TACLOBAN CITY- Survivors of supertyphoon “Yolanda” from different towns of Eastern Samar staged their rally before the regional office of the National Housing Authority (NHA) on Friday(Oct.4).
The survivors claimed that it’s been three years now and yet the NHA failed to deliver its promise to provide them permanent houses.
Lita Bagunas from Giporlos town and member of the Uswag Este-Katarunghan, a group of informal settlers, admitted that while they live in areas identified as no build zones, they are still entitled to be provided with permanent houses considering that they are also Yolanda survivors.
The members of the group claimed that their houses, mostly made of light materials, were washed out when Yolanda battered the region on November 8, 2013.
Citing the NHA data, there are 7,573 families from various towns in Eastern Samar hit by Yolanda that need to be relocated to safe zones or be provided with permanent houses.
“My family still lives in a temporary shelter. Rainy season is coming and the houses we temporarily live is fast dilapidating,”Bagunas said.
The 200 survivors were from the towns of Lawaan, Balangiga, Giporlos, Gen. MacArthur, Hernani, Llorente and Maydolong.
The NHA has cited lack of titled lands and high cost of lands suitable for housing as the reasons why the delay on the construction of permanent houses for Yolanda survivors in Eastern Samar.
Bagunas, however, said that the exorbitant asking price for private lands that are said to have caused the delay could have been solved if only the local government units be given the right to exercise their power of eminent domain.
(MEL CASPE/RONALD O.REYES)

VILLAREAL, Samar – A public library is thriving in this quaint and sleepy town, attracting students, government workers and even the ordinary Juans of the town.
The library, maintained by the municipal government, was established in 1989, stuffed with few books and other reading materials donated by the mayor at that time, Augusto Cabueños.
But over the years and thanks to the generosity of private groups and individuals from the town as well as by the National Library of the Philippines (NLP), an office under the Office of the President which has vast collection of books and other reading materials working closely with local government units, the municipal library has now over 2,000 books and reading materials like newspapers ready for use among its users.
Dea Manicane, the librarian, said that she is glad that despite of the presence of two internet shops in their town and modern gadgets where information could easily be accessed, many still come to the library.
Among its regular users is Hyddeh Varela, a senior high school student at the Villareal National High School.
“The library helps a lot in my studies because it is accessible and I can research topics which are advanced from what we have in school,” she said.
The municipal library is located at the old legislative building in 2012 and sustained damage when Villareal was hit by typhoon “Ruby” last year.
But before it was relocated to its present site, the facility had to share a small space with the municipal information agency.
Manicane said that she regularly attends seminars conducted by the NLP to update its content and to know the latest trends in books and digital collections.
Villareal (population: 27,230) is a small coastal town in Samar province 57 kms away from the regional center of Tacloban City. (JONABEL L. SALAZAR, contributor)

TACLOBAN CITY-Marive Repulda, 43, looks at the third anniversary commemoration of supertyphoon “Yolanda” on Nov. 8 with anxiety.
After all, the promised financial assistance to government workers like her has yet to be fulfilled by the government.
Still, Repulda, a school teacher at the Palo National High School in Palo, Leyte whose house was totally damaged due to Yolanda, hopes that the remaining amount of the promised financial assistance will be released this time under the administration of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.
“I have high hopes that the full amount of our housing aid will be released this time. It would be too much already if it won’t happen,” she said.
Public school teachers living in Yolanda-hit areas were promised of housing aid based on a memorandum on January 4, 2014 during the administration of former Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.
The memorandum refers to the proposed provision of financial assistance from the Presidential Social Fund to government employees who were affected by Yolanda.
Those whose houses were totally or heavily damaged were supposed to receive P100,000 and those whose houses were partially damaged were to receive P30,000.
According to Repulda, instead of receiving the entire promised amount of P100,000, she only received half of the amount October of last year.
“It is very frustrating. We were only given half of the amount due to us sometime in October 2015. And we were made to liquidate in full. We’ve waited for over a year already for our second release,” said Repulda, adding that until now her house is not yet fully rehabilitated while she continues to wait for the promised fund.
Education Undersecretary Jesus Lorenzo Mateo, in October, said that the release of said funds is on process.
“We have decided to make a concerted and collective action through this petition letter to demand for answers as to the status of the said financial assistance, and if possible, it be given to us the soonest possible time,” said MerInisa Ogario, the new regional coordinator of Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT-Eastern Visayas).
Along with Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees-Eastern Visayas (COURAGE-EV), they launched a signature campaign over the issue.
Ogario said the petition will be given during the possible visit of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte in Tacloban City on Nov. 8, the Yolanda third anniversary, through DSWD Sec. Judy Taguiwalo. (RONALD O. REYES)

ORMOC CITY- Members of the media from the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban recently gathered for a seminar on sexually-transmitted diseases.
In particular, how to better tackle the issue of HIV-AIDS (humanimmuno virus-acquired immune deficiency syndrome) was given focus during the two-day gathering, held this city.
The speakers of the gathering, which started on October 15, emphasized the importance of awareness on the HIV-AIDS as the best way to address the issue that now affects even young people.
Based on the records of the Department of Health, out of the 355 HIV-AIDS cases in the region, 63 from Tacloban and another 55 cases from Ormoc City.
The Philippines has one of the world’s fastest growing HIV-AIDS cases in the world.
Since 1983, there are now 34,158 HIV cases and 3,070 HIV cases with 1,759 deaths.
“We should arm our children with sexual education to protect them from being a victim of the said virus” said Tino Ramirez, the resource speaker of the orientation forum.
To control the spread of HIV, according to him, is to manage the effects of HIV among our youth and how the disease could be acquired.
There are only three known means how HIV-AIDS could be acquired, these include infected blood transmission, sex and using infected needles.
The members of the media who attended the seminar expressed their gratitude to Tacloban Mayor Cristina Romualdez thru the City Health Office and City Population Office for providing a venue to orient practicing media in its advocacy awareness campaign against STI, HIV-AIDS spread and the stigma attached to it. (GAY GASPAY/TISAT)

PALO, Leyte–In its continuing assistance to help improve the lives of the Filipinos,especially those affected by supertyphoon “Yolanda,” the United States of America through its arm, the USAID(United States Agency for International Development)Rebuild Project, fully supported the Regional Cacao Industry Stakeholders’ Forum in this town.
Marc Barrera, Rebuild chief of party, gave a message in behalf of USAID.
Regional Executive Director Wilson Cerbito of the Department of Agriculture said that the cacao production is a sunrise industry of the region.
Working around the theme “Eastern Visayas Responding to 2022 Cacao Challenge,” the forum held last October 27 was attended by 400 participants from around the region.
Those who participated the summit were provided with needed tools to equip them in the production, processing and the post-harvest.
Agriculture Undersecretary Evelyn Laviña, who was the guest speaker of the occasion, emphasized the importance of program continuity for the success of the cacao industry.
After her speech, she traveled to Barangay Villaconziolo in Jaro, Leyte to talk to the member-farmers of the successful Leyte Compact Farming Agriculture Cooperative.
The cooperative has planted cacao in a six-hectare land area.
This support to the cacao industry is just part of the $143 million assistance provided by USAID to reconstruct and rehabilitate the areas damaged by Typhoon Yolanda in 2013. (VICKY C.ARNAIZ)

PALO, Leyte- Masses will be held in the entire Palo archdiocese, particularly in areas that suffered devastations due to the onslaught of supertyphoon “Yolanda”.
Thus said Archbishop John Du who said that he will personally lead a mass at a mass grave in Tanauan, one of hard-hit areas in Leyte when the world’s strongest typhoon hit Leyte exactly three years ago.
More than 1,000 people were killed in Tanauan and with an estimated damage of P1 billion in properties when it was pummeled by Yolanda.
“There will be masses for the victims (and) for those who died. We will pray for them” Du said.
Masses relative to the commemoration of the third anniversary of Yolanda will also be held in Palo and Tacloban City, considered the ground zero of Yolanda.
Meantime, Du challenged the people to move forward and start to live a normal life now that the horrendous disaster occurred three years ago.
Several activities have been lined up by various local government units in connection to the third anniversary of Yolanda.
Among these activities include the Yolanda Candlelight Memorial in Tacloban, covering 24 kilometer wherein the public are encourage to light a candle as a way of remembering those who perished due to Yolanda.
In Tanauan, one of the highlights of the commemorative program is the transfer of 258 families to their permanent shelters donated by a nongovernment organization.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)