Sibuyan mayor cries: We are victims, too
By Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:02:00 06/27/2008
SAN FERNANDO, SIBUYAN ISLAND—Just within sight of the shipwreck that has riveted the world’s attention is another tragedy that has gone unnoticed.
This quaint fishing town of some 22,000 residents is also struggling against an equally daunting devastation away from media glare that is focused on the capsized MV Princess of the Stars just a few kilometers from the shore.
Search, rescue and retrieval operations have been in full swing there since the ferry capsized on Saturday under the fury of Typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen), which did not spare this island.
Barangays (villages) away from the town center remain cut off by impassable roads. Along the coast lay wrecked houses, toppled trees and knocked down power lines.
“This is a double tragedy and we can’t handle it on our own,” said San Fernando Mayor Nanette Tansingco.
“National disaster officials are here but relief has yet to be brought to villages that are still inaccessible,” she vented to reporters.
Residents grieve
San Fernando residents still grieve the death of two villagers—one hit by a felled tree and the other swallowed by waves while moving his boat away from the shore. Another 153 residents were injured.
Officials listed 3,370 affected households, including 600 whose houses were destroyed and 1,800 whose dwellings were damaged.
Crops were either totally or partially lost.
Roads stretching 23 kilometers were either flooded or blocked by boulders that heavy rains washed down from Mt. Guiting-Guiting.
Overwhelmed by days of helping out in the sea disaster amid her town’s problems, Tansingco was unable to hold back her tears when she met officials from the Presidential Management Staff, the social welfare and transportation departments, who came aboard a helicopter on Wednesday.
‘Nobody has given us help’
“We hope you could also help us with the land tragedy, not just the sea tragedy. It’s already Wednesday, nobody has given us help,” Tansingco said.
“We are growing weak physically and emotionally,” she said later in an interview.
Dr. Ted Esguerra of the Philippine Coast Guard said attention should also be given to children on the island. During a quick visit at Barangay Asagra, he saw classrooms, school equipment and books destroyed.
Just 30 to 50 meters from the shore in the town center, displaced residents still awaited relief five days after the storm ravaged the island.
“We are just praying to God that pity will come. I hope they will help us rebuild our houses,” said Anna Magno, a mother of five, whose coastline house in Barangay Poblacion was smashed by waves brought by Typhoon Frank.
‘Never been that bad’
Now seeking refuge with other coastal villagers at the San Fernando Elementary School, Magno said waves had never been as tall as those that lashed the coast when the typhoon passed through over the weekend.
“I have been living here for seven years and it had never been that bad,” she said.
Gashes and bruises are still apparent on Janet Relano’s face five days since the cement wall of her house crashed because of strong waves.
“It was really strong, it beat the shore,” she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).
Waves as tall as houses started battering the San Fernando coast around 9 a.m. Saturday, just hours before the ferry sank.
Thud of a machine
“We just heard sounds like the thud of a machine but we didn’t see the ship because we were also seeking shelter,” said Randy Alfaro, 30, a resident of Sitio Cabitangahan in Barangay Taclobo.
In the aftermath, the town’s fisherfolk lost their livelihood and villagers refused to eat their usual staple—fish.
“Nobody buys fish in the markets anymore because they’re afraid to eat them. They say it would be like eating human flesh,” Alfaro said.
Transport Undersecretary Elena Bautista, head of the national task force on the Sulpicio Lines disaster, said such was a misconception and assured villagers that it is safe to eat fish caught from their waters.
“If I have to eat fish tomorrow I will, just to show to the community that they should not be afraid,” Bautista said.
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