By Christian V. Esguerra, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.<\/p>\n
Philippine Daily Inquirer<\/a><\/p>\n First Posted 03:17:00 09\/30\/2009<\/p>\n Filed Under: Ondoy, Flood, Disasters & Accidents, Government Aid<\/a><\/p>\n MANILA, Philippines<\/a>\u2014She ordered the Palace thrown open to the common folk, and was annoyed at what she saw.<\/b><\/p>\n A long stretch of impoverished Filipinos peeking through the gates of the Kalayaan<\/a> compound under the intense afternoon heat was the sight that greeted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo<\/a> a day after she issued her unprecedented order.<\/p>\n It was apparently the closest that her staff could get to the planned National Relief Operations Center on the Palace grounds to help victims of Tropical Storm<\/a> \u201cOndoy\u201d (international codename: Ketsana).<\/p>\n The President beheld the scene when she arrived at Kalayaan Hall at around 1:30 p.m. from a Cabinet meeting in Camp Aguinaldo<\/a>. Her face turning sour, she ordered the Palace guards to immediately let the people in.<\/p>\n Hermogenes Esperon<\/a>, Ms Arroyo\u2019s chief of staff<\/a>, tried to downplay his boss\u2019 annoyance, saying: \u201cShe just didn\u2019t want to see the people lined up outside.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n About an hour later, the number of people expecting relief goods swelled to around 500. Many of them were women and kids dressed in tattered clothes and slippers.<\/p>\n An old man in a wheelchair fell in line, at the end of which volunteers distributed nothing more than hamburger buns.<\/p>\n
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