positive findings on creatinin level, an indication of kidney failure. They suspected liver failure too. To stop his seizures, Remus was put on full sedation for 12 hours. Kidney functions further deteriorated after 36 hours. Blood pressure and heart rate went erratic. Doctors attending him in the ICU asked our permission to do dialysis and blood transfusion to stabilize his blood pressure. Seven hours later, ICU nurse wake us up and asked us to rush to the ICU. We saw 18 medical people around him, several taking turn doing the CPR. Failing to revive him, the doctor asked our consent to stop the CPR after 15 minutes. We begged them to continue hoping for miracle. 30 minutes further, doctor told us again that all numbers in the monitoring “were bad” and asked again the consent to stop the CPR. Finally, we relented. Few minutes later, his heart rate monitor went flat. All these happened in front of my wife and me. We lost Remus 48 hours after he collapsed into coma which he has never recovered. His young wife and his eight-year old son took the news very badly.

About Heatstroke:

It usually happen in extreme sports like basketball, football, boxing and marathon.

Heat stroke is a life-threatening medical condition. The person’s cooling system, which is controlled by the brain, stops working and the internal body temperature rises to the point where brain damage or damage to other internal organs may result. The body temperature, usually at normal 37 C, goes up during the exertion of effort as result of the increased heart rate. When it reaches 40 C, the person is in danger of getting heatstroke. Above 40 C and mostly at about 42 C, the person can collapse into unconsciousness. If nothing is done within few minutes, he can slip into coma and brain damage may occur. The proven first aid response for heatstroke is cooling the body rapidly in whatever means to the level of below 40 C before bringing him to a hospital. Ice and water is the best way to do this, the same way it is done for a child having high fever who has convulsion.

Another way of understanding heatstroke is comparing it to the performance of car engine. At idling, the engine temp is low and safe. At sustained high speed, engine temperature increases rapidly but because of the cooling system, the heat is continuously dissipated in the radiator and safe temperature level is maintained. But when the water in the radiator is gone, Undissipated heat will rack up the engine temperature and ultimately exceeds the safe limits. At this condition, engine breakdown will occur in minutes starting with broken piston rings, rods, pistons, etc.

With the human body, perspiration cools down the body so hydration by drinking water is essential. Without water, perspiration stops and body temperature goes to critical level and into heatstroke and then organs and brain begin to fail.

Big obvious difference between human body and car engine is that you can always overhaul the engine but you cannot do that on the human body.

Why Heatstroke is More Dangerous in Marathon than in other Extreme Sports?

In basketball, the player exerts extreme effort only in bursts, stopping or slowing down intermittently which slows down heart rate and cools down the body. At timeout, they drink to replenish lost body water hence you always have the waterboy. Heart stroke is rare but ask any PBA player what they do when a player collapse. They don’t move the body but cool them off with water or ice before bringing him to the hospital.

The same is true in football and in many similar sports.

In boxing, in between rounds of three minutes, boxer rests and drinks water. We can only wonder what will happen if the rule of the sport is drastically changed and will only end when one is down and out.

In Marathon, the risk of heatstroke is much higher for the following reasons:

1. The long distance runner aims for shorter time as a goal and therefore motivated to keep a sustained effort, not unlike cars at high speed in the highway.

2. Furthermore, the target minimum time set by the organizer adds more to the motivation to run faster. The cut-off time added more pressure to the marginal marathon runner, meaning if you are used to run above the target time, the tendency is to do better time, probably at pace unproven by your body in practice. (Milo Marathon set the target for 21K medal at 2 ½ hours or less. Remus collapsed at near 20th km. with time of 2 hours 10 minutes when his previous record was 2 hours and 27 minutes. ).

3. The more critical factor is that the hydration management is not in the control of the runner. He has to rely on water availability at the water stations provided and planned by the organizer along the route. ( In this 34th Milo Marathon, several runners including Remus brother, Roy and Remus running buddy asserted that practically there was no water to drink in the last 2~3 kilometers before the finish line, a fatal failure for Remus by the organizer when they changed the route resulting in over-traffic near the finish line. There were record 28,000 runners on that day and obviously the organizers failed to anticipate the complexity of hydration. Milo’s last year marathon participant was well below 10,000 runners.)

4. The correct life-saving response for heatstroke depends on few knowledgable people who may happen to be around the person. To mitigate this, the organizer deploys ambulances with water & ice for cooling heatstroke victims and is expected to respond within minutes. In addition, marshalls are provided along the route to assess runner situations continuously. (Obviously, the organizer failed again on this aspect because Remus was helped by policemen and his buddy instead. By this time, Remus is probably already brain damaged as evident by his seizure at the hospital. No Milo people knew of Remus case on that day until Roy, his brother, sent an email informing the organizer of the incident in the next morning).

5. The Sun Factor adds to the danger in Marathon. Running under the heat of the sun in tropical country like ours cannot be underestimated. To minimize the effect of the sunheat, Marathon run is planned to finish in the early morning avoiding the heat at later time. Organizers usually take this into consideration. (Milo organized the 21K to start at 5:30 AM , a departure of common practice of other marathons which started at 5:00 AM. Remus collapsed at about 7:57 AM. Roy who is a better runner than his brother Remus, complained that it was unusually hot that morning even if he was able to finish it earlier in 2 hours 45 minutes )

Clearly, Marathon is an extreme and dangerous sport even to the young, healthy and trained runners. This is not the “fun run” many people confused of.

The organizer has clear life-and-death responsibility to make sure that the conditions the runner will run under item 3, 4 and 5 above are done properly. Obviously they did not do their job properly in the 34th Milo Marathon. In my opinion, being the father of Remus, Milo Marathon Organizers have failed my son. It is their sheer incompetence and consequently the gross negligence in their duty that results in the death of Remus …an unneccesary death.

About Remus:

At the time of his death, he was an IT project manager of Hewlett-Packard (HP) responsible in computerizing big companies like Unilab, Coke, etc. including installation of hardwares (servers, etc.) and software system. He used to worked for Intel for 10 years before he moved to HP 3 years ago. He graduated in Computer Engineering. He left a housewife, Takako and two children, Raphael, 8 years old and Therese, 4 years old. Raphael is enrolled at La Salle Greenhills. He played basketball with his brothers regularly on weekends. He has been running since his high school days in Lourdes School of Mandaluyong. He has run many 10Ks and two 21Ks before these, the “Freedom Run” in June 13 and “Nature Valley” in May 20 only this year. He has no history nor complaint of illness and he lived clean.

My Questions for the Organizers:

1. How many died in the 34th Milo Marathon last July 4? Is it true that there was another runner at 42K who collapsed at 33 km and later died?

2. How many runner collapsed in that marathon due to heatstroke who later survived but now are no longer the same person as before due to partial brain injury? At Ospital ng Maynila, we saw a 2nd runner brought in unconscious and woke up later but he can no longer recognize his family. Do the Organizers of knew this? What happened to him. Are their more?

3. Is it true that another 36 year-old runner, Fidel Camson, who ran the 42K 31st Milo Marathon in November 2007 collapsed near the finish line, brought to the Ospital ng Maynila and died later of undetermined cause? If true, what did they do avoid a repeat which apparently did not happen in this 34th Milo Marathon? If true, why do they still keep their Marathon organizer for 10 years until now?

4. Do they keep tally of deaths in the 34 years of Milo Marathon? Do they study the statistics and establish how many died of heatstroke, the preventable one?

5. What is the corporate culture of the Organizers regarding its respect of the value of life? Upon knowing the death of my son Remus, A Senior Vice President of one of the organizing team, who head its Beverages Business Unit went to see me and among other things, he told me that the Marathon is continuously improved and but sometimes “lapses occur and they will learn from these lapses”. Lapse is defined as a ‘mistake’. People learn from ‘error’, a deviation from being correct but a ‘mistake’ is caused by a fault: the fault could be misjudgment or carelessness. We learn from ‘error’ but we take action on ‘mistake’ and more drastic action when people die of this ‘mistake’. So death in my son’s case is a mere learning process for this person? Is this the culture that pervades in their Organization? or only in him?

6. Is the measly “humanitarian” offer to help the family shoulder medical & funeral expense to the family had become an SOP too often? Was it their expectation that as appreciation of this help, the family will keep quiet about the whole thing? Do they really think that the waiver signed by the runners protect them from being liable? Do they know that this waiver won’t apply if negligence of their duty as organizer can be established?

7. What did the Organizers do, if any, to keep the news of Remus death from appearing in the media even after one week? Not one news item of his death appeared in the newspaper, TV or radio. Could the news of “ HP Manager Died of HeatStroke during the Milo Marathon” not interest the public? Were they afraid that the bigger news is when the subline “Father charged Milo Marathon Organizer of Incompetence and Negligence” which may damage the public image of the company?

The answers to these questions will help enlightened the public whether Milo Marathon is safe or not for the runner. To the runners, their parents, wives and relatives…they all better asked these questions before the runners decide to run in Milo Marathon.

Last Words from Remus Father:

I am not condemning the sport but the organizer who failed to make sure runners will not die of heatstroke, when the risks can be grossly minimized with proper route planning, hydration management and quick medical response. I am condemning the contribution of the apparent culture of the sponsor of diminished value of human life as indicative of its senior executive’s attitude calling my son’s death a result of lapses. My hope is something good will come out of his death and as result of improved organizing of the marathon run, few lives will be saved from heatstroke. My other hope is to get justice and for the Organizing team to answer for his untimely death. I am working on it.

Rudy Fuentes, Father of Remus

Note: This story has been received from Rudy Fuentes and slightly edited for public posting. If you want a copy of the original document leave a comment here with your email or email Rudy Fuentes directly at ruddi47@gmail.com

Read more: http://www.pinoyfitness.com/2010/07/remus-story-as-told-by-his-father/#ixzz0tmOlCW00

Alvin Flores was killed and some of his companions were wounded.

For more details read the Inquirer news article below:

Notorious rob leader Alvin Flores killed in Cebu

By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 23:48:00 10/29/2009

MANILA, Philippines — Notorious and elusive robbery gang leader Alvin Flores was killed by police in an encounter in Cebu City Thursday night, Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa confirmed.

Initial reports said Flores and three other members of the notorious Alvin Flores gang were killed when they encountered a joint team of police and members of the National Bureau of Investigation in Tripina Ceneca Compound, Barangay Compostela at around 8 p.m., Verzosa said.

Flores was reportedly killed in the encounter. Meanwhile, a still unidentified member of the group was seriously wounded in the encounter.

Flores was tagged as the mastermind behind the brazen robbery at Greenbelt 5 mall in Makati City, where armed men stormed into a watch store and took several high-end watches. Flores was also tagged as one of those who encountered police in the bloody Parañaque City shootout last December 2008.

Police tagged Flores as responsible for several bank robberies across Metro Manila.

The Alvin Flores group was known for using police uniforms in perpetrating robberies.

Fortunately, there were two cops inside the mall who had just their lunch there, and managed to kill on of the robbers.

More information about the robbery from an Inquirer article after the jump.

Visit Architecture for Humanity to know more about how to donate.

I advise you to give your donations to churches (Catholic or Protestants) if only you can. Although, some private relief agencies will still hand over your donations to the government for easy logistics.

Regardless of who are the recipients of your donations, your act of goodwill will return to you sooner or later many times over. The crooks who will unscrupulously steal it, will get an equally similar treatment of their own actions in the future.

In red bold texts are private agencies.

Rescue Operations
National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) (+632-9125668, +632-9111406, +632-9115061, +632-9122665) Help hotlines: (+65 734-2118, 734-2120) ndcchelpdesk@gmail.com

Philippine Coast Guard (+632-5276136)

Air Force (+63908-1126976, +632-8535023)

Metro Manila Development Authority (136)

Marikina City Rescue (+632-6462436, +632-6462423, +632920-9072902) Pasig Rescue Emergency Number (+632-6310099)

Quezon City Rescue (161)

San Juan City Hall Command Post (+632-4681697)

Bureau of Fire Protection Region III (Central Luzon) Hotline: (+63245-9634376)

Senator Dick Gordon (+639178997898, +63938-444BOYS, +632-9342118, +632-4338528)

Senator Manny Villar (+639174226800. +639172414864, +639276751981)

Philippine National Red Cross (143, +632-5270000)

Philippine National Red Cross Rizal Chapter operations center hotline: (+632-6350922, +632-6347824)

Rubber boat and chopper requests
NCRPO (+632-8383203, +632-8383354)

Private citizens who would like to lend their motor boats for rescue please call emergency nos: +632-9125668, +632-9111406, +632-9122665, +632-9115061)

You can also text (+632917-4226800 or +632927-6751981) for rescue dump trucks.

For those who are able to lend 4×4 trucks for rescue: Please send truck to Greenhills Shopping Center Unimart Grocery to await deployment, Tel No. (+632920-9072902).

Petron & San Miguel Corporation are lending choppers for rescue operations, call/text: (+632917-8140655) ask for Lydia Ragasa

Power supply concerns
Meralco (+63917-5592824, 16211, +63920-9292824) If you want service cut off to your area to prevent fires and electrocution.

Donations of heavy duty flashlights needed for rescue operations in Cainta, Rizal area. Contact Cielo at (+632918-8824356)

E-Donations
SMS: text RED to 2899 (Globe) and 4483 (Smart)

G-Cash: text DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882

TXTPOWER.org: Paypal, Smart Money (5577-5144-1866-7103), G-Cash (0917-9751092)

Cellphone services

FINDERSERVICE. For Smart, text wis to 386.

FINDERSERVICE. For Globe, text find to 7000.

Maps
A group composed of Serge Gregorio and Franklin Naval has put up an interactive rescue map (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=110868206150348750692.00047479b6400ee29bd89&ll=14.645791,121.107874&spn=0.107954,0.154324&source=embed) to locate victims in Marikina, one of the hardest hit areas by Ondoy.

To post a message for you on the map, use this web form: http://bit.ly/ondoymapresponse or email segregorio@gmail.com and franklin.naval@gmail.com.

Additional Ondoy Rescue Maps can be found at http://bit.ly/ondoylocator

Malls and commercial outlets
Aranaz Stores (Rockwell & Greenbelt) – accepting donations of any kind for Payatas communities

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (all branches) – canned goods, water, clothes, blankets, towels, medicine, and emergency supplies (no cash)

Luca stores (Rockwell, Shangri-la, Eastwood, or GA Towers) – Send your old clothes & donations (no cash pls)

Moonshine boutique (Rockwell) – accepting relief goods to help Ondoy victims in Marikina and Cainta.

Papemelroti stores (91 Roces Ave. / Ali Mall Cubao / SM City North EDSA / SM Fairview / SM Megamall / Glorietta 3 in Makati / SM Centerpoint / SM Southmall) – accepting relief goods (canned goods / milk / bottled water / clothes – NO CASH pls.)

Team Manila stores in Trinoma, Mall of Asia, Jupiter Bel-Air and Rockwell shall be accepting relief goods (Canned Goods, Ready-to-drink Milk, Bottled Water and Clothes) for distribution by Veritas.

Government and relief agencies
Akbayan – taking donations, call 433-69-33/433-68-31 to donate or volunteer.

Move for Chiz – asking for volunteers at Bay Park Tent, along Roxas Blvd., beside Max Restaurant and Diamond Hotel in Manila, or at Gilas Minipark at Unang Hakbang St., Gilas Q.C.

Worldvision Foundation – accepting donations/volunteers to pack relief goods in QC. For $ donations, BPI:USD acct #4254-0050-08

Philippine National Red Cross – visit their site HERE for various ways to donate.

Senator Francis Pangilinan is accepting donations @ AGS Bldg Annex, 446 EDSA Guadalupe Viejo. Contact Vina Vargas at (+632917-8081247)

WITHIN METRO MANILA
Mandaluyong/San Juan

La Salle Greenhills – drop off your donations (clothes, food, etc) at Gate 2 on Monday, September 28, or volunteer from 9am to receive, sort, repack the donations.

Xavier School – canned goods, bread, noodles. Please bring to Multipurpose Center (MPC). Accepted till Monday, Sept. 28.

Manila

Caritas Manila Office (Jesus St., Pandacan Manila near Nagtahan Bridge) – call +632-5639298, +632-5639308

Ministop Ibarra (Espana cor. Blumentritt, Sampaloc Manila) – Food (non-perishable goods only) Clothing, Medicines, Beds, Pillows, Blankets, Emergency Supplies

Muntinlupa

Hillsborough Village Chapel – Water, blankets, shoes, and clothes. These will go to families whose houses were washed out in the nearby sitios.

Parañaque

Operation Rainbow (Zac Faelnar Camara) at Ayala Alabang Village – needs Canned Goods, Ready-To-Eat Food, Bottled Water, Ready-To-Drink Milk/ Juice, Clothing, Blankets, contact (+632-4687991)

Playschool International (47 Ghana St., Better Living Subd., Paranaque) – open to receive donations (NO CASH, PLS) for relief goods. Please feel free to send your donations there. Teachers/staff will coordinate sending these to the centers.

Pasig

Miriam Quiambao – drop off point: One Orchard Road Building in Eastwood, or message http://www.twitter.com/miriamq for more details.

Relief Efforts for Pasig at Valle Verde 1 Village Park – contact +632916-4945000, +632917-5273616

Renaissance Fitness Center (2nd Floor, Bramante Building, Renaissance Towers Ortigas, Meralco Avenue) – Donations can be brought starting Monday, September 28/9am – 7pm. Contact Person: Warren Habaluyas (+632929-8713488) or email at luzonrelief@gmail.com

Quezon City

Alabang New Life – Alabang Hills, Muntinlupa City. Contacts: Tel. 809-1533 Website: http://www.alabangnewlife.org

ABS-CBN through Banco de Oro account number 56300-20111; account name: ABS-CBN Foundation Incorporation (NOTE: This account # needs verification because on the ABS-CBN Foundation website, the account # is 5630060113)

Ateneo de Manila University – cooked or ready-to-eat food, clothes, medicine, blankets, water. Donations may be dropped off at the MVP, University Dorm, or Cervini lobbies. Also needed: volunteers for relief operations today, Sept. 27. Bring boots, shovels, large vehicles or small watercraft. For donations/inquiries, please contact (0908) 887-7166.

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health is accepting donations of medicines. A center in Pasig has more than 1,000 evacuees, mostly kids suffering from colds and fever. Call Louie Montalbo: (0918) 936-2095.

Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC) – Relief goods for typhoon victims being accepted at 72-A Times St., West Triangle, QC. Tel (+632-9299820/22)

Erica Paredes (Katipunan), +63917-4741930 – they need bread, packed juice, sandwich filling (tuna, chicken, anything) You can help her make them, deliver the sandwiches to her house, or help her distribute! Call for more details.

Manor Superclub (Eastwood City) – will accept goods and other emergency items starting Sunday, September 27, at 10 am.

NoyMar Relief Operations – contact Clare Amador (+63928 520 5508) or Jana Vicente (+63928 520 5499). Drop-off for relief donations is at Balay Expo Center across Farmers Market Cubao.

Our Lady of Pentecost Parish (12 F. Dela Rosa corner C. Salvador Sts., Loyola Heights, Quezon City) – call +632-4342397, +632-9290665

Philippine Army Gym (inside Fort Bonifacio) or GHQ Gym (Camp Aguinaldo) – now distributing donations for Ondoy Victims.

Radio Veritas (Veritas Tower West Ave. cor EDSA) – call +632-9257931 to 40

Tulong Bayan, Cubao – needs clothes, salt and cooking oil in sachets: 0908-6579998, 0939-3633436, 9137122

Within the Philippines

Red Cross Load Donations – Right now the easiest way to make donations from the seat of your chair is via mobile phone load. The Red Cross Rescue and Relief Operations. To donate, text RED and send to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart). You can donate 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 300 pesos.

TxtPower – now accepts donations via SmartMoney 5577514418667103, GCash 09179751092 and Paypal.

Outside the Philippines

Worldvision Foundation – For $ donations, BPI:USD acct #4254-0050-08

The sign above reads as:
Dress up properly.
As a respect for your self, so that others will respect you as well.
Mayor MCF (Marikina City First)

Marides Fernando is one good mayor, i mean her management skills is envied by other mayors. Residents in Marikina can attest to this. Most of them have good words for the mayor. I myself even admire her for the service she did to Marikina.

But there is one rule that i find it really stupid. That sign above.

If you want to get inside the Marikina City Hall, you will have to abide by it. Otherwise, the guard at the entrance will tell to go home and wear something nice.

That rule encourages being judgmental outwardly. It’s like “if you see a person who wears shorts or slippers, disrespect him.”

But a tragic incident happened in this plush condominium last February 24, 2009. A body of a male person was found dead. With a broken right arm and broken left leg.

I got photos and “handed down news” from a forum member in Pinoyexhange.

If you don’t like seeing dead people with blood, don’t proceed.

Just recently, i read in the news, a cop, yes a police was involved in a robbery by snatching the bag of a motorcycle driving lady.

Cop charged for bag snatching
By Tina Santos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 16:49:00 10/08/2008

MANILA, Philippines — A Manila policeman is facing criminal and administrative charges for allegedly trying to snatch the bag of an employee of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, Central Bank of the Philippines) early Wednesday morning in Malate.

The complaint against Police Officer 2 Abraham Mamicao, 30, assigned at the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 9 and resident of Lardizabal Street, Sampaloc, was filed, Ivy Maria Cinco, 30, an employee at the BSP’s Corporate Affairs Office, and her companion Bruce Miller, 51.

Superintendent Rogelio Rosales, chief of MPD Station 5, said Cinco and Miller were walking in the Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Copr.) employee’s parking space at Roxas Boulevard corner Dr. Quintos Street around 2:30 a.m. when the suspect, who was onboard a motorcycle, suddenly passed by and tried to grab Cinco’s bag.

However, Cinco and Miller wrestled with the suspect for possession of the bag, which contained over P30,000 cash and other valuables. The commotion caught the attention of security guards at the parking lot, leading to Mamicao’s arrest.

Recovered from the suspect were his 9mm pistol Beretta service pistol the motorcycle.

Yes, it’s a thumbs up!

David Cook, the season 7 American Idol winner will have a concert on January 27, 2009 in Metro Manila.

The venue and details will be unveiled in the coming months since the announcement came out only in a radio interview.

David Cook’s concert in Manila is part of his “Idol” tour.