The Church through its various organizations helped fisherfolk get back on their feet by buying bancas and fishing equipment. (Contributed Photo)
Helping survivors of supertyphoon Yolanda get back on their feet does not end with building houses and providing livelihood opportunities, a priest of the Cebu Archdiocese said yesterday.
“We need to build sustainable and resilient communities,” said Fr. Charles Louis Jayme, head of the local Church’s Relief and Rehabilitation Unit.
Officers of the Caritas Internationalis and National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) gathered in Cebu City to mark the second anniversary of the disaster that killed over 7,000 people.
The group met at Hotel Elizabeth in Cebu City yesterday and discussed how to improve projects for its three-year rehabilitation program.
A photo exhibit featuring Yolanda survivors and phases of the rehabilitation is also on display at the Ayala Center Cebu until today.
Cash in trash
So far, Jayme said the archdiocese has helped 500 households in northern Cebu.
They were provided shelters built at the Caritas Villages in Hagnaya, San Remigio; Bantigue, Daanbantayan; Tacop in San Remigio; and Bungtod in Bogo City.
The archdiocese also distributed motorized bancas with fishing equipment and taught typhoon survivors to engage in vermiculture, hollow-block making and livestock-raising.
Recently, the church introduced a “cash in trash” program to encourage people to recycle, to be creative and to earn money.
One beneficiary, Jojie Paragsa of Hagnaya in San Remigio town, north Cebu, thanked the Church for helping them recover from the supertyphoon.
At ease
“Dako kaayo og natabang nag simbahan namo. Nausab gyud ang among kinabuhi (The Church really helped us a lot. Our lives have changed because of them),” said the 34-year-old mother of four children.
Her family used to live near the shoreline. When Yolanda struck northern Cebu, their house was damaged.
The archdiocese relocated Paragsa’s family along with other victims to the Caritas Village.
“Peaceful na mi. Dili na mi kuyawan kon dunay bagyo (We feel at ease. We do not have to worry much when there is an incoming typhoon),” she said.
Paragsa, whose husband is a fisherman, is busy recycling garbage and creating handicraft which she could sell.
Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of NASSA/Caritas Philippines said they spent P3.2 billion to help survivors of the supertyphoon in the last two years.
Of that amount, close to P40 million was used for the church’s rehabilitation programs in northern Cebu.
Gariguez said their Caritas partners from all over the world sent financial donations for victims of supertyphoon Yolanda in nine provinces.
“We were able to reach out to 1.8 million people throughout the Visayas. The only criteria we have is to serve the poorest of the poor, regardless of religious affiliation,” he said in an interview yesterday.
“We do not ask whether or not he or she is a Catholic. We help everyone especially those who really need assistance, those who couldn’t be reached by other relief efforts,” he added.
So far, NASSA and Caritas have built 4,000 houses in the Visayas.
“Now, we’re focusing on livelihood, community empowerment and capacity building,” Gariguez said.
Despite their efforts, he said several victims of the supertyphoon still need help.
“We can only do so much. Taking into consideration the extent of the damage, the P3.2 billion we got is still very small,” the priest said.
Gariguez is hoping the government will step up its efforts in helping the typhoon victims.
“We expected the government to do its job because that’s their primary role. We, (in the Church), just complement the efforts of government,” he said.