‘Yolanda’ survivors in Capiz decry exclusion from gov’t shelter program

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – Survivors of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in Roxas City, the capital of Capiz province, have decried their exclusion as beneficiaries of the government’s shelter assistance.

They said they were surprised to find their names stricken out of the list of people entitled to P30,000 in funding assistance for those whose houses were destroyed by the typhoon and to P10,000 for those whose houses were damaged and would have to be repaired.

Emma Pedrano, who lost her house, said she and the other survivors had been waiting for help for more than a year. “Now we were told that we are not on the list of beneficiaries,” she said in a phone interview.

Officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Western Visayas did not reply to text messages and calls of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Roxas is among the areas hardest hit by Yolanda when it cut through the Visayas on Nov. 8, 2013. The typhoon, said to be the most powerful to hit land in the world, destroyed 476,705 houses and damaged 557,813 others in the Visayas, the DSWD said.

Pedrano said the survivors were told by barangay (village) and city welfare and development officials that they could not avail themselves of the shelter funds because their coastal community in Barangay Culasi had been tagged a danger zone.

But she said the people were depending on fishing for their livelihood. “How will we survive if they transfer us?” she said.

Many have taken loans or have become household helpers to build shanties or have their houses repaired, according to Pedrano.

Elma Deanon, chair of the Roxas City chapter of the women’s group Gabriela, said several survivors were excluded from the list of beneficiaries because they had received help from nongovernment organizations.

But Deanon said many received only 12 pieces of galvanized iron sheets and 36 pieces of 2×2-inch wood from the government.

“These are not enough to rebuild the destroyed houses or a shanty. Survivors still need assistance and we have been waiting for more than a year already,” she said.