THINGS THEY LOST IN THE FIRE

Watch out for a series of first-person accounts of Filipinos whose lives were touched by the Southern California wildfires on FilipinOnline.

Yesterday, I visited an evacuation center in San Bernardino. Today, I spoke with John Rodrigo, a former Navy man whose losses include three houses, six cars, and a wedding album. It was a lifetime's worth of blood, sweat and tears that he lost. He is devastated, but he finds it in his heart to count his blessings: "At least, walang nasaktan sa amin," he said.

[photo: Larry Espiritu - Santa Clarita fire]