New colored houses far from sea buoy survivors’ hopes

CONCEPCION, Iloilo—From this day onward, Nestor Deloviar is a resident of Unit No. 1 Fruitas Street here.

Deloviar, 60, is among the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) who received 200 new houses donated by the SM Group through SM Cares in Barangay Bacjawan Sur in Concepcion, 109 kilometers northeast of Iloilo City.

“Who would have imagined that we would be living in this kind of house? We will be forever grateful,” he told the Inquirer.

His purple house is at the front of a row of multicolored houses in the village, also blessed by a bounty of concrete roads, street lights, perimeter fence, a basketball court and community center.

The houses were handed over to the survivors in a ceremony on Saturday. Officials led by Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor and Concepcion Mayor Millard Villanueva and those of SM Group, including Marissa Fernan, vice president of SM Prime Holdings Inc. and Annie Garcia, president of SM Supermalls, attended.

Also present were heirs of Roberto and Gloria Tirol, who donated the 1-hectare lot for the project, and Msgr. Meliton Oso, executive director of the Jaro Archdiocese Social Action Center, which will implement training programs on livelihood, water, sanitation and health.

The survivors were among those who lost their houses when the supertyphoon struck about two years ago on Nov. 8, 2013. But they were ineligible for the government’s housing assistance because their houses were within 40 meters from the shoreline, which is considered a danger zone.

Deloviar, who dabbles as a mechanic and an electrician fixing generators and motor vehicles, borrowed P10,000 from a lending company to rebuild their house made of plywood and galvanized iron. He, his wife Shirley and two grandchildren now have peace of mind with their own house farther from the sea.

Near Deloviar’s house is the yellow-colored unit No. 8 occupied by couple Rene and Aiza Baylosis, whose house was washed away by big waves that battered the coastline.

Rene, a fisherman who earns from P150 to P200 per day, said it was hard to meet their daily needs but welcomed finally having a house of their own. “We are so happy that we will be having our own permanent house. This is so sturdy,” he said.

Aiza Baylosis said moving in to their new house was a big step in finding normalcy just like before the typhoon. “We are struggling every day to recover and continue with our lives,” she said.

Bacjawan Sur is covered by a P260-million project of SM Cares to build 1,000 houses, designed to be typhoon-resistant, for survivors. Some 200 houses have already been turned over to beneficiaries in Bogo City in Cebu province, while similar projects are found in Ormoc City (200 houses) and Tacloban City (400 houses) in Leyte province.

Each house costs P200,000, with a floor area of 20.25 square meters and a lot size of 23.25 sqm.

Defensor and Villanueva thanked the SM Group and other donors for “caring for the poor and homeless.”

The provincial government plans to build a concrete road connecting the village to the town center.