New houses for Tacloban survivors

TACLOBAN CITY—Widowed at 25, Analiza Limpiado could not thank donors enough for her family’s new dwelling in Barangay Kawayan, 13 kilometers from the city proper.

“This new house does not only symbolize having a new roof over our heads but a start of a new beginning,” said Limpiado, whose husband died when Supertyphoon “Yolanda” swept through Tacloban on Nov. 8, 2013, leaving her and their two children.

She was one of the storm survivors who received 25 housing units built by AES Philippines Power Foundation Inc. and Habitat for Humanity. AES Philippines operates a 600-megawatt thermal power plant in Masinloc, Zambales province.

Limpiado’s husband, Aldrich Angelo Villena, 26, was killed when a storm surge whipped by Yolanda hit Barangay 88 in San Jose District. They have two daughters—Jana, 7, and Andrea, 2.

She has a third child, John Fred, 3 months old, with her live-in partner, Ludy Loren, a construction worker of GMA Kapuso Village whom she met while visiting her parents in another permanent shelter village in New Kawayan.

Scott Kicker, AES president for Asia, said he hopes that the newly built houses would be the “start of a new beginning” for the families. “Hopefully, this will serve as an opportunity for them for a new beginning and a good future,” he said.

The resettlement site covering 7 hectares has its own power source and is supplied with drinking water by the city government. Each house has a floor area of 22 square meters and a toilet. Joey Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas