Imelda Marcos Shoe Collection Survived Ondoy

During the destruction of typhoon Ondoy, a museum guard’s acting quickly saved part of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos’s infamous shoe collection when huge floods devastated the nation’s capital.

In a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the staffs said that they moved the 200-pair of shoes displayed to the second floor before the flood waters started to enter into the ground floor of the Marikina Shoe Museum.

“A guard was able to take most of the pairs to the second floor. We will account for them in due time, but our priority right now is still the affected families,” it cited Mayor Marides Fernando of Marikina City during the interview.

Marikina City is the Philippines’ shoe production capital, was among the worst hit areas when Tropical Storm Ondoy (Ketsana) plunged record rains in and around Manila on Sept. 26, killing almost 300 people and thousands homeless.

Marcos’s shoe collection has become one of the most infamous symbols of the life of lavishness Imelda Marcos enjoyed during the 20-year reign of her husband, Ferdinand Marcos.

Picture Credits : Ramon Lopez at Flickr - visit ramonlopez for more photos.

Blackhouts Hits Metro Manila

As the country struggles to rise from the devastation of storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng,” Metro Manila and Rizal province are facing long power outages after a fire forced the shutdown of a power transformer in Taytay last Wednesday.

The rotating blackouts that the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) had hoped to end today are expected to drag on after three of its substations tripped “due to critical loading and in its attempt to shift load” to compensate for the shutdown of the Dolores substation of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

Meralco said the development “will result in longer duration of power outages in affected areas.”

Meralco, in a statement, said the three substations that conked out were Mandaluyong, Hillcrest and SM-Shangri-La.

“Both the NGCP and Meralco are doing everything to restore normal state of power,” the Meralco statement read. “We beg your indulgence for this inconvenience.”

Eleven cities and towns in eastern Metro Manila and Rizal province were subjected to rotating blackouts yesterday. Meralco had targeted to restore normal power today but its substations tripped.

The blackouts yesterday lasted three to four hours each twice a day in Makati, Marikina, Mandaluyong, Pasig, San Juan and parts of Quezon City, and Binangonan, Taytay, Angono, Cainta, and Antipolo City in Rizal.

Read the full story at Yahoo News.