INC unveils ‘model community’ for Yolanda survivors in Leyte

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – The Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) unveiled last March 14 a “model community” for the benefit of its brethren who were affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda more than four months ago, in fulfillment of its promise to help survivors of the strongest typhoon on record to ever hit the country.

INC Executive Minister Eduardo V. Manalo led the groundbreaking ceremonies of the INC’s resettlement housing and eco-farming community in Sitio New Era where a garments factory and other livelihood projects will also be set up. The community sits atop a scenic mountainous landscape in Barangay Langit, Alangalang town in Leyte, just 18 kilometers from Tacloban City.

Manalo inspected a model unit of the housing project – a concrete quadruplex with tiled floors.  Each quadruplex has four studio-type units with a floor area of 22 square meters each and a lot area of 35 square meters, including the garden area.

The INC is targeting to finish 1,000 studio-type units within four to six months, said minister Glicerio Santos Jr., INC general auditor and head of the Felix Y. Manalo Foundation Inc., the INC’s charity arm in charge of putting up the self-sustainable model community for Yolanda survivors in Sitio New Era. 

The INC’s socio-civic and livelihood skills training arm, the Unlad Kabuhayan International, is also involved in the eco-farming and livelihood projects in the site.

Sitio New Era is situated on a 3,000-hectare land owned by the INC in Alangalang, Leyte.  The initial phase of the project will involve the development of some 700 hectares of the property, where the housing units will be constructed as well as a garments factory, a dried fish plant, and an eco-farm that would be planted to imported rice varieties, imported fruit-bearing trees, vegetables and cultured mushrooms for export, Santos said.

About 40 percent of the land will be utilized for farming, particularly the planting of rice and vegetables, he said. 

Santos said the INC is not just content with giving relief goods or food packs and medical and dental services for Yolanda survivors in Leyte and other provinces hit by the super typhoon.

He said Manalo also wanted to help the survivors so that they could have their own livelihood and own houses in an area where they would not be at risk of storm surges anymore.

Santos said those working in the construction of the housing units and the various factories are the typhoon survivors themselves who are being given wages for their work by the INC.

“Ang lahat ng ito ay nangyayari sa awa at tulong ng Diyos (All of this is happening because of the grace and help of God),” Santos said.

He said Sitio New Era is just among the eight model community projects of the INC. The others are in Agusan del Sur, Cavite, and Bulacan.

Leyte first district Rep. Martin Romualdez said the INC’s resettlement housing project with an eco-farm and area for at least three factories is a good example of how survivors of Yolanda should be helped so that they could go back on their feet again.

“It’s a model community, a total community. Magandang ehemplo ito para sa gobyerno.  Napakalaking tulong po ito para po sa amin sa Leyte (This is a good example for the government. It’s a big help for us in Leyte),” Romualdez said upon surveying the work done by the INC in Sitio New Era. 

“This should be the standard to follow,” he added.

Romualdez also expressed disappointment in the national government’s slow pace in helping Yolanda’s survivors, considering that millions of dollars in donations (cash, food and other equipment) and pledges for Leyte had been coursed to the national government in the immediate aftermath of the super typhoon.

“Kailangang i-devolve, i-decentralize ito. Sama-sama na nating gawin ang mga dapat maisakatuparan (It should be devolved, decentralized. We should do what we should together),” he said, as he urged the national government to take a different approach in helping the Yolanda victims, and follow the INC’s lead.

The groundbreaking of the INC resettlement project came just a month after the Feb. 15 Worldwide Walk for Yolanda survivors. The funds raised in the charity walk were immediately used for projects that would benefit Yolanda survivors. 

On March 14, the same day that the INC held the groundbreaking in Sitio New Era, the INC also conducted a massive relief food pack distribution and a medical-dental mission at the Leyte National High School. Some 150,000 food packs, each containing three kilos of rice, three cans of sardines and three noodle packs, were distributed that day.

Before the groundbreaking rites in Sitio New Era, Manalo officiated a special worship service at the Leyte Sports Development Center that was attended by at least 60,000 people.

After the worship service, the relief and dental-medical mission followed at the high school grounds. There were also counseling services done for the Yolanda survivors.

Dr. Sergie Santos, a board member of the FYM Foundation Inc., said they also distributed 25,000 toys donated by Emirates Airlines. 

Santos said the INC, through the FYM Foundation, has given some 800,000 food relief packs in the various provinces affected by Yolanda since November last year under the “Lingap sa Mamamayan” or Aid to Humanity project of the INC.

Edwil Zabala, INC spokesperson for the event, said the funds to be used for the cons-truction of the resettlement housing project, garments factory, dried fish plant, and various livelihood projects for Yolanda victims, as well as the relief food packs being given to the typhoon survivors, did not solely come from the funds generated in the Worldwide Walk.

He said the bulk of the funds also came from donations of INC members for the “Lingap sa Mamamayan” project, which helps poor communities and victims of calamities not just in the Philippines but in other countries as well.

The INC’s Worldwide Walk for those affected by Yolanda broke the Guinness world record for the largest charity walk in a single venue (Roxas Boulevard in Manila), and another Guinness record for the most number of participants in a charity walk done within 24 hours in multiple venues.