Davao Oriental slowly getting back to normal

It is off-season to distribute school supplies but Typhoon Pablo destroyed school buildings as well as the school materials of the children. We were in Cateel in Davao Oriental to stay overnight after a five-hour drive from Davao City through the mountains of Compostela Valley. 

Our final destination were two schools in Baganga and Hinaplangan, which received little support due to their distance, about an hour from Cateel.

Before calling it a night, my friend Emong and I went around the plaza of Cateel and saw that life has somehow settled. Though electricity has not been fully restored in the houses, at least there are streets lights. At the center of the plaza, there is an industrial water filter installed at the deep well where people get their drinking water.

Most residents I spoke with feel that life is picking up slowly, especially since a lot of them still rely on feeding programs. However, I noticed that some establishments have reopened, like a small convenience store, the “bed and breakfast” place we stayed at and two stalls in the market.

During my last visit in Cateel two months ago, I met Mang Jose who was worried about how to send tuition for his daughter in college in Davao City. When I returned, I didn’t immediately recognize Mang Jose because he looked younger and nothing near his distraught self. Today, he has a sari-sari booth given by a softdrink company.

Life was returning back to normal, slowly but surely.

I guess you can say that Cateel is more fortunate than other areas hit by Pablo in terms of access to help.

In Baganga, Davao Oriental, the Sto. Niño parish is still in ruins. Fr. Roberto Ombon was busy instructing people to clear the debris. For now, it was the most that they could do because they need more than P8M to rebuild a sturdier church, one that could withstand 350 kph winds, according to Fr. Ombon. (For donations, kindly get in touch with their diocese.)

During Pablo, Baganga suffered a number of fatalities, but Fr. Ombon shared that perhaps because the residents are accustomed to hardship, they are able to cope.

We couldn’t easily locate Kiagbaan Elementary School in Baganga where we were supposed to deliver supplies because there was no school building visible from the main road.

Among the students of Kiagbaan Elementary School are siblings Sheryl, Charlie and John Ryan. Since Pablo, they have been attending one class in the lone standing classroom. There are no regular classes yet, but psychosocial activities aimed at debriefing the students from the trauma of Pablo were being held. In class, the children sang and danced.

Sheryl, 10, recalled how frightened they were whenever it rained. During Pablo, Sheryl and her family laid flat on the concrete highway. They could not do anything to save their home, and until now, they are staying at her uncle’s bahay kubo. But school has given them something to look forward to.

Next stop for our team was the San Juan Elementary School in Hinaplangan. Our team leader Jodink Sayong specifically requested the Department of Education to recommend a school that was not easily reached by relief goods. And true enough, the school was far.

Many times I thought our truck would not make it to the top of the mountains. We had to tow the van with our 4x4 pickup and for a number of times, the men in our group had to push the truck when the tires got stuck in the mud. 

Only one vehicle at a time could pass the dirt road. The other side of the road is a deep ravine. Throughout the trip on the mountain, I wondered who could live here. It was isolated from everything.

Finally, we reached the San Juan Elementary School in Hinaplangan. Some 90 students were gathered in one big tarpaulin through the generosity of a non-government organization. There were hardly any houses on our way to the school because most students live at the next mountain. They had to walk from 30 minutes to an hour a day just to go to school. The teachers live in a cottage — now also in ruins — beside the school because it is impractical to commute every day.  “If we don’t live here, nobody will teach the students,” said school head Jovena Sayco Torsino.

Torsino quickly gave me a tour of the school. On a shelf, there were less than a dozen books, soaked from the rains that came after Pablo. “The children ran after the books during the LPA (low pressure area) to save them from being completely soaked,” said Torsino. They were drying whatever was left of their materials. Everything was gone — blackboard, roof and an entire school building. 

I was pleased to see the fathers of the children working on the trusses. They are farmers who also lost their income, but they volunteered their services to build the school. The small school does not have the engineering brigade of the Army or the NGOs to help them, but they decided not to sit around and wait for help to arrive.

Hence, our visit was unexpected but very much appreciated. Here’s a text from DepEd district supervisor of Baganga North, Raymunda Apostol: “Ma’am, thank you very much for you delivered a slice of heaven to the lives of our students.”

It is not an easy task to deliver relief to far-flung areas and we remain grateful to our generous donors for helping the victims of Pablo. 

An update: Sagip Kapamilya is coordinating closely with the Engineering Brigade to build the damaged school buildings.

Now, moving on to other concerns. This is to appeal to major recyclers to go to areas devastated by Pablo. There are countless GI sheets and other junk from the ruined houses. Unfortunately, the middlemen are buying the scrap metal for as low as P2.50 per kilo only when it could sell P12 per kilo. Surely the residents could use some money to rebuild their homes and I’m hoping that they are not being shortchanged. Access is still difficult but what can be done is to set up shop in Davao Oriental to place the junk, and when the roads have been restored, then the junk can be transported. 

(For your feedback, kindly e-mail me at [email protected]. We would love to hear your thoughts.)