At a hamlet in Tacloban: Yolanda survivors bare they never got any aid

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — More than a year since the Yolanda devastation, at least eight families comprising a hamlet at Sitio Alimasag in Barangay 88 of San Jose district in this city never received any tent or temporary shelter and relief goods, in whatever form, from the government or private organizations.

Neglected was the only description these families in the area (also informally known as fisherman's village) could tell The Freeman. Their place lies meters away from the end of the runway of the Tacloban Airport but not within the so-called 40-meter danger zone from the coastline.

Worse was that, a week before the papal visit, a fence of G.I. sheets was erected, by workers who the residents could not identify, between the hamlet and the highway, apparently to hide them from the view of Pope Francis's motorcade.

They, however, could not complain about it, saying they were helpless. "We were happy and relieved knowing that the Pope was in Tacloban. We did not expect any help though," they said in seemingly numbing acceptance of their fate of deprivation.

Makeshift huts are the only shelters in this hamlet, which lies near other houses of "better" materials. The "neglected" families said they miraculously survived Yolanda and built their hovels from discarded tarps, G.I. sheets and wood from debris of the devastation.

April Camposano, 27, and husband Marvin, 30, have lived in this area since 2001 and were selling fruits and vegetables in the city's public market. When Yolanda struck, April and their three kids–now aged 10, 8 and 3–were in Samar where she delivered their fourth child.

Marvin, who was in Tacloban, survived the storm surge by keeping himself afloat and swimming to safety amid flotsam, including the wreckage of their destroyed house, and dead people.

"After Yolanda, we lost everything. We have no more capital to start again our vending in the market. Before we had three meals a day, but after Yolanda we had almost none except for the food shared by our neighbors. Now, we eat two times a day only. My husband work by going with fishermen so that we can have food," said April.

After the papal visit, their wait for government help continued. They were given only in December last year the DSWD's green card (officially known as disaster family access card), which could have been the basis that they can avail themselves of assistance for shelter.

Until now, however, no assistance came, and the Camposano family felt they had no more energy to cling on to the minute hope for relief. Further, they have no idea if they would be transferred to at least a temporary shelter, if there is one, provided to Yolanda survivors. "We don't know why, until now, we are not included for relocation," she said.

April recalled that there were some neighbors who were able to move to a permanent housing site, given by GMA-7 in Barangay Kawayan in the northern part of the city. "We failed to participate, because we were required to work for the house construction, as our share in the bayanihan. My husband could not work there because he had no money for transportation, to and from the site, and then he needs to fish so that we can eat every day," she said.

"We are now hopeless, and we are already ashamed of going to the City Hall again to ask for assistance. Besides we don't have money for the fare in going there and back," she said.

"There have been DSWD people who keep on coming here, but then they brought no relief or assistance. All they did was interview us, as a sort of a survey on our situation, how many we are living here, our livelihood, etcetera. That's all. We are already fed up with all these interviews or surveys," April added.

Tacloban City's DSWD officer Gloria Fabrigas, when asked if the families here could avail of the Emergency Shelter Assistance, told The Freeman that there was no schedule of distribution of assistance yet in Barangay 88.

She said the Camposanos may be already on the payroll list for the ESA program, and suggested that they should come to her office to check if they are among the beneficiaries. She added that they must bring with them their "green card" and other requirements for confirmation.

These requirements, however, were the bane of these families in the hamlet, resulting in their being deprived of government assistance, countered April, saying that they may be able to get the required barangay clearance or certification that they are residents of the area, but then they could not produce the required official receipts of the building materials they were supposed to buy in rebuilding their destroyed houses.

"We only gathered scrap materials and we never bought anything from stores, because we have no money in the first place, so how can we have ORs for building materials?" April complained.

They may be on the list of beneficiaries, but she said the DSWD guidelines on ESA blocked them off from the expected aid of P30,000 for totally damaged house or P10,000 for partially damaged house, but not within the 40-meter danger (or no-build) zone. (FREEMAN)