Hard spirit

Social media was flooded with “flood” posts during the weekend as tropical storm “Karding” and habagat (southwest monsoon) unleashed torrential rains that inundated parts of Metro Manila and its suburbs. But aside from the usual scenes of motorists driving on submerged roads and people wading in waist-deep water in Quezon City, Marikina and parts of Rizal, there were bizarre and cutesy photos and and videos that splashed on Facebook and Twitter.

In Barangay Mariblo, Quezon City, relatives holding the wake for a 20-year-old woman who died of heart attack were forced to place the casket on top of styrofoam to make it float as floodwater rose Saturday afternoon.

In Hagonoy, Bulacan, the wedding of Jefferson and Jobel de los Angeles and the baptismal of their baby pushed through inside a flooded church. The bride and groom walked the flooded aisle with their guests also wetting their feet.

But the “flood of all floods” among the posts may be the flooding of the highway in Barangay Hagakhakin in Gumaca, Quezon not with rainwater but with brandy after boxes of Emperador in a delivery van fell on the road when the driver turned to a curve Sunday morning. Residents of the area and passengers in a bus swarmed the fallen goods and took unbroken bottles from boxes spilled on the highway.

The delivery driver and his helper could only look at the looting as the outnumbered barangay officials could not stop the mob.

Indeed, Filipinos are resilient in any kind of flood, particularly a flood of liquor.

The StaffBorn at the turn of this century, the Daily Tribune immediately took hardcore stance on issues, bearing a slogan that speaks of its character.