TACLOBAN CITY- Mayor Alfred Romualdez of this Supertyphoon Yolanda-ravaged city expressed his gratitude to the various international humanitarian groups and to the national government which helped the people of the city during the massive disaster that occurred six months ago. Romualdez made his appreciation last May 6 before members of media during which he presented his master plan on the recovery effort of his administration for Tacloban, considered the ground zero of Yolanda. “I thank the different countries, international groups for coming; who risk their lives and sacrifice to work here. We greatly appreciate it,” Romualdez said. Romualdez also said that it is the people who should be the better judge if the national government is helping enough the people of Tacloban during this crisis. “Do I feel I’m being abandoned? You know I feel that there is a big problem and we have to address it. When it comes to those being abandoned, I think ang pinaka-maganda dun let us ask the people. Let them be the one to judge, not me. All I am saying is that… here is our problem; we need all the help we can get,” Romualdez said. But Romualdez said that whatever possible shortcomings of the national government in extending assistance to Tacloban, it’s because that there are still other areas affected by Yolanda. “So let’s give enough slack to the national government to now get all these resources together, plan it properly and let’s just make it properly. That is how I see it. I don’t want the people to lose focus,” he said. Romualdez had earlier chided the national government for not helping enough Tacloban during the disaster. Aside from the food packs and the bunk houses intended for those who totally lost their houses, the national government did not give enough to Tacloban, city officials claimed. During his recent visit, Local Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, whom Romualdez had earlier engaged in a word war, personally handed the former a check worth P240 million intended for the repair of public buildings destroyed during the typhoon. Romualdez said that while he acknowledges the financial assistance, its purpose should have been focused for the construction of permanent shelters for those who lost their homes. About 30,513 houses were totally destroyed during the typhoon while another 27,718 houses sustained damages. In the absence of the permanent homes, about 2,228 families are either living in bunk houses, tents or at the evacuation centers which are mostly public schools, records of the Mayor’s Office revealed. Mayor Romualdez said under the Tacloban Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan (TRRP), the city needs at least P3 billion of which around P2 billion would be needed to relocate these families to the resettlement area identified by the city government. The resettlement area, dubbed by the mayor as “new township,” is located in the barangays of Sto. Nino, New Kawayan, Tagpuro and Palanog, covering more than 70 hectares. The city government plans to construct 10,191 houses with each unit estimated to cost P220, 000 or total amount of P2.2 billion. Of the 10,191 housing units planned to be constructed in the resettlement area, about 1,000 of them were committed by various groups like Gawad Kalinga,GMA Kapuso Foundation, Habitat for Humanity and Philippine Red Cross, among others. Some of these houses were started last January and expected to be finished by next month.

(JOEY A.GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY – All municipalities in Eastern Visayas are now listed as beneficiaries of the P4.2 billion National Community-Driven Development Program (NCDDP), a three-year period anti-poverty initiative prioritizing economically-depressed and typhoon-stricken areas.The new program, jointly funded by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, will kick off on June for a six-month social preparation and planning activities, said Gerardo Peñeda, Department of Social Welfare and Development regional infrastructure engineer for NCDDP. Of the P4.2 billion funding, P2.30 billion will be allocated for the first year and P960.62 million each for the second year and third year. “This project covers all towns in the region for three years. However, the implementation in 21 municipalities is only up to one year as immediate response after Yolanda,” Peñeda said. The 21 areas are Albuera, Carigara, Dagami, Dulag, Hilongos, Isabel, Jaro, Kananga, Matalom, Palo, Palompon, Tolosa, Tunga, and Villaba, all in Leyte; Laoang and Mondragon in Northern Samar; Basey and Paranas in Samar; Hinunangan, Hinundayan, and Sogod in Southern Leyte. Listed as NCDDP beneficiaries are 4th to 6th class towns with poverty incidence above the national average of 26.5%, based on the 2009 small-area estimates of the National Statistical Coordination Board. Even if a town has a higher income classification, the areas are considered as NCDDP priority if poverty incidence is 40% or higher. “We also cover areas affected by Yolanda within an NCDDP province regardless if there are many or few poor families,” Peñeda said. The new program scales up community-driven development strategy employed in carrying out the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS). The three-year program involves five community empowerment activity cycles – social preparation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and transition. Projects include water system, school buildings, health stations, day care centers, electrification, foot bridges, pathways, access roads, community production, common service facilities, harvest facilities, irrigation systems, flood control system, sea walls, artificial reef sanctuaries, soil protection, and skills training and capability building.

(SARWELL Q.MENIANO)

CARIGARA, Leyte- Residents of various barangays of this town whose houses were damaged due to the onslaught of supertyphoon Yolanda, received shelter materials from a Japan-based group.The Peace Wind has a target 690 families to be given the shelter materials, of which 75 percent of them already received the donation, said Satoshi Kawai, the group representative. The families, who are mostly living in upland villages of Carigara, were chosen through the group’s regional partner, the Leyte Center for Development, Inc. (LCDE).The shelter kits distributed to the beneficiaries include GI sheets, plywood and coco lumber with an equivalent amount of P11, 000.According to Kawai, their group chose to help residents of Carigara after they learned that only few international humanitarian groups and local non-government organizations have extended assistance to the affected families of said town which sustained damages due to Yolanda.“We went first to Samar to help the residents affected there but we learned that the province is already crowded with international and local NGOs that provides relief and rehabilitation assistance. That is why we went here to Leyte and chose Carigara to be given with assistance,” Satoshi explained.He added that at first, they wanted to focus in providing shelter needs of the residents but after seeing some public facilities for children in Carigara that were also damaged by the supertyphoon, they decided to rebuild two day care centers in the said town.“We will continue helping typhoon -affected residents in this province as long as there is fund coming,’ Satoshi said. Meantime, LCDE executive director, Jazmin Jerusalem and a companion will be sent to Japan to help them raise more funds for their relief and rehabilitation efforts.“Right now, people like in Japan had slowly forgotten what had happened here. So we need to strengthen our effort in looking for funds for our rehabilitation program by asking those who had personally experienced the typhoon to talk with our local donors so help will not be stopped,” Satoshi added.(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- Six months after supertyphoon Yolanda battered this city and other parts of the Visayas, thousands are still living under tents or temporary shelters.
And needless to say, the issue on shelter remain to be among the biggest concerns of storm victims.
Despite of the “no build zone” policy imposed by the government, there are still families living in tents and makeshifts. It is in these areas where majority of the people of this city were killed due to the storm surges generated by Yolanda.
Derrick Anido, chief of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, said that rebuilding homes take some time, more so that the city government is confronted with other problems like lack of available lots where these displaced families could be permanently relocated.
Thus, these typhoon survivors living in the coastal areas, especially, those in the no build zones continue to live there.
They had to reconstruct again some shanty houses, made of tarpaulins for their roofs while others put some woods on the side to make them somehow withstand against strong winds or even during inclement weather.
Pedro Cajipe, a father of four children, recalled how the water has submerged all the houses in Costa Brava, San Jose District and how fallen and uprooted trees destroyed most of the houses in their village, one of the hardest-hit barangays in Tacloban.
“Water was all over, submerging all the houses in our village. The storm surge took everything; no food, no place to stay, no savings for us to buy private lots,” Cajipe said.
People still have nowhere to go other than their shanty houses in the no build zone areas, and hundreds of them are facing threat of disease, contaminating drinking water or no water at all to drink.
Victims of the typhoon are reluctant to stay longer in the tent cities because of some protection concerns, particularly on their children.
For Jenny Palahinog, a resident of Old Road Sagkahan, her biggest concern living in tent is the safety of her children.
“I am more concern on my children especially my daughter. I feel not safe staying here in the tent city,” Palahinog, who has four children, said.
According to her, her family sleeps on mattresses placed on top of wood and plastic pallets. Their food, clothing and other belongings were arranged neatly along the wall of the tent.
“We try our best to make it look like home,” she said.
While admitting that the living conditions at the tent cities, which are located within the danger zones, is far from ideal for their children, Cajipe and Palahinog, they have no choice until the government find them a permanent and safe relocation site. (JAZMIN BONIFACIO)

TACLOBAN CITY- The SM Foundation is to rehabilitate the Tacloban City Hospital of this city as it recently signed a memorandum of agreement for this effect.
The Tacloban City Hospital is a 25-bed public hospital managed by the city government that sustained major damages during the supertyphoon Yolanda.
The hospital’s main building and its out-patient department building, which sustained major damages, are to be repair by the SM Foundation.
Signing the agreement were Rehabilitation Secretary Panfilo Lacson and his Undersecretary Danilo Antonio; Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez; Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa and health regional director Jose Llacuna Jr., Teresita Sy-Coson and Connie Angeles, trustee and executive director foe health and programs of the SM Foundation, respectively.
In an interview with Leyte Samar Daily Express, Angeles said that the repair will likewise involve the expansion and relocation of the hospital’s emergency room to accommodate more patients who needs emergency assistance.
A malnutrition ward will also be established to address the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and an additional wellness center, to be named as Felicidad Sy Wellness Center for Children and the Elderly.
The actual construction started last March 21 with July of this year as the target date of completion.
According to Angeles, 80% of the labor forces in the renovation were from the local community and in the process, has provided means of livelihood to the disaster-stricken residents.
She added that the foundation will also provide basic hospital equipment to service the medical needs of the 138 barangays of the city.
Meanwhile, rural health units (RHUs) of Tolosa, Leyte and Basey, Samar will also undergo repair and rehabilitation to be funded by the foundation in partnership with the BDO Foundation in the Visayas, Angeles said. (RYAN GABRIEL L.ARCENAS)