ailejan-blog

[ailejan-blog]

a trip within brgy. putatan

Last November 29, 2019, I went to pay the barangay hall of Putatan, Muntinlupa City a visit with my ka-barangay classmate. Fortunately, the staff were pretty much welcoming and would gladly entertain us and our questions. We got to talk to the Brgy. Secretary, Mr. Marcos Ellema Jr., about how brgy. Putatan actually handle natural calamities.

Now, read on to know what we got from our interview 

The city of Muntinlupa in general has faced several calamities already throughout the years and the worst one recorded so far was bagyong Ondoy that took place a decade ago, in the year 2009. The said event caused certain parts of the barangay to flood and residents were asked to evacuate from their homes. Why does it flood in our place? Apparently we are located near Laguna de Bay, so if the water rises to a definite level, then our place will be affected and end up flooded. 

The location of Aplaya, brgy. Putatan,  Muntinlupa city along with other barangays are the most affected and damaged places when typhoons make a landfall in the Philippines. Many fishermen and farmers’ who live near the bay, especially their hanap buhay or businesses are always affected during hazardous occurrences. However, the barangay has come prepared for such and not only for flood. Earthquakes, typhoon, extreme fire, they will have it under control as soon as possible. 

The BDRRM team that is led by Mr. Chris Alvaran are in-charge of the barangay’s safety. During our visit, Mr. Alvaran toured us around the office of the BDRRM team and enlightened us about the processes that take place during emergencies, the equipment and vehicles used, plus the evacuation centers in the barangay. He mentioned that there is a solar-powered siren sited somewhere along the part of Laguna de Bay that is near Muntinlupa City that alarms really loud when the water level rises to the same height as the land and when rain water fills its bucket up to the brim. Evacuation centers can be found surrounding the Barangay hall, where one would be the basketball court just beside the hall that can fit up to 300 families, and the other one will be Putatan Elementary School where affected families may utilize the classrooms and the campus’ gymnasium for shelter. 

In addition, the barangay has 24/7 security surveillance cameras all around, to monitor the safety of its residents. They are also well equipped with brand new hazard-ready materials such as the firemen suits, huge number of modular tents, first-aid, and other safety gears. Mr Alvaran also said that the current office of BDRRM is just temporary for their new office is still in the process of being built, hopefully by 2020 it will be done so they can move there. Plus, Brgy. Putatan has just bought a big lot (photo above) that is to be made as a new evacuation center starting next year 2020, and I guess that is something we should be proud of. We continue to improve and provide a helping hand in order to have a better community and place to live in. 

Photographs below are from the rest of the tour, feel free to view them!

ABOVE: Solar powered siren for typhoons and flood 

ABOVE:  Equipment for emergencies and fogging machine to execute mosquitoes 

BELOW: Evacuation centers (first and second: Basketball court beside brgy. hall, third and fourth: Putatan Elementary School)

Lastly, a link to a short summarization video of the entire trip to the barangay hall of Putatan. Enjoy! This has been Akiko Iris Villagracia of L-AB-5. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eUfKTE3WM0NpD-9IfE__5JWLH37iJKvy