Central Luzon, Southern Luzon and Metro Manila were all battered by heavy rains since yesterday afternoon- at around 5 pm. The rains become heavier in the evening and continued until noon today. The rains have weakened a little bit this morning in Metro Manila, Laguna, and the rest of Southern Luzon. It was Monday, August 6, 2012, yesterday and many road-repairs were suspended in Metro Manila due to the heavy rains. Though no fully-developed storm has been spotted by the weather bureau here, its “rainfall data” recorded 222.6 mm of rainfall in the last 15 hours at Science Garden, Quezon City. PAGASA is the national weather bureau here in the Philippines and its acronym means Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration. It has warned residents in low-lying areas all over Luzon to immediately evacuate to “temporary refuge centers.” The warning was made last night. Government agencies came well-prepared this time around and went to rescue people living in low-lying areas as fast as they can since last night. Classes in all levels in Metro Manila and most of Central and Southern Luzon have been suspended today, August 7, due to the heavy rains. Work in government offices all over Metro Manila and many parts of Luzon had also been suspended. Many private offices in the said areas were closed due to the floods there. Evacuation centers were set up all over Luzon and Metro Manila.

The first 5 pictures in this iReport were taken from various parts of Manila. The last 5 pictures were taken from my parents’ residence in San Pedro, Laguna- a town just beside Metro Manila. The 2^nd and 3^rd photos in this report were shot by my friend and fellow-human-rights advocate-- Maria Fenia Duterte. All the rest of the pictures, except those shot by Maria, were photographed by me. The photos taken from Metro Manila were shot during the early morning. The pictures taken from Laguna were shot just this noon. The weather bureau here said that the heavy rains were due to the southeast monsoon winds. The weather bureau predicted that the rains will continue until tomorrow evening, Wednesday, though the downpours this noon have somehow already weakened. Today is August 7, 2012. Many residents from Metro Manila are praying that the sun should come out tomorrow since the whole of Luzon has been experiencing ferocious rains for more than one week now. I hope such prayer will come true!