Afternoon Respite

AFTERNOON RESPITE

By: Ian V. Martinez

27 September 2009

Oil Pastels on Paper

12x18 Inches

What was I to do on a Saturday? My sister was sending me sms asking for help. The water outside of her Cainta home was rising and her husband left to try to park their car on higher ground. She was begging me to call her, but none of my calls could get through. I told her it can't be that bad and that she should secure for herself and her 1 year old child water and provisions, shut off the electrical mains and stay on the second floor of her home.

It can't be that bad. Could it? I tried to reassure her by saying that she doesn't live downstream a dam. Water can't possibly make it into the second floor. That would be a major disaster if it did.

Her last text was hysterical. She said cars were floating outside her house.

The next few hours were tense. One by one, services went dead. First, cell signals were intermittent on both my cellular lines. Then the power went out. It didn't take long for running water to cease, then my land line telephone went dead and cellular services followed immediately afterwards. I was on my own. I tried leaving the subdivision to check on my father and gather some news on what may be happening. The car radio blurted out a confused cacophony of cries for help, reports on blocked roads, calls for emergency services, panic, anger, raw emotions from various radio stations.

I was trapped. Two roads leading out of our subdivision were impassable. People running on the side of the road were signaling drivers that water was waist deep up ahead. This can't be happening! I live in Antipolo and we're about 200 feet above sea level. I use to joke that if Antipolo floods, then it would be the end of the world for everyone living below us in Metro Manila.

The rain pelted heavily for the next few hours. I took stock of what I got: candles, drinking water, some measly provisions, melting ice cubes...

I was tempted to take my bike down to the valley, but decided it would be wiser to just stay put, feed my dog, and wait for the water to subside... perhaps later on in the evening. So, since I have to wait things out, I decided to work on some drawings and paintings. I wanted to prime a newly sanded canvas but I was out of primer. I felt like working in watercolor, but I needed new brushes and buying supplies is out of the question.

I turned up the car's radio in the garage and monitored the events going on around me. As I listened, I did some underpainting on my "Kubol" piece, but then ran out of places to apply paint. I was still waiting for some materials for reference and I couldn't proceed until I know how a natural fiber “banig” curled on the corners... heck, I'm not really sure how the painting should look like in its entirety at the moment.

The next day, I was still incommunicado, cellular services were still down, phone lines were still dead, there were no electricity, water or news of my sister, nephew and father.

I again drove out and while traffic was tight, I learned that the roads at junction were still impassable, and that Sumulong Highway on the other side of the mountain was blocked by a landslide near Padi's. I tried making my way down through Cogeo but also learned that Marcos Highway was still waist-deep in water.

I had no recourse but to turn back. It was then that I noticed how the asphalt on the roads were peeled off in many places, and how houses situated near dips on the roads were apparently inundated by flood water. I passed a school with large mounds of earth on its yard – apparently the scene of a landslide; I hope no one was hurt.

People had began clearing the roads and sidewalks even while the rain still poured. There were places where tell-tale sign on walls of flood water levels showed water rising 5 feet deep, and this was in Antipolo! The creeks carrying water to Hinulugang Taktak Falls, devastated homes that lined its banks and damaged roads that passed above it.

I was imagining my sister holed up on the second floor of her home with her kid. I hope they have water.

I returned home, turned on and up the car's radio once again and worked on “Afternoon Respite”.

I was not in the frame of mind to want to work on something that I will have to think about. I wasn't in the frame of mind to follow strong lines, or be consistent with my strokes. I just wanted to rub the medium in, and the first thing I grabbed was a box of oil pastels.

I wanted an uncomplicated subject, and something that will remind me of a sunny uneventfully warm afternoon. I wanted something that will mask the feeling of helplessness, so I hid all that with my thoughtless strokes.