Painful rebuilding after ‘Cosme’
STA. CRUZ, Zambales – Six days after tropical storm “Cosme” unleashed heavy rains and violent winds over the northernmost town of Sta. Cruz in Zambales, Gloria Dabay was past the frustration of being left with ruins.
The mother of four in Barangay Lucapon South was certain of what she and her family needed on the heels of the disaster, which officials regard as the worst to have hit the town after Mt. Pinatubo’s eruptions in 1991.
Holding a bag of relief goods given when President Macapagal-Arroyo visited Sta. Cruz on May 16, Dabay said in Filipino: “This is not enough. What we want are galvanized iron sheets and rice.”
A neighbor, Carmen Bonador, cut in, almost shouting amid the din of Ilocano songs filling the Tongson Plaza: “We’re rebuilding our houses but we have nothing to eat.”
Help
At this point, too, it was clear to Sotico Ebuen what he wanted to do. After winds blew off the roof of his house and unearthed 10 mango trees in Barangay Bayto, Ebuen, 59, has been scouting for a job, preferably as a farm laborer, hoping to get paid P140 a day. Problem is, large landowners were not keen on planting during the wet season.
For Wilfredo Ancheta, the alternatives were clear almost a week after waves “as big as a mountain” hit Barangay Lipay at 4 p.m. on Saturday. “I would do carpentry work in the meantime. I’m sure it would take some time to be able to go back to the sea and fish. The boat’s engine is damaged. I hope there would be available loans for that,” he said.
In Sta. Cruz alone, Cosme affected 10, 954 families whose houses were either destroyed or damaged, and displaced 8,000 farmers and fishermen.
The help that came that day were P500,000 worth of GI sheets from the Bataan government and P1 million worth of plywood and GI sheets from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development gave P5,000 shelter assistance to 100 families and P1,000 “cash-for-work” certificates for those tapped to clear the plaza of debris.
Relief goods were given to less than 2,000 families.
Ms Arroyo ordered Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to raise P500,000 worth of GI sheets, but these would have to be divided between Sta. Cruz town and the provinces of Pangasinan, La Union and other provinces in the Cordillera and Cagayan Valley.
Rehabilitation would strain public resources. The Department of Public Works and Highways initially estimated that P500 million was needed to repair public infrastructures. The Department of Education requires more than P400 million to fix school buildings and other facilities.
Amid the demands by families for houses and alternative sources of income, Mayor Luisito Marty stressed the value of self-reliance. “National government agencies are helping out here, but we cannot rely totally on them. I tell our folks here that we need to help each other,” he said.
Two problems have emerged and it may slow down the emergency phase, if not the rehabilitation stage, said Fr. Noel Montes, the Sta. Cruz parish priest.
The ugly side of politics—divisiveness—has sharpened.
“This is sad to say but the mayor and the town council have not overcome their differences. This is the time to unite and consolidate. After the President’s visit, they seemed not to be visible enough now,” Montes said.
He added that the poorest of the poor had to be prioritized. On Saturday, the parish pastoral council met, mobilizing chapters in the villages to assess who needed help most.
Montes said the information system must be improved so emergency assistance from government or nongovernment organizations would be monitored and incoming help directed to those who had not yet been reached.
Iba Bishop Florentino Lavarias has asked the Catholic Church’s National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa) to help the victims. Nassa has tapped the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for assistance.
Electricity, an important lifeline, has not been restored.
Montes said the disaster response had not yet shifted to rehabilitation. “That needs planning. We have not been informed. In the rebuilding efforts, various sectors should be involved,” he said.
Volunteers from the Army and the SBMA, which had cleared the national highways and some villages of debris, have already pulled out, leaving the residents to continue their work.
Politics in disaster
Gov. Amor Deloso is frustrated about the “intramurals” amid the disaster.
“I directed relief operations in [the villages of] Malibago and Gama in coordination with the DSWD, but I was stopped by Mayor Marty … Pag hindi maka-Marty, hindi binibigyan ng relief (If you’re not a Marty supporter, you won’t receive relief goods). Many feel they are being left out,” Deloso said.
But the mayor said such reports were not true. “What I only asked is for groups to coordinate their help with us. That should be the process so that we are able to monitor which villages are getting help or not,” he said. By Tonette Orejas - Philippine Daily Inquirer
The mother of four in Barangay Lucapon South was certain of what she and her family needed on the heels of the disaster, which officials regard as the worst to have hit the town after Mt. Pinatubo’s eruptions in 1991.
Holding a bag of relief goods given when President Macapagal-Arroyo visited Sta. Cruz on May 16, Dabay said in Filipino: “This is not enough. What we want are galvanized iron sheets and rice.”
A neighbor, Carmen Bonador, cut in, almost shouting amid the din of Ilocano songs filling the Tongson Plaza: “We’re rebuilding our houses but we have nothing to eat.”
Help
At this point, too, it was clear to Sotico Ebuen what he wanted to do. After winds blew off the roof of his house and unearthed 10 mango trees in Barangay Bayto, Ebuen, 59, has been scouting for a job, preferably as a farm laborer, hoping to get paid P140 a day. Problem is, large landowners were not keen on planting during the wet season.
For Wilfredo Ancheta, the alternatives were clear almost a week after waves “as big as a mountain” hit Barangay Lipay at 4 p.m. on Saturday. “I would do carpentry work in the meantime. I’m sure it would take some time to be able to go back to the sea and fish. The boat’s engine is damaged. I hope there would be available loans for that,” he said.
In Sta. Cruz alone, Cosme affected 10, 954 families whose houses were either destroyed or damaged, and displaced 8,000 farmers and fishermen.
The help that came that day were P500,000 worth of GI sheets from the Bataan government and P1 million worth of plywood and GI sheets from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development gave P5,000 shelter assistance to 100 families and P1,000 “cash-for-work” certificates for those tapped to clear the plaza of debris.
Relief goods were given to less than 2,000 families.
Ms Arroyo ordered Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to raise P500,000 worth of GI sheets, but these would have to be divided between Sta. Cruz town and the provinces of Pangasinan, La Union and other provinces in the Cordillera and Cagayan Valley.
Rehabilitation would strain public resources. The Department of Public Works and Highways initially estimated that P500 million was needed to repair public infrastructures. The Department of Education requires more than P400 million to fix school buildings and other facilities.
Amid the demands by families for houses and alternative sources of income, Mayor Luisito Marty stressed the value of self-reliance. “National government agencies are helping out here, but we cannot rely totally on them. I tell our folks here that we need to help each other,” he said.
Two problems have emerged and it may slow down the emergency phase, if not the rehabilitation stage, said Fr. Noel Montes, the Sta. Cruz parish priest.
The ugly side of politics—divisiveness—has sharpened.
“This is sad to say but the mayor and the town council have not overcome their differences. This is the time to unite and consolidate. After the President’s visit, they seemed not to be visible enough now,” Montes said.
He added that the poorest of the poor had to be prioritized. On Saturday, the parish pastoral council met, mobilizing chapters in the villages to assess who needed help most.
Montes said the information system must be improved so emergency assistance from government or nongovernment organizations would be monitored and incoming help directed to those who had not yet been reached.
Iba Bishop Florentino Lavarias has asked the Catholic Church’s National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa) to help the victims. Nassa has tapped the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for assistance.
Electricity, an important lifeline, has not been restored.
Montes said the disaster response had not yet shifted to rehabilitation. “That needs planning. We have not been informed. In the rebuilding efforts, various sectors should be involved,” he said.
Volunteers from the Army and the SBMA, which had cleared the national highways and some villages of debris, have already pulled out, leaving the residents to continue their work.
Politics in disaster
Gov. Amor Deloso is frustrated about the “intramurals” amid the disaster.
“I directed relief operations in [the villages of] Malibago and Gama in coordination with the DSWD, but I was stopped by Mayor Marty … Pag hindi maka-Marty, hindi binibigyan ng relief (If you’re not a Marty supporter, you won’t receive relief goods). Many feel they are being left out,” Deloso said.
But the mayor said such reports were not true. “What I only asked is for groups to coordinate their help with us. That should be the process so that we are able to monitor which villages are getting help or not,” he said. By Tonette Orejas - Philippine Daily Inquirer
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