MANILA, Philippines?In an unexpected change of heart, Malacañang has opened its doors to squatters who fled rising floodwaters brought about by Tropical Storm ?Ondoy? (international codename: Ketsana) and a fire that hit their community in Quezon City on Saturday.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave the go-signal after her surprise visit to the evacuees at Diosdado Macapagal Elementary School in Barangay Tatalon on Tuesday night. She coaxed them to leave the crowded evacuation center and take shelter in Malacañang.

If necessary, even the Ceremonial Hall in Malacañang, where the President hosts the vin d?honneur for foreign dignitaries, will be open to the victims if only to ease congestion at temporary shelters elsewhere.

?All of us are not prepared for this. Everything was done in a scramble,? Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told reporters about the change of plans. ?It was a work in progress. We adjust as we go along.?

On Monday, officials announced that Malacañang would serve as an evacuation center. But shocked by the long queues of evacuees the next day, they declared that it would only be used to repack relief goods for distribution to evacuation centers.

Ceremonial Hall, too

Starting Tuesday midnight, 17 families or 103 people who came in buses from Tatalon occupied the ground and second floors of Malacañang?s five-story Mabini Hall, which houses the Office of the Executive Secretary.

Some 700 families were forced to leave their homes due to the rising floodwaters and a fire, and seek shelter at Diosdado Macapagal Elementary School, according to social workers.

?The idea is to reduce the crowd in the evacuation center and prevent diseases,? said social welfare officer Cindy Calma.

Mabini Hall can accommodate at least 100 families or 500 people from Tatalon or Pasig City, according to Secretary Hermogenes Esperon of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

?We are addressing the overflow of evacuees from the evacuation centers,? he told reporters.

If necessary, the carpeted Ceremonial Hall may also be open to 10 families or 50 people, Esperon said.

He pointed out that their stay in Malacañang would depend on how soon the situation would normalize so that they could return home.

Relief items

The evacuees were supplied with clean bedding and mattress, used clothes, and a regular supply of meals and bottled water, a far cry from the dire conditions in evacuation centers, where they slept on cardboard boxes and jostled for bags of relief goods.

?We had fried chicken for dinner and breakfast. Here, the grace comes to us,? Jessica Regoro, 38, a mother of four young girls, said in an interview.

Jessica and her husband Edgar, a delivery boy at an auto supply shop in Binondo, Manila, and their children had narrowly escaped death as Ondoy struck Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

As floodwaters engulfed the first floor of their house in Tatalon, they climbed to the second floor and stayed there. But at nightfall, a fire broke out in the neighborhood, forcing them to climb to the rooftop and escaped by hopping onto the rooftops of their neighbors? houses.

?It was really a tragedy. We?re lucky to be alive,? Regoro said. They failed to salvage anything from their home, she said.

Reluctant first-timers

Although it was the first time they went to Malacañang, no thanks to the storm, they weren?t too thrilled to go around.

?We?d rather stay here. We?re ashamed to roam around. That?s what we miss most about the evacuation center. There we can go around, and go home, and come back,? Regoro said.

Wednesday morning, the weary, sleepless evacuees lay huddled against the wall on opposite wings of the building, mostly catching sleep and fielding questions from volunteer students.

At the nearby Kalayaan Hall, over a hundred students, including Indians from the University of Perpetual Help in Las Piñas City, stuffed packs of bread and bottles of mineral into bags, and loaded them into cardboard boxes to be transported by Army trucks to the evacuation centers.

Luli in charge

Ms Arroyo?s daughter, Ma. Evangeline Lourdes ?Luli? Arroyo-Bernas, was on top of the situation, occasionally giving orders through a megaphone. She wore a black shirt, shorts and slippers.

?We have so far dispatched close to 15,000 individual packs. But the priority destinations are ? evacuation centers in Marikina, Pasig, Taytay and Cainta where some of our countrymen haven?t eaten for two days,? Esperon said.

Cookie Aydinan, PMS director, said bottled water, canned goods, personal hygiene products, and baby milk were needed in most evacuation centers.