The Man Behind Sabine

The man behind "Sabine - The Movie" and "Sabine - The Book" is no other than Amazon bestselling author and friend of mine TOM ANTHONY.

I asked him ten special questions. Tom's answers are here - exclusively on my blog.

1.     Who or what inspired you to write SABINE?

I first wrote what I saw driving along MacArthur Highway every day. A foreigner in any country sees differently from a citizen who lives there. Perspective matters and is interesting. But that was only background. I made up a fictional story including moral issues of the day.

2.     Why is your novel is entitled SABINE?

I heard a similar name in Visayan, but made up this name and a different pronunciation (Sa – bean) so it would be new and cause people to ask this question.

3.     It's an interracial story. Why does your story take place in the Philippines?

It is a story about people. Race does not matter; race is not an issue in the movie or the novella. The characters are all unique individuals, reacting to each other and the situations in which they find themselves.

4.     Can SABINE help minimizing being unbiased regarding prostitution especially in the Third World?

A good question. I think, yes. In the movie the prostitutes are good, caring people. This is an essential element of conflict. In fact, the character Adriana not only overcomes her situation but teaches others along her path to be better human beings.

5.     SABINE ends happily. Can you imagine a continuation of this story?

Oh yes. Of course – I am a writer! I have a treatment for the next movie, but will not tell you the title yet. Hope to film next year in Davao. What will happen next to Sabine?

6.     What are your next movie plans? Details?

To film “Rebels of Mindanao” next year in Mindanao. Based on my novel of the same name. Most of the world has no idea of what or where Mindanao is. This movie will put it on the map.

7.     Personal: who or what is your greatest inspiration in life and why?

The definition of “irony”: my personal hero growing up was General MacArthur. I was inspired by him to attend West Point. He returned to West Point when I was there to make his farewell speech. I marched in his funeral in New York City. Now I live along the Highway named after him and wrote a book and movie about what that highway looks like today. I wonder what he would think to see this place now. MacArthur Highway is often even spelled wrong.

8.     What are you doing, "if you have nothing to do"?

Voltaire (the last line in Candide) wrote, “That is well-said, now let us go work in the garden.” When I take a break from writing, I plant seeds in my garden.

9.     Which place comes first: Philippines, Europe, US?

No place is first. Any place you go, you are given a bag full of stuff, some good stuff and some bad stuff, but you have to take the whole bag.

10.  How come, you know how to speak German very good and fluently?

I always liked to cross over the next hill to see what was on the other side. I studied German at West Point and placed first in my class in the three-year course. I was sent on an exchange to the German Military Academy. In business I lived 15 years in German-speaking countries. I am still looking forward to crossing over and seeing what is on the other side of the next hill and language gives you the eyes to see things differently.

He's Back! Ja, er ist wieder da!

 

Congratulations Manny!

Philippines Announces YOLANDA Typhoon Toll Tops 5,000

The Philippines national disaster agency has announced that Super Typhoon Haiyan has killed more than 5,200 people. That total makes the November 8 storm the most deadly natural disaster ever to hit the country.

Rescue efforts continue after Haiyan...

Haiyan killed 5,209 people, injured about 23,500 and displaced 4 million, officials said Friday, with 1,600 still missing. The storm destroyed more than 1 million homes.

"It's not impossible that the number will increase, but as to how high we don't know," Interior Secretary Mar Roxas told reporters on Friday. "It's very sad, but we can say that we have passed the worst stage in this tragedy," he added.

Haiyan killed 4,919 in Eastern Visayas. Another 290 died in central and southern provinces affected by the November 8 typhoon, the national disaster relief agency announced. One of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, Haiyan caused more deaths and destruction than a 1991 storm that killed 5,101 people in flash floods in Ormoc, in the same hard-hit province of Leyte.

'Fine-tuned plan'

Called Yolanda locally, Haiyan brought winds of over 300 kilometers per hour (180 mph). The majority of victims either drowned or died under collapsed structures and trees, as storm surges 6 to 7 meters high (20-23 feet) swallowed coastal areas of Tacloban on Leyte island, the commercial, education and government hub of the Eastern Visayas. Disaster agency officials said the death toll could still increase, with only about 52 percent of the city of Tacloban cleared of debris.

Typhoon Haiyan also caused about 12.5 billion pesos ($274 million, 200 million euros) in damage to crops and infrastructure. A major concern for the authorities remains the resettlement of survivors, who have stayed in cramped, unsanitary evacuation centers or camped out in makeshift shacks near their flattened communities.

 

On Friday, President Benigno Aquino set up a task force to "hasten the transition of relief efforts into the full-scale rehabilitation and rebuilding of typhoon-damaged areas," said his spokesman, Herminio Coloma. "The president emphasized to the cabinet that a fine-tuned plan responsive to the specific needs at the community level is necessary," Coloma added.

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said the government had also begun preparations for the construction of bunkhouses using prefabricated buildings "more comfortable" than tents. Singson said the government would make an inventory of public land suitable for use as resettlement sites for survivors whose former communities officials considered dangerously close to the sea and vulnerable to future storms.

 

"There will probably be areas that will be declared no-build zones because of the high risk, and we will have to relocate the affected people to safe ground," Singson said.

mkg/ng (Reuters, dpa, AP)

Worse Than Hell

Re-posted of my column published in MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR from November 14, 2013 with friendy permission of my publisher Marietta F. Siongco

"Yes, "Yolanda", the world's strongest typhoon, was it indeed.

Actually I had another topic for today's column in mind. But Monday (November 11, 2013) the program manager of German News TV Channel N-24 in Berlin gave me a ring asking me if I would like to become their new Philippine correspondent. Right now because of typhoon "Yolanda" and in future for reports from the Philippines. I agreed and, just out of the blue, I delivered three live reports over the phone. N-24, similar to the Philippine ANC is screening "breaking news" regarding the situation in the Philippines since yesterday every 30 minutes. The N-24 camera team and reporters didn't get the chance yet to visit the affected areas.

This morning, my inbox has been overloaded by tons of emails sent to me - especially from Grman-Philippine families living in Germany. Many questions are on the table:Where is the plan and why the coordination between the rescue teams is not working? Today's (November 11, 2013) MIRROR's editoril asks also: "Where is the plan? ... What worries us is the rather slow progress of rescue and relief efforts and the apparent lack of any coordinated plan to get every possible help to the affected areas!"

I learned from several private groups, individuals and the German Red Cross, that they don't want to wait any longer. Fact is, and I mentioned it also in my previous TV reports: We are really mistaken believing and expecting goverment to have prepared its rescue and relief efforts before the typhoon arrived.

My heart - and not only mine - bleeds for all the people of the Visayas Regin, especially those families, who lost loved ones and for those who perished in the world's strongest typhoon to make landfall.

German Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle at the ASEM - Foreign Minister Meeting in New Delhi started his speech: "On behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany I would like to expressy Typhoon  our heartfelt condolences and symphaties to the victims and the families who have suffered immense losses by lives and properties by Typhoon 'Yolanda'. Germany stands ready to assist and swiftly deliver humanitarian aid!"

Yes, the situation is worse than hell. And it will become more. What is the intensification of "hell"...?"

An Information from German Foreign Office

Speech by Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle at the ASEM-Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi

11.11.2013

Mr. Chairman,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany I would like to express our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the victims and the families who have suffered immense losses of lives and properties by Typhoon Yolanda. Germany stands ready to assist and swiftly deliver humanitarian aid.

Mitteilung des Auswaertigen Amts in Berlin

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, liebe Landsleute,

der tropische Wirbelsturm Haiyan hat verheerende Schäden in den Philippinen verursacht. Die Hauptstadt Manila,in der die Hälfte aller Deutschen lebt, ist zum Glück ganz verschont geblieben.

Der Botschaft liegen z.Z. keine Informationen vor, dass in den vom Taifun betroffenen Gebieten deutsche Staatsangehörige unter den Opfern sind.

Humanitäre Hilfe, auch aus Deutschland, läuft an.

Anfragen zum Verbleib philippinischer Staatsangehöriger können an die Hotline des NDRRMC gerichtet werden( +63 2 911 1406 oder +63 2 912 2665).

Bitte unterrichten Sie die Botschaft umgehend, wenn Sie Informationen über deutsche Staatsangehörige haben, die in Not geraten sind.
Ihnen und Ihren Familien alles Gute

Reinhold Armbrecht

Philippinische Gemeinde Berlin trauert

 

So 10.11.2013 | 19:30 | Abendschau

Nach dem verheerenden Taifun "Haiyan" hat sich auf den Philippinen ein Bild des Grauens gezeigt. Behörden und Polizei befürchteten, dass allein in der Provinz Leyte etwa 10.000 Menschen in den Tod gerissen wurden. Auch in der philippinischen Gemeinde Berlins in Westend trauert man um die vielen Opfer.

• tagesschau.de - Tagesschau

  Ausführliche Informationen und aktuelle Lageberichte zur Situation in den betroffenen Katastrophengebieten

Unterdessen lief die internationale Hilfe an. Auch zwei Tage nach der Katastrophe gelang es vielen Helfern jedoch noch nicht, in die am schwersten betroffenen Gebiete vorzudringen.

Der Wirbelsturm zerstörte einen Großteil der Infrastruktur, viele Orte waren von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten. Am Samstagabend war das philippinische Rote Kreuz noch von 1.200 Todesopfern ausgegangen. Nach Angaben der Regierung sind insgesamt mehr als vier Millionen Menschen von der Naturkatastrophe betroffen.

Aus Deutschland ist ein Team des Technischen Hilfswerkes in das betroffene Gebiet unterwegs, und die Bundesregierung hat eine Soforthilfe von 500.000 Euro zugesagt.

Beitrag von Georg Berger & Christoph Dohne

Stand vom 10.11.2013

Eingesandt von Gerhard Mueller, Berlin

Typhoon "Yolanda" ...

Philippines Braces for Incoming Super Typhoon

MANILA -- The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) asked cities and provinces expected to feel the wrath of a brewing super typhoon to prepare.

Placed on red alert were Metro Manila and the regions of Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Caraga and Northern Mindanao, said NDRRMC spokesperson Major Rey Balido.

Under this status, disaster units are advised to take pre-emptive evacuation of residents and for local government units to prepare shelters and preposition relief goods.

Regions placed on red alert by NDRRMC due to super typhoon Yolanda.

The storm, with international name "Haiyan," is set to be called "Yolanda" once it enters the Philippine area of responsibility on Thursday. State weather forecasters said it will cut through Visayas on Friday before exiting through Mindoro on Sunday.

Haiyan could carry winds of up to 241 kilometers per hour by Friday night before weakening a bit to 213 kph by Saturday or after crossing the country.

Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) classifies a super typhoon if center winds reach 241 kph or above.

"Rain and increasing wind will reach the central Philippines Friday afternoon and conditions will deteriorate from east to west Friday night into early Saturday as the powerful typhoon crosses the islands," said meteorologist Eric Leister of accuweather.com.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said it will likely raise public storm signal number 4 in areas to be visited by Haiyan, a Chinese term for petrel or a kind of seabird.

The condition is characterized by "very strong winds" of more than 185 kph that may be expected in at least 12 hours.

The winds may bring extensive damage to coconut plantation, houses and buildings, uproot many large trees and cut power lines.

"Emerging into the South China Sea later Saturday, Haiyan will remain a dangerous cyclone as it continues to move to the west-northwest. The eventual track of Haiyan will bring the storm toward Vietnam by late Sunday into Monday," said Leister.
Haiyan will be the 24th storm to enter the country this year. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)

Rain, rain, rain

MANILA, Philippines - Tropical depression "Vinta," the fifth cyclone of the country this month and the 22nd for the year, entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Tuesday.

"Vinta" was spotted 1,150 kilometers east of Virac, Catanduanes as of 4 a.m., moving west northwest at 20 kilometers per hour, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.

PAGASA weather forecaster Chris Perez said in a state news report that so far, Vinta is not affecting the country and no public storm warning signal has been raised. However, the cyclone can still intensify while it is at sea.

Perez said that if "Vinta" sustains its current direction and speed, it may make landfall over Northern and Central Luzon by Wednesday or Thursday.

PAGASA said Vinta's forecast location by Wednesday morning was 600 km east northeast of Virac, Catanduanes by Wednesday morning, 300 km East of Baler, Aurora by Thursday morning and by Friday morning at 180 km west of Baguio City.

Ilocos, Cordillera, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Metro Manila will continue to experience cloudy skies and isolated rain showers especially in the evening and afternoon due to the northeast monsoon.