MANILA -- The Philippine flag waved mightily over a refugee camp in badly hit Irrawaddy delta, the only foreign flag allowed to be raised in reclusive Myanmar.

Amid stringent restrictions to foreign aid workers in the cyclone-ravaged country, the 30-member Philippine humanitarian mission sent to Burma two weeks ago was permitted to hoist the country's colors in Irrawaddy, the delegation said upon returning to Manila Monday night.

"We were able to raise our flag in a sovereign country. They allowed us because they appreciated the performance of the medical team," said mission chief Dr. Arnel Rivera.

The Philippine humanitarian mission, a team of 30 doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and environmental sanitation experts from the Department of Health, planted the Philippine flag on a refugee camp in Laputta, a township in the Irrawaddy delta, when they arrived there on May 30.

It was their first destination in a 15-day tour that took them through four towns around Myanmar -- two in the Irrawaddy and two in Yangon. The team folded the flag as they left the delta for Yangon a week later, said team member William Sabater.

For the mission, it was both a diplomatic and humanitarian breakthrough as the Philippine flag was raised over Burma amid an international clamor for the strict military junta to grant foreign aid workers full access to towns hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis.

"It was more of a feeling that you're brothers and sisters working together. It was a very nice coordinated activity... and even when we arrived, you'd see how prepared they were, you can see the way the briefing was carried out, civilians and military working together," said Rivera.

The Filipino aid mission was the first group to enter Myanmar after military rulers agreed to grant foreign access as the country grappled with its worst humanitarian crisis in years. The junta opened up following a donors conference initiated by the United Nations and backed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar was a member.

"What others say that there were many soldiers around, we never felt like that," said the team leader.

As they described it, the Filipino contingent was feted to a reception fit for dignitaries as soon as they touched down aboard a military plane in Yangon.

"They greeted us with the presence of representatives of the Myanmar government, from the uniformed services, the ministers of foreign affairs and health," said Rivera.

The team was provided transport for their mission and a cargo truck for their load of close to 13 tons of medicine and relief goods. Myanmese civilian officials were with them throughout the mission, but there was no feeling of being watched.

"We were accompanied... We didn't find any problem, they were already well organized, the system was already in place and we were there augmenting them. We never implied that we were doing something other than assisting," Rivera said.

Still, the team had to submit to protocol imposed by Myanmar rulers. As Sabater put it, "we had to get a clearance for our every move."

"Our guide had to talk to so many people, coordinate with many people to get clearances. For whatever we do, there has to be a clearance. For the lecture we gave, we had to get a clearance. What we say, we should be given clearance," said the engineer.
But the team just went along as "they know we are there to help."

Sabater said the Philippine contingent was the first foreign group allowed to legally enter Irrawaddy, a region that was the hardest to access for other international aid agencies and hence was only reached through stealth.

Once in Irrawaddy, the impact of Nargis' devastation met them eye-to-eye.

For Sabater, a native of disaster-prone Bicol, ground zero was nothing like any disaster area he had seen before.

"Look to the right, to the left, to the front and back, there was not a single mountain. The area was like one major river with many branches, and the terrain was so flat," said Sabater, explaining the lack of natural barriers against storms.

And unlike in the Philippines, where multiple typhoon visits are part of the annual weather cycle, Myanmar is not familiar to such a climate catastrophe. What came with the unfamiliar was Nargis' deadly surprise.

The storm surge came at 28 feet above ground at speeds of 120 miles per hour, as fast as a car breezing through a highway.

In the aftermath, close to 78,000 were killed as of the latest count, but the figure is feared to exceed 100,000.

And unspeakable damage was all over.

"Imagine one whole barrio where all homes were destroyed, school buildings without roofs. And that was already 24 days since the cyclone hit," Rivera said.

Most refugees suffered colds and coughs but what many urgently needed was counseling for their loss.

"One of the locals told me they had never seen a cyclone so what they did was hug trees to survive. Most of the people we talked to lost their entire families," said social worker Jing Guerrero, one of those who gave psychosocial treatment to refugees.

The Philippine team went around with the help of interpreters as most locals only spoke the vernacular. Translators were especially helpful when the team gave a lecture on disaster management to communities.

There was even technology transfer, said Sabater, as the team taught locals an improvised water filtration system used in Philippine villages.

The system uses the Burmese version of the tapayan (clay jar) and sand and gravel for natural filtration, Sabater said. As a tap system is non-existent, locals source water for drinking, washing, cooking and bathing from murky ponds or collected rainwater.

"After our demonstration, we showed a bottle of clear water. A child grabbed it and drank it straight. That's how thirsty the people there were," Sabater said.

The medical team flew back from Myanamr through a commercial flight that arrived at 7:30 p.m. Monday.