SUMMARY
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CEBU, Philippines – Filipinos in northern Cebu will never forget who and what they lost to Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) on November 8, 2013.
Yolanda destroyed towns in the Eastern Visayas before plowing through northern Cebu.
Two and a half years later, most of the survivors of Yolanda are still suffering. Many of them say they have not fully recovered. (READ: Yolanda rehab: Only 30% complete as 2016 begins)
Last Monday, May 9, they trooped to the polls and voted for the first time since the typhoon struck.
What do the Yolanda survivors want from their leaders?
‘We want homes’
“Kung maka-storya man gani nako ang sunod nga presidente… i-ampo gyud nako nga kami, mga biktima sa Yolanda, hatagan niya ug mga balay nga matawag gyud namo nga puy-anan,” said a teary-eyed Prescilla Jumao-as.
(If I could talk to the president… I pray that he would give us, victims of Yolanda, houses we can really call home.)
Jumao-as, 65, said the government promised her a new home in 2013. Two and a half years later, she’s still waiting.
What’s worse, she added, is that her grandchildren had to suffer with her.
Jumao-as was dropped from the list of survivors who needed housing and was never told why. She believes it’s because she knows no one from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). NGOs which promised to help also never returned.
Jumao-as said it seems that the government has forgotten about them. “And maybe God has, too?” she wondered.
She is now pinning her hopes on president-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
Free education
“Dili gyud siya sayon uy. Dili gyud,” said Catherine Bentulan, a mother of 4.
(It’s not easy. It really isn’t.)
“Giampo gyud nako nga kung kinsa man gani ang musunod nga presidente, iyaha gyung himuon nga libre ang edukasyon para sa pareha namo nga dili pa gyud kaya ipadala sa eskwelahan ang among mga anak,” Bentulan told Rappler.
(I pray that whoever the next president is, he makes education free for people like us who can’t afford to send our kids to school.)
Bentulan’s eldest child is in college; the second one, a 9th grader; and the third one, in elementary school. Her youngest is a toddler.
She was 4 months pregnant the day Yolanda destroyed their house, which had just been standing for a week and hadn’t even been furnished yet. She had a miscarriage in the days following the typhoon.
Although Bentulan often wishes that her baby had lived, she said that what happened might have been for the best: “I’m glad he or she didn’t live a day to experience our hardships.”
Bentulan shared that even before Yolanda came, they struggled to send their kids to school.
She hopes to see the next president, even if he weren’t the one she voted for, prioritize education for under-privileged families like hers.
Higher pension
“I hope pensions will rise. Today, it’s not enough to raise a family. I’m old, you see. I can’t work anymore. They don’t hire the elderly and I have grandchildren to feed,” said Lorita Alarde, 85 years old.
When Alarde’s husband, Fernando, died in 1985, she had to make do with the small pension he left her. She had no job. She was always tending to the house and to the children.
A P3,500-pension today is not enough to provide for her 6 grandchildren, she said.
Alarde hopes Duterte will listen to the elderly like her – and fast – because she believes she doesn’t have much time left.
Programs for farmers, fishermen
“I hope he gives more attention to the farmers and the fishermen. Give them more jobs and privileges,” said Ruben Jumao-as, who has worked as a caretaker of a hacienda for more than 20 years.
Yolanda damaged hectares of the sugarcane plantation he takes care of. Tall sugarcanes turned into twigs scattered on the ground after the typhoon came. The plantation has yet to fully recover.
Jumao-as said it’s painful for him to see the farmers working under these conditions. “They always seem tired and unappreciated,” he said.
Big businesses, he added, make it even worse for farmers and fishermen who make so much less even with all their efforts combined.
Jumao-as relayed his message to Duterte: “Mr President, please take care of our farmers and our fishermen.” – Rappler.com
Richale Cabauatan is a Rappler intern and Mover.
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