Twenty-five years ago I was a young officer at the US Embassy in Manila, and in my “spare time” I produced records in Manila with some really great artists as a kind of hobby and what I hoped would be a bridge to a different future. My first project was an album by Odette Quesada…
Philippines
Video: A Typhoon Ravaged Family Still Celebrates Christmas
by World Vision Philippines The Philippines has the longest Christmas celebration in the world. As early as September 1, you can hear Christmas songs over the radio. People start to put decorations in their houses, commercial and business establishments. Everyone looks forward to the holiday, but children are the most excited. In the communities where…
Video: Film-maker Takes $25,000 Budget and Spends it On Typhoon Relief
Normally when hired to make a promotional video for a Hollywood feature film, you focus on promoting the film. Instead, filmmaker Casey Neistat spent the entire $25,000 budget he was given to promote “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” to fly to the Philippines and help the victims of the recent typhoon which devastated the region.…
Transform Relief Update: Maslog, Eastern Samar Relief by Ocean Adventure and Tim and Josie Advincula Desmond
Following is an update as of December 14, 2013 on the Maslog Relief project being spearheaded by native daughter Josie Advincula Desmond and her husband Tim Desmond, and Ocean Adventure Marine Park of Subic Bay Freeport. I want to put the report’s summary right up front: “We have raised and spent over $40,000 to…
Traditional Wood or Fiberglass: What is the best option for replenishing boats lost to Yolanda?
A question that is starting to take shape as we begin replacing fishing boats in Samar and Leyte that were lost to Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) is — does it make more sense to replace the boats locally, with motorized bancas constructed locally in the traditional way, or replace them with fiberglass motorized bancas which, unless…
The Heart of Eastern Samar Revealed in Stories, Snapshots, and Citizen Relief Efforts
Since Yolanda hit, I have been in awe of the way the Estahanon — natives of Eastern Samar–around the world and in Eastern Samar have come together in extraordinary ways to help those whose lives and livelihoods have been put in jeopardy by the storm. Today, as I woke up and began through social media…
Video: A Walk Through Barangay San Miguel, Balangiga, Before Typhoon Yolanda
This is a curiously compelling little video by Gloria B. Sommer I found on Youtube of an early morning walk through the seaside barangay of San Miguel in Balangiga, Eastern Samar. Moreso that most videos like this — this one really makes you feel like you’re there. Interesting, and sad when you think about…
Are Fiberglass Fishing Bancas a Viable Option for Replacement Boats in Samar?
As reported previously, we are engaged in a pilot project to replace the 28 fishing boats of our home barangay of Guinob-an, which were lost in the storm. We have ordered the first five and building will start in the next day or two. Meanwhile, although helping the fishermen of Guinob-an helps our family…
Do the math: P238.6M Typhoon Fund Release will help only 47,000 of the 1,192,093 displaced families
There are times when you really have to pause, think, and DO THE MATH. This is one such time. The Philippine government on December 11 announced the release of P238.6M ($5.6M) for housing aid for Typhoon Yolanda victims under the Housing Materials Assistance (HOMA) program, saying that this program will provide P5,000 in housing materials “for…
P239-M in housing aid for Yolanda Victims released
Via Philippine Information Agency. MANILA, Dec. 11 — Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad has released P238.6 million to the National Housing Authority (NHA) to support the Housing Materials Assistance (HOMA) to victims of Typhoon Yolanda under the agency’s Emergency Housing Assistance for Calamity Victims Program (EHACVP). The release—sourced from Budgetary…
NDRRMC: Typhoon Yolanda destroyed 593,787 houses and damaged 598,306 others
In its situation update for December 10, 2013, the Phiilppine government’s National Disaster and Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) completely destroyed 593,787 houses and damaged another 598,306. The number of affected barangays is now reported as 12,122. Full statistics and information from NDRRMC: Effects *Casualties 5,936 dead 27,022 injured…
Video: Romualdez Makes Tearful Accusations Against Roxas, PNoy — and Roxas says he’s “lying”.
The Philppines has been buzzing all day in reaction to testimony given Monday in the Philippine Senate by Tacloban City Mayer Alfredo Romualdez that included tearful accusations that DILG Minister Mars Roxas and President Benigno Aquino had withheld vital support for Tacloban during the worst of the disaster on political grounds — “You’re a Romualdez,…
Philippine Navy Brings Aid to Remote, Historic Homonhon Island
It was where Magellan first landed when he arrived in the Philippines. He landed on the island of Homonhon on March 16, 1521, and dispatched crew members, who gathered on the uninhabited island. Magellan was detected by the boats of Rajah Culambu of Limasawa, who guided him to Cebu — and the rest of that episode is…
Eyewitness Report: Guiuan a Month After Typhoon Haiyan
I received an email report today from an international visitor who was in Guiuan during the past week doing advance work for a possible relief project. As most will recall, Guiuan is the town of 40,000 in Eastern Samar where Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) first made landfall. The town is on a peninsula that separates the…
Senior UN Official Defends Philippine Government but Worries Aid Not Reaching Philippine Victims, Will Investigate
Valerie Amos, the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, indicated on Monday that her office has “a little bit of worry that in a couple of the smaller islands there may be needs there that we haven’t managed to meet yet. I’m still hearing worrying reports in the media–indeed I…
#ReliefPH Aid Monitoring: $16,629,654 in Relief Disbursed to Date by Philippine Government
#ReliefPH, which is associated with #MovePH and Rappler.com, is maintaining a very helpful Google Document which you can view here . The spreadsheet (actually 9 spreadsheets, one each for Leyte, Eastern Samar, Western Samar, Biliran, Cebu, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, and Palawan) tracks the status of relief efforts on a Province by Province, Municipality by Municipality basis.…
Video: A Touching Thank You From Filipinos to the World
This very touching and heartfelt video was shown Friday night, December 6, during a thank-you dinner to honor the foreign volunteers who are helping in the Yolanda / Haiyan relief at the Cebu Provincial Capitol Social Hall. It contains some of the most evocative photos I’ve seen — and some wonderful bits and pieces that…
Hundreds of Forgotten Villages — Does the PNoy Administration “Get it?” I wonder . . .
I’m back out on the ledge again. Somebody talk me down. Today I read a news report from ABS-CBN in which the Philippine government proudly proclaimed that it will provide temporary bunkhouse shelter for 2,800 families in Yolanda affected areas by Christmas. Really? That’s 119 bunkhouses, each with 24 dwellings in the shelter — thus…
Yolanda Journal: The Challenge of Getting Fishermen Back to the Sea
As the food, medicine, and shelter situation stabilizes (and it hasn’t stabilized yet) in the typhoon ravaged communities of Samar, Leyte, and the rest of the Visayas, the question of how to re-establish livelihoods destroyed by the storm is moving closer to the top of the list of concerns for those of us with displaced…
Devastated Town of Guiuan, Samar, Once Played a Key Role in a Cold War Drama
Typhoon Haiyan’s devastation of the the Eastern Visayas islands of Samar and Leyte has cast a spotlight on an area that played a significant role in World War II when American Naval Forces overwhelmed the Japanese Navy in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and returned General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines in what would become…
Typhoon Yolanda Aftermath: Normalization Task Force Lists Enterprises Now Operating in Tacloban
The Tacloban City Normalization Task Force has listed the following establishments which are now open for business: A. Grocery Stores/Commodities 1. 1.Kokoy’s Grocerette- Sto. Niño ( 8am-4pm) 2. A1 Milling-Marasbaras 3. New Karry Convenience Store-A. Veteranos cor Sto. Nino -selling rice and water only; (7am-8pm) 4. Hayward Convenience Store-Paterno St. 5. Quicksaver Mart-Paterno St 6.…
Video: “They are alive” – Voices From Leyte by Chiara Zambrano
Up until now, all the reporting about the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) from Leyte and Samar has been of the “prose” variety. Now comes a poem that is different, and much needed. Kudos to Chiara Zambrano for making this. And thank you. It’s beautiful.
Life in One Small Samar Town a Month After Typhoon Haiyan Changed Everything
The following description of the situation in Guinob-an, Eastern Samar, is drawn from daily conversations we’ve had with family members there who can now reach us via cell phone. It describes Guinob-an — but it could just as easily describe any of the more than 10,000 coastal villages throughout the central Visayas who have been…
Chinese NGO Team Finds 120 Bodies under San Juanico Bridge Today; Gov’t Announces 1M Homes Destroyed
It sounds beyond bizarre. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, ABS-CBN News, and other are reporting that today, almost a month after Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit, relief workers discovered 120 bodies underneath the San Juanico Bridge that connects Leyte and Samar. But they won’t add to the death toll, presumably, because they are not identified and bodies…
VIDEO: A Native Boat Builder in the Philippines builds a banca boat
I’ve been trying to learn exactly how the fishing boats are built in Samar. So far I’ve learned that you start out with a hull (‘onayan’) and then you put in the vertical ribs (“ligasyon”), then one of two parallel to the water ribs (batayola) …. so then you have a hull and ribs…..then you…
BFAR To Donate 10,000 Boats to Yolanda Affected Fishermen; asks private sector help
CEBU CITY – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has launched “Ahon” (Rise), an initiative to distribute at least 10,000 boats to 20,000 municipal fisherfolk in the Visayas and Bicol regions, covering at least a tenth up to a fifth of those affected by super typhoon “Yolanda”. BFAR 7 Director Asis Perez said…
P40B Pesos Set Aside …. and a grand total of 200 Housing Kits to be Distributed?
Okay, call me crazy but this makes me crazy and it should make you crazy unless I’m misunderstanding it. And let me say at the outset, I’ve got 60 homeless family members in Guinob-an, Lawaan, Eastern Samar so I have a personal interest in this. The Manila Standard today is carrying a grand announcement by…
Diocese of Borongan Assessment Chart — Affected Parishes
The Diocese of Borongan continues to be a great source of information on the status of Eastern Samar. Here is a report they put out, including a good chart, ehwih provides good insights. Post by Diocese of Borongan.
Lawaan, Eastern Samar: Latest Assessment of Needs by the Diocese of Borongan
from Lawaan.com via Fr. Neil Gavan Tenefrancia LAWAAN (Latest Assessment as of Nov. 27) by Diocese of Borongan-Communications Group -Immediate Needs: Shelter, Food, Mats -International organzations such as USAID and WFP (World Food Programme) has been partnering with the local parish for relief distribution as the municipal hall could not accommodate the volume of relief…
DRRMC Director: Households to be given recovery supplies starting Sunday
DRRMC Executive Director Eduardo del Rosario: December 1, 2013 -Every household will be given 24 pieces of roofing sheets, one hammer, one wooden saw, one and a half kilo of 3-inch nails, 1.5 killos of umbrella nails which they will using for the reconstructions of partially-damage dwellings. -Distribution of the materials will commence Sunday in…