Discover My Hometown

I went home to visit our house in Biñan last September 28, 2012. It’s been a month since the southwest monsoon hit the country. I saw cars were elevated only improvised boats made from water containers were used, thick and dirty mud, clogged drainage, plastics, junk food wrappers, and knee level flood. I can still remember the smell of the flood, it’s very nasty. It wasn’t like that before, I remember during this month, people who live in our subdivision used to stay outside of their houses in the afternoon because of the cold and fresh air. They even wear jackets, but now what I saw were those people wearing boots, walking in the flood just to cross the street. There were also some abandoned apartments, houses because of the flood; even my family evacuated the place for a while because we might get Leptospirosis, the illness cause by rat’s urine. I don’t know what kind of Christmas celebration the people will be experiencing this year if the flood won’t draw off.

2-3km away from our home is where the largest public market in the province of Laguna is located. It’s where most of the people had transferred during the flood. The place didn’t flood because of the large creek, near the old municipal hall of Biñan which is now the police headquarters. If you could only see of the municipal hall, it’s like an antique house with a modern twist design. In front of the old municipal hall was the Alberto – Alonso house, it is one of the historical land marks in Biñan. It wasn’t that famous, even I wasn’t aware that it was the old house where Teodora Alonso (mother of Dr. Jose Rizal) lived. The demolition of this house last year was a big mistake. The interior structure of the house was destroyed and many people protested against it, especially the students who live near that area. I was curious and intrigue by this issue and because of that I wanted to know more about it.