Livelihood rehab remains top concern for typhoon victims

CEBU, Philippines - If typhoon victims in the municipality of Madridejos in Bantayan Island were to be asked, aid on shelter reconstruction and livelihood rehabilitation remains to be their top concern now that two weeks have already passed after super typhoon Yolanda battered the Visayas region including northern Cebu.

Olivia Bahandi, 38, shared to The FREEMAN how the storm badly devastated their house made of amakan. She lives with her husband and four children in Barangay Talangnan, one of the coastal barangays in the town.

“Nalupad ang atop sa among balay. Flooring na lang nahabilin. Wala’y kuryente. Wala mi’y tarong nga kaon. Luoy sad akong mga anak,” she said.

She cited that her family has no choice but to get back on their feet and start from scratch. Bahandi temporarily fixed their house through sheets of tarpaulin as roof covering of their four-post makeshift house.

Arlene Necesario, on the other hand, is worried for the welfare of her six children. Although she is thankful to the influx of relief aid from various organizations, she said that her family could not just rely on the relief goods distributed to them.

Necesario’s husband is a fisherman and his pumpboat was among those damaged during the typhoon.

Bantayan Island is considered to be one of the worst-hit areas in the northern part of Cebu after Yolanda entered the Philippine area of responsibility last November 8. It is composed of three municipalities, namely Bantayan, Santa Fe and Madridejos.

During the relief distribution of The Philippine Star’s  Operation Damayan in Madridejos, long queues of affected families from Barangay Tarong who waited for their share amid the scorching heat of the sun shared the same sentiments as Necesario and Bahandi.

They asked the donors to share construction materials for the rehabilitation of their shelter and pumpboats aside from relief goods.

Mayor Sally dela Fuente said that they are negotiating with the donors to address the need of the typhoon victims for shelter and livelihood.

He added that they are also closely working with the Bureau of Fisheries and Agrarian Reform and the Department of Agriculture to provide assistance to poultry raisers and fisherfolks.

“We have to focus on rehabilitation efforts this time,” he said, adding that he remains optimistic of the recovery of his town.

As of November 19, the municipal government already received help from 54 various individual and organizational donors.

According to dela Fuente, the municipality of Madridejos is composed of 14 barangays with an estimate population of 39,718 people.

He further extended his gratitude to the Star and The FREEMAN for going all the way to their town to distribute the relief goods.

“This is indeed a big help to us,” he said.

Typhoon victims in three barangays in Madridejos benefitted from some 2,300 packs of relief goods distributed by a team of volunteers from The Philippine Star’s Operation Damayan and The Freeman last November 20.

Star Group President and CEO Miguel Belmonte and wife Milette led the team to the island. They arrived in Cebu the day before to help repack relief goods amounting to P1 million.

Each relief pack contained five kilos of rice, canned goods, cereals, coffee, milk, a blanket, a mat, and slippers. Two thousand gallons of water were also distributed separately to the families.

 Food items in each relief pack are estimated to last each family for three days. The goods were distributed to families in Barangays Talangna, Poblacion and Tarong in Madridejos.  (FREEMAN)