STAR’s Damayan goes to Sta. Rosa

MANILA, Philippines - Life at the relocation site in Pooc, Southville in Sta. Rosa, Laguna has been hard for Jesusa Espenida and her family.

With her husband’s irregular income as a welder, finding food for them and their three children has always been a difficult task.

Espenida, 56, told The STAR on Wednesday that to help put food on the table, they raised five chickens.

The chickens, however, were swept away when their house was submerged in floodwaters spawned by Tropical Storm Maring two weeks ago.

“We were not able to save the chickens. The water rose rapidly and we did not have the time to get them from the cage,” Espenida said in Filipino.

Espenida’s family is only one of those who felt the brunt of the recent flooding.

Almost all of the houses in Pooc, Southville have been flooded. The area is where informal settlers from nearby Daang Riles, Taguig City, Quezon province, Tutuban and Sampaloc in Manila

were relocated. Even those who were displaced by Typhoon Ondoy in 2009 reside in the area.

According to Jimmy Digamon, a barangay tanod in Pooc, two weeks have passed since Maring hit their place but most of the residents have not recovered.

“Life is already hard for us but it became even harder because of the flooding,” Digamon said, adding that most families there do not have the money to repair their damaged houses or to buy a replacement for their appliances that were destroyed.

But last Wednesday, the burden felt by some 1,500 of the relocated families was somehow eased when they received assistance from Operation Damayan, the socio-humanitarian arm of The STAR Group of Publications.

Each family got five kilos of rice and assorted groceries like sardines, coffee, milk, sugar, footlong buns, blanket and slippers.

Jeanery Marasigan, 27, a mother of three children, said the assistance is a big help for them.

“This will see us through for a few more days. This is really a relief for us,” she said.

Marasigan and her husband Jason got married when they were both 16 because she got pregnant. They moved to Pooc, Southville from Calauag, Quezon in 2009.

She admits that life has not been easy for them since they had to raise a child at such a young age.

She works as an assistant in a store within the area while her husband works in a factory. But their combined income is not sufficient for their needs.

“What I’m thanking God for is that none of us got sick. My children are healthy,” she said.

For its next mission, Operation Damayan will go to Fami, Laguna to distribute relief assistance to affected residents and to rehabilitate the Minayutan Elementary School which was devastated by the recent flooding.

Meanwhile, here’s an update of the donations sent to Operation Damayan:

Young Filipino Chinese Entrepreneurs  – P500,000

Sunlife Insurance c/o Diane Perfecto – P4,000

Siy Family – P5,000                                                                         

T.Y. Chang – P10,000                                                                                      

M S A Tan – P5,000                                                                                         

Monde Nissin Corp. – 50 boxes assorted noodles