VIDEO: The men of Village 88

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – The coastal Village 88 of San Jose, Tacloban City is where at least a thousand died of a population of 11, 000, after typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) swept into the Visayas. 

This documentary tells the story of the men of Timex compound, Village 88. Their narratives are the same as many others in Village 88 and in many villages across Tacloban City, men and women who sleep in the dark surrounded by the bodies of friends and the ghosts of family.

Eighty-eight is the interwining narrative of three fathers: Ramil Navarro, who stayed home with his wife and young daughter, the same as his brother-in-law Edwardo Aboganda, and their neighbor William Cabuquin, who sent his children away but gave in when his wife asked to stay. 

Today, a full month after the storm, villagers report bodies still lie along the coastline of Timex compound in Fisherman’s Village. Volunteers among residents have gathered what bodies they could, but many other corpses remain impaled on trees or caught under fishing cages. There are no saws, say the residents, or boats to retrieve the floating cadavers. 

Eighty-eight is not a story of a storm, so much as it is a story of what happens to those who survive, and wish they never did. – Rappler

Video directed by Gym Lumbera, written by Patricia Evangelista, scored by Armi Millare, with production management by Aiah Fernandez.