Tacloban folk get work from Taiwan foundation

THE TZU-CHI Foundation is also donating tents like this for use as classrooms in storm-ravaged areas. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

TACLOBAN CITY—A Taiwan-based group has initiated a cash for work for victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in this city.

The Tzu-Chi Foundation, which has local chapters in Manila and Cebu, started the program on Wednesday, benefiting at least 6,400 persons from six barangays.

Each person taking part in the program receives P500 in cash daily after completing his or her work, which involves the clearing of debris and wastes where their homes or communities once stood.

Under the program, beneficiaries are given a week to finish their tasks.

So far, the foundation has covered Barangays 66, 65, 66-A, 36, 37 and 38, all in this city.

These barangay are outside downtown and are along the city’s coastal areas. Houses in these areas were wiped out and scores of death were reported here.

Bobby Abong, 32, and a resident of Barangay 66-A, said he was glad the Tzu-Chi Foundation was helping them start anew.

“They are giving us money, which we can use somehow to buy our daily needs. We have lost our houses and we don’t have money,” the father of five children said.

For Imelda Deniega, 35, and a resident of Barangay 37, the money was like “manna from heaven.”

“We have no money. At least, the money we received from the foundation will help us somehow tide things over during this time of calamity,” said Deniega, a mother of three.

Relationships between the Philippines and Taiwan soured after the Philippine Coast Guard fired at a Taiwanese fishing vessel, killing a 65-year-old Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng in May this year.

But Monica Sy, a member of the foundation, said her group is not involved in political matters.

“All we want is to help the victims start to rebuild their lives. And we believe that they need money as part of their rebuilding, and in the process, help money circulate again in Tacloban,” Sy said.

Sy said they would stay in Tacloban as long as they are needed by the people. She said that her group would cover more villages.

Displaced families are taking shelter at Leyte Progressive High School, a Chinese school, while others are living in makeshift huts.

Sy said debris and wastes gathered by the people would be collected by dump trucks of Task Force Yolanda, that include the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Metro Manila Development Authority.

She said the debris are dumped at a designated site of the city government in Barangay Abucay and at the grounds of the Balyuan Center.

The Tzu-Chi Foundation delegation is composed of 47 persons led by Alfred Li.

The group is staying at Remedious Trinidad Roumaldez Hospital in Tacloban City since they arrived here on Nov. 18.

“As we look at them, they are just happy to start rebuilding their lives. They still have this energy to work again and not only help rebuild themselves but the entire city,” Sy said of the people of the city.