Half of typhoon victims are ‘poor fishermen,’ says group

LUCENA CITY, Quezon—More than half of the casualties in typhoon-ravaged provinces in the Visayas are small fishermen, according to an estimate of the national fishers’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas or Pamalakaya.

Pamalakaya spokesman Gerry Corpuz, in a phone interview Friday, said their initial assessment showed around 50 to 60 percent of the typhoon’s victims were poor fishermen who were the first to bear the brunt of storm surges.

He said these victims and their families lived in the coastal areas of Leyte, Samar, northern Negros, northern Cebu, Guimaras, northern Iloilo, Aklan and Capiz that were ravaged by Supertyphoon Yolanda.

Corpuz said, however, that they had yet to establish communication with their local chapter leaders in typhoon-ravaged areas.

“We are hopeful that our local leaders and mass members are alive. But we cannot discount the grim possibility that a number of them are either dead, missing or displaced,” he said.

Corpuz said Pamalakaya was geared for a relief operation in seven coastal areas in Leyte and Eastern Samar.

He said their group has tied up with “Bayanihan Alay sa Sambayanan” or Balsa, a community-based relief and rehabilitation program of Citizens’ Disaster Response Center.

Corpuz asked the Aquino administration to start mapping out a comprehensive and strategic rehabilitation plan for the fisherfolk aside from the relief operations it has been carrying out along with local and international aid groups.

Small and marginalized fishermen, who were the biggest casualty of Yolanda, would need several years to recover from the shock of losing loved ones as well as personal property like their homes and fishing boats, Corpuz added.

He urged the government to immediately distribute fishing boats and gear to fishermen victims.

“It should be free or through interest-free loans to help bring them back on their feet,” he said.

Corpuz criticized the Aquino administration for its “slow, incompetent and disorganized” response to needs of typhoon victims.

“What the people need are relief and rehabilitation, not military escapades and adventures in the area,” Corpuz said, in apparent reference to the huge presence of military forces and US naval armada in the Visayan Sea.