PAINTINGS FROM BAIS

Backstory

Typhoon Rai (local name Odette) traversed the island of Negros Oriental on the night of December 16, 2021, passing through the towns of Bais, Bindoy, Manjuyod, and Tayasan. As a preventive measure, the electricity was cut upon landfall. Still, the damage was overwhelmingly catastrophic that the entire province did not have telecommunications (both mobile signal and Internet) for 36 hours.

Dumaguete City, the province’s capital, was the first to restore electricity, a few days before Christmas eve; in other towns, particularly the mountainous areas, it took 2 months later. Electric companies from Luzon came to help in repairing power lines and installing new posts. Houses were literally washed away, covered with mud, crushed by fallen trees, or blown by the strong winds. In terms of fatalities, the count is unofficial and locals have varying reports. Evidence was impossible to gather because the flood swept all belongings, as well as some bodies.

Given the extent of damage, local government units also faced challenges in disaster response. Various private individuals mobilized donation drives and initiated relief operations on their own and eventually, in close coordination with the local government units and the police due to unrest. Non-government organizations followed suit.

The main immediate necessity was drinking water. All water pipelines were damaged. Since there was no electricity, water-refilling stations could not provide clean potable water. ILCP creators Irma and Tin joined a group of 16 volunteers for a relief operation in Bais City, Negros Oriental, on December 22, 2022. Thanks to sponsors, the team was able to distribute 150 containers of 5 gallons of drinking water to select families in Brgy. Hindongawan, Capinahan, and Okiot.

Beneficiaries were given a priority number to ensure a systematic distribution. One representative from each household claimed a 5-gallon container at the team’s distribution area; it was impossible to bring the containers house to house because the only bridge that vehicles could pass through was severely damaged and hence inaccessible.

Serendipitous meeting

The team’s distribution area was along a main road, at the time with little vehicular traffic. While waiting for beneficiaries to claim their water containers, we saw Jan McQueen and and her cousin Rods Villaflores carefully lining up canvases on the other side of the road. Asked if the paintings were theirs, they said yes and added that they were throwing them away. Shocked, Irma introduced herself as a visual artist who teaches Fine Arts in a university, and she offered to clean up all the paintings. Jan McQueen and Rods gratefully accepted and shared that the paintings were personal projects of hers, her siblings Queenkaye Marie and Francis, and Rods. Jan McQueen’s father is also a visual artist who inspired and taught them painting.

Irma proposed that the paintings be exhibited as survivors of Typhoon Rai/Odette. Of the seven rescued paintings, only four are in good condition. The artists provided consent for the cleanup, exhibition, and sale of each artwork.

The exhibition, Paintings from Bais, was opened at Boochee Beach, San Jose, during its Art & Music Festival in March 19, 2022.