A year later, things are still bad

Yesterday the nation observed the first anniversary of the onslaught of Typhoon “Yolanda,” still considered today the most powerful typhoon ever to hit land—in all the world.

Listening to the car radio Friday with the early evening news crammed with stories recalling the destruction wrought by Yolanda and the slow, painful recovery and reconstruction efforts in its wake, I found my spirits sinking lower and lower, lying somewhere in the same region as our floor mat by the time we reached home.

It mattered little that the President, in his address before the people of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, cited the positive testimonials of foreign heads of aid agencies and partners praising the speed and coverage of Philippine relief and reconstruction efforts. But P-Noy, Ping Lacson and other government officials later admitted that the record of achievement so far is dismal and falls far short of the goals so loftily set soon after Yolanda.

We know the excuses given for the sparse record of achievement: difficulties in finding appropriate sites for housing settlements, the refusal of landowners to allow rebuilding on their properties, and the reluctance of residents, especially fisher folk, to abandon their homes near the sea even after these areas had been declared high-risk.

From a remove, such as from one’s perch in “Imperial” (and distant) Manila, such excuses may sound plausible, even reasonable. But I wonder if a family in Tacloban, already traumatized by the loss of family members, the destruction of their home, and beset by hardship in their flimsy, temporary shelters, would have any patience to listen to and understand such reasoning.

At one point during the radio broadcast on the eve of the Yolanda anniversary, I gave myself over to exasperation and impatience. What did the people of Tacloban, Samar and environs want us to do? Perhaps the feelings were born out of frustration, a form of compassion fatigue that had beset us long before this anniversary came rolling around.

But sore feelings will not help the situation any. One year after Yolanda, things are still bad.

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Even before Yolanda hit, the Samar-Leyte area was already one of the poorest regions in the country. Yolanda only put in starker terms the poverty of the residents, many of them marginal fisher folk and coconut farmers, in a place so poor it had been considered ripe hunting ground for sex traffickers and recruiters for illegal labor, including house help.

Today, after Yolanda, “close to a million people continue to live in inadequate shelters and are still struggling to find the resources to resume their livelihoods,” says a report issued by Oxfam, an international humanitarian and development agency.

The report’s title sends ominous signals: “In the Shadow of the Storm: Getting Recovery Right One Year After Typhoon Haiyan.” The loudest call for action is addressed to the national government: “comprehensively address remaining humanitarian needs, while delivering a scaled up, pro-poor recovery agenda.”

Most vulnerable and at risk, says the report, are families who, before Yolanda, depended on coconut farming and fishing. Around 13 million coconut trees were destroyed or damaged, while fisher folk communities must confront declining catch after the typhoon, the loss of their fishing boats, and displacement from their coastal communities.

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Meanwhile, more than 200,000 families, says the Oxfam report, “are still waiting to be relocated into new houses to be built on safer land.” As of October, only 452 permanent new homes have been built, with several reasons for the paltry performance cited, but still dismaying.

“As so many of those targeted for resettlement continue to wait while living in inadequate and unsafe shelter, they often remain unsure of what basic services, such as water and education, will be in place. They are concerned about their ability to earn an income, as resettlement sites are further from their source of livelihood. Higher transportation costs are just not an option for people who are already (on the edge of) poverty,” said Justin Morgan, Oxfam’s country director in the Philippines. “Too often people are left to choose between a place of safety and their ability to earn an income.”

Calling on the national government to focus on scaling up recovery efforts while addressing underlying issues of poverty and landlessness, Morgan said recovery must be premised “on the priority needs of those most affected by the typhoon.”

Sounds simple, but as we move on a year after Yolanda, far more complex than we thought.

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As I write this, former secretary and senator Vicente Paterno is in hospital, suffering from pneumonia related to his lung ailment. Here’s hoping he recovers enough to take part in the launch of his autobiography, “On My Terms,” on Tuesday.

Paterno is one of a few officials to serve under both Ferdinand Marcos and Cory Aquino, chairing the Board of Investments and serving as minister of industry then of public highways under Marcos, then running under the administration party of Aquino for the Senate where he served with distinction. On leaving the government, Paterno joined the private sector, founding the Philippine Seven Corp. (mother corporation of 7-11 convenience stores) and serving as its chair.

Even as he deals with his ailment, Paterno soldiers on through Masicap-2, an NGO helping small entrepreneurs in Mindanao avail themselves of capital. Thousands have since received assistance from Masicap-2.

“On My Terms” should make for interesting reading, profiling not just a rare, outstanding individual, but also the times he—and we—have lived through.