Taclobanons desperate to go home

The days of agonizing over the fate of her family spurred 32-year-old call center agent Anjuli Lorraine Pido to ask Cebu City Hall’s help for him to go home to Tacloban City.

“I haven’t heard from my parents since Thursday. Every minute counts. I’m so worried about my baby,” Pido, a single mother, said.

Pido left her three-year old baby under the care of her parents who live in V and G Subdivision in barangay 105, Tacloban City.

“The last time I talked to them over the phone was on Thursday evening. My mother told me to take care. She said they have stocked up on food, water and candles,” a teary-eyed Pido told CDN.

Her anxiety rose when she didn’t see the names of her family members in either the list of casualties or survivors.

“I’m hopeful that they are still alive. I really want to go home already to look for them,” she said.

A neighbor from Manila who requested anonymity said she went home to their subdivision but was unable to check if her family was still there.

“My friend told me that they couldn’t put up with the stench of decomposition in the subdivision for long,” she said.

Precy Coca, a native of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, went to the Mayor’s Office to ask for help after learning that her family and some relatives were left homeless in typhoon Yolanda’s wake.

Coca said she was unable to contact her sisters Ma. Purisima Fabillar and Mary Jane Egam.

Coca was at the Mactan Cebu International Airport from noon to 8 p.m. last Monday hoping to take a flight to Samar.

Another Tacloban native, 25-year-old Kathy Laurino, wants to fetch her 12-year-old sister, the lone survivor of her family. Laurino saw her mother’s name in the list of casualties posted on news websites.

The whereabouts of her two older siblings, uncles, aunts and other relatives are unknown.

“It hurts to know that my mother is dead. I need to fetch my sister. She has no one to care for her,” Laurino said.

Laurino contacted her neighbors in Tacloban City through Facebook, who confirmed that her sister survived.

Her father was in Iloilo on business when the typhoon hit Tacloban City. Laurino said her father was headed back home to Tacloban City.

Laurino said she experienced a storm signal number four in her childhood, but “Yolanda” was far worse.

Pido said she and other Tacloban City residents should go in groups to avoid being ambushed by looters.

The group was expected to leave for Baybay, Leyte by boat last night.

Cebu City Hall’s Department of Social Welfare and Services gave P1,000 each to Pido, Laurino and several Tacloban City residents.

“About P500 will be for the boat trip fare while they can use the remaining amount for their land trip and to buy provisions,” DSWS chief Ester Concha said.