PBSP marks resilience of typhoon survivors

TWO years after Yolanda

Two years after supertyphoon Yolanda ravaged the Visayas, many of the survivors are still picking up the pieces of their lives which was disrupted by one of the world’s strongest tropical cyclones.

But there are also a number of them that have recovered significantly with local and international aid. Some survivors even feel they are better off now with the continued assistance coming from development agencies and NGOs like Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP).

Take the case of Merle Tabornal and Gina Ciudad of barangay Tubogan in Ajuy, Iloilo, for instance, who used to walk seven kilometers just to receive free pre-natal care at the only barangay health station (BHS) in the municipality.

A BHS was built in Tubogan in 2008 only to be damaged by the typhoon five years later. Months after the typhoon, their community of 739 rice and corn farmers continued to rely on the rundown BHS.

Now, they are enjoying the benefits of improved healthcare services and a newly renovated health station. Asalus Corp. and PBSP initiated a program wherein barangay health workers were trained in Integrated Management of Childhood Illness which equipped them to better manage diagnosis and treatment of common children’s illnesses. The community is now upgrading their BHS into a birthing facility.

Panalaron Central Elementary School was among the schools in Tacloban City badly damaged by the typhoon on Nov. 8, 2013. Grade 4 pupil Ranzelle Ann Sombrero could not attend her classes regularly because of poor health, family problems and lack of food. Marivic Balais, 9, also suffered the same problem.

Fortunately, their situation changed when Mondelez Philippines, together with PBSP, chose PCES as its 6th adopted school under its Joy Schools Program. Mondelez undertook the rehabilitation of 18 classrooms, playground and canteen. It also conducted feeding sessions for 150 pupils for one year. It also constructed library and reading corners equipped with overhead projectors, DVD players and speakers.

Patrocinia Oftana of sitio Matab-ang, Madridejos, Cebu, used to spend P50 a day for water supply. She would pay a man to fetch her two 1.5 liters of water from the nearest dug well.

For years, 6,000 families in 14 barangays on Bantayan island relied on the 200 remote dug wells for their water needs. When the typhoon hit the island and made obtaining water from deep wells even more difficult, they had to fall back on manmade dug wells despite threats of water-borne diseases.

But their plight improved when Mercury Drug Foundation, in partnership with PBSP, installed level 2 and 3 potable water systems in 772 households.

Oftana and several of her fellow residents can now access water from their own faucets with a monthly fee of P100 for 10 cubic meters of usage.

Farmer Romulo dela Peza has been depending on the coconut plantations in barangay Inangatan, Leyte to support his family. But when the farm was destroyed by supertyphoon Yolanda, the 66-year-old copra producer was left without a source of livelihood and a home. It all seemed hopeless for dela Peza until Cargill Philippines and PBSP extended help to rehabilitate the damaged coconut plantations.

PBSP raised an initial P18.3 million from its member companies, individual sponsors and international funding groups for relief missions. It distributed relief goods, hygiene kits, comfort bundles, kitchen utensils, and shelter repair materials to more than 20,000 households in 14 municipalities in Cebu, Samar and Leyte. But the damage wrought by Yolanda continued to pose bigger challenges for the affected communities.

Hence, PBSP launched Project New Dawn in June 2014 to provide long-term rehabilitation interventions focused on health, education, environment and livelihood and enterprise development. It raised P293 million from its member-companies, partners and donors for the implementation of projects in affected communities. Of this, P160 million has been spent on projects in the towns of Bantayan, Madridejos, Santa Fe and Daanbantayan in northern Cebu.