REYMARK Generala, 21, puts finishing touches on a lampshade made from driftwood in New Bataan, Compostela Valley. Half a dozen youths who had undergone skills training on woodworking have benefited from the livelihood program initiated by the local Catholic Church for typhoon survivors there. FRINSTON L. LIM
NEW BATAAN, Compostela Valley—He lost his parents and siblings to the devastation brought by Typhoon “Pablo” to New Bataan town in Compostela Valley province on Dec. 4 last year, but 17-year-old Joseph Babag has found a new family in a community of young people engaged in turning typhoon debris into works of art.
“I’m happy helping here. I have found many friends,” he said, as he helped polish a house-shaped wooden lampshade.
A second year education student, Babag is among six young men toiling at a shed at the back of San Antonio de Padua Parish in Barangay Cabinuangan, carving religious images, freestanding lamps and other woodworks from fallen trees that littered New Bataan after last year’s catastrophic storm.
During Pablo’s onslaught, Babag was rescued after being swept 7 kilometers from where he lived in Andap. His parents and three sibling were never found.
Recovery, rebuilding
The woodworking project was the product of a bold effort to help New Bataan recover and rebuild after the calamity that killed almost 1,100 in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces, according to Fr. Edgar Tuling, the parish priest.
“People need to continue with their lives after what had happened. This is not just giving them a way to earn a living but also inspiring them to continue realizing their hopes,” Tuling said.
In partnership with the municipal and provincial governments, as well as other well-meaning individuals from the religious and private sectors, the woodworking project took shape a month after Pablo when the “Andap ng Liwanag (Flicker of Hope)” campaign was started, according to Tuling.
Residents of Andap, the village hardest-hit by the storm, were taught woodworking skills by a known Mindanao sculptor, Kublai Millan, using fallen trees and other wooden debris the typhoon had dumped on the community.
Tuling acknowledged that much still has to be done for the project to become highly successful and to benefit a large number of survivors.
Livelihood project
The present batch of young craftsmen come from families whose livelihood was severely affected by the devastation. They were trained by Kublai early this year on how to do the carvings, Tuling said.
He said he wanted their craftsmanship to improve for them to produce high-quality products.
“As much as we could, we would like to make this venture sustainable by drawing more people to appreciate and buy the woodcrafts,” Tuling said.
The parish pays each of the six woodworkers P200 a day, while the orphaned Babag now lives at the parish convent.
“My earnings here I give to my mother for our family needs,” said Reymark Generala, 21.
To date, the project has generated at least P200,000 in sales of religious figurines, penholders and other tokens.
In March, P150,000 worth of products were sold during a dinner-for-a-cause at the provincial capitol. Tuling said the money was used to buy planers, jigsaws and other woodworking tools.
5Ps program
Christopher Anislag, 22, a resident of Magsaysay, also in New Bataan, said the project provided his family with extra income. “It’s also helping me learn a skill I can use even if I stopped schooling,” he said.
Aside from Babag, Anislag and Generala, the three other woodworkers are Algy Desabelle, 25; Jake Albarico, 23; and Christian Rick Pocut, 16.
Tuling said he hopes to showcase the wood products during festivals in the province, as well as in Davao City.
The woodworking program is part of the local Church’s way of helping the residents of New Bataan as they heal the wounds and improve their lives almost a year after Pablo, he said.
“The local Church is embarking on its so-called 5Ps—pagkaon (food), panglawas (health), panimalay (housing), panginabuhian (livelihood) and pagtuo (faith)—and the woodworking project is one of its major components,” Tuling said. He said the parish had also spearheaded the building of at least 50 duplex-type houses in Andap for the survivors.