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post yolanda (typhoon haiyan) relief operationsin cooperation with various organizations

funded by the Tsinoy community and international donors

photographs by Jay Gonzales, Baldwin Kho, Ganny Tan, Tessy Ang See, Luisa Ng

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calapan, mindoro10 NOVEMBER 2013

One day after Typhoon Yolanda, Kaisa already received a damage report and a request for relief packs from the

Southern Tagalog Coalition, a non-profit group serving the southern Tagalog provinces of Mindoro, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas.

Volunteers immediately headed to Calapan, Mindoro, two days after the typhoon hit. Although not in the news, and destruction not as massive, residents still needed to receive food packs as all their crops were washed out,

and there was nothing to eat.

Residents were immediately able to put their houses back up as most of those in the mountains were made only of nipa (a native palm).

Goods were distributed directly from the truck. Communities in the outlying areas sent group leaders to represent families. Group leaders received the relief packs and rowed back to the islands.

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packing of relief

goods for northern

iloilo

Packing of relief goods was conducted by the

Iloilo Multisectoral Business Organization and the Sta Maria Catholic Women’s Association. They prepared 4,470 packs for distribution to towns in northern Iloilo. Each pack contained rice, sardines and drinking water.

Also distributed the communities were analgesics and anti-diarrhea tablets as well as water purifiers.

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Concepcion, Northern iloilo 13 NOVEMBER 2013

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It took us three hours by land to reach the Municipality of Concepcion from Iloilo City

and 40 minutes to reach outlying island of Polo Pina by pumpboat. This does not include the loading and unloading time. Hence, it was low tide when we arrived and it would take too much time to unload 700 packs to the shore. We asked the people to approach the pumpboat instead and they started a mad rush to us. We stood still on the boat until people were lined up and passed the relief packs by relay. The elderly were asked to stay on the shore to receive their packs.

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Estancia, Northern iloilo 14 NOVEMBER 2013

Travel time, four hours by land to reach Estancia from Iloilo City. We went to Botongan and distributed to 1,200

families whose houses were not just totally wrecked but the oil spill from a beached barge was causing respiratory diseases to children. Again, despite the barangay heads and social workers, it was a chaotic situation because people were frantic for food.

We were accompanied by police personnel during all of our relief missions. Along the way, we dropped off relief packs at all the police outposts for the policemen and their families, most of whom are involved in rescue operations and could not line up to get any relief packs themselves.

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There was no electricity, water or phone signals in Northern Iloilo (up to time of writing). At Estancia, Kaisa volunteer Tessy Ang See was informed by provincial police commander Cornelio Salinas that he had no communication base to get in touch with his men and to help keep order in northern Iloilo where people are starting to get restive. Ang See immediately gave him the P60,000 needed to repair two radio bases (from left over parts and new antennae and battery) so that police officers do not waste valuable time and

fuel, physically visiting outposts just to communicate and call for augmentation.

At Estancia, the relief packs were deposited at a totally devastated chapel, one of the few structures with walls after the typhoon.

The chapel filled up with relief goods that people had to line up outside the parish to receive their packs, handed to them through the door.

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sara, Northern iloilo15 NOV 2013

Sara, Iloilo was one of the more organized areas. The councilor gave us a list with the names of the head of the household and

if the household is totally damaged or partially damaged. This mission was conducted with the help of Narzalina Lim, former Secretary of Tourism who is from Iloilo.

Barangay # of familiesArante 100Bakabak 99Domingo 75Ilawod 59Improgo 50Juaneza 100Malapaya 100Market 98Padios 104San Luis 100Tady 100

barangay arante

barangay bakabak

barangay bakabak

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barangay domingo

barangay domingo

barangay ilawod barangay ilawod

barangay improgo barangay improgo

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barangay juaneza

barangay market

Because the municipal government had organized its constituents well, distribution was done quite efficiently and orderly at Sara where distribution lasted well until evening. Travel back to the city was dangerous at this point because except for the truck’s headlights, and burning debris, there were absolutely no lights anywhere.

barangay tady

barangay tady

barangay tady

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ajuy, Northern iloilo20 NOV 2013

In cooperation with the Iloilo Citizens Action Group Volunteer Fire Brigade, Kaisa distributed 2,000 relief packs to the coastal town of Ajuy.

The first stop was Crossing Ubos where people were already waiting for us. Distribution was orderly. Ten people at each time approached the distribution line.

police escort in front of our van. heading from iloilo city to ajuy

Distribution at Crossing Ubos

Distribution at Crossing Ubos

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The next stop at Pantalan Bae greeted us with total destruction and debris. Everything was flattened; people said they were sleeping under the night sky, rain and all.

volunteers assess destruction at Pantalan Bae in preparation

for rehabilitation efforts

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All the barangays assigned a group leader who led his barangay-mates into the town proper to receive their relief packs. A ten-wheeler truck brought the 2,000 packs inside pails. As the town was small and full of debris, the truck could not enter. Thus, a smaller dump truck (used to haul garbage) was used to ferry the goods from the ten-wheeler to the distribution site. Beneficiaries patiently lined up for almost three hours to get their share.

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The last stop was an outlying island of Binongonan-an, 30 minutes by pumpboat. It was so inaccessible, it took us two hours to get there. People were first loaded into a small banca, which was physically pushed by three men to a waiting pumpboat. The motorized pumpboat then took us to Binongonan-an, with 100 households. Only one concrete house of a resort owner remained standing, and served as the evacuation center for the barangay’s population, as well as the distribution center for our efforts.

headed to Binonganan-an Island, Ajuy, Northern Iloilo

volunteer Baldwin Kho gives an impromptu counselling session with some children at Binonganan-an

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Province of Capiz22 NOV 2013

The team headed by land from Iloilo City to the province of Capiz. Travel time took almost

two hours.

The Philippine Red Cross has already organized on-the-ground support for all towns in Capiz. All donor agencies are accompanied by Red Cross personnel. There were 10 Red Cross personnel assigned to accompany our team for the entire trip. With organized assistance, we were able to serve four towns in one day.

Photos here are only of Ivisan Town and Roxas City.

roxas city, capiz

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municipality of Ivisan

roxas citybriefing for beneficiaries

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This is one of the most difficult relief works in my entire 20 years in volunteering. pagbaba

ko pa lang ng (as i got off the) airplane destruction all around us...it is hard to accept yun nakikita ng dalawang mata ko... so much suffering. wasn’t able to take good pictures because hindi nakakatuwa ang mga nakita ko noon araw na yun (it was difficult to take anything)

until today, naiisip ko parang kulang yun dinala namin (until today, i think we did not bring enough) considering the volume of food items and the effort of the volunteers in Manila and those who join the ground works.

if our forefathers fought side by side with the Pinoy for Philppines independence in the past; ating panahon ngayon ...sama sama pa rin tayo sa hirap at ginhawa... (it is our time now, we are still together in hard times and good times).

--baldwin kho, kaisa volunteer

PALO, LEYTE28 NOVEMBER 2013

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TACLOBAN, LEYTEtaken from the plane window

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Distributed relief packs in Palo, Leyte• 130 families Barangay Cabarasan, Guti Guti • 652 Families Barangay San Joaquin• 475 families Barangay Tacuronga

The destruction is too much. “It is not how much we give,it is the message of sodidarity that counts; let our kababayan know they are not alone ...” -baldwin kho

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It seems that everywhere we go, there is little organization. Even areas where local officials survived were barely organized.

But I feel that it is because all of them are in shock. They cannot seem to even think about what to do first.

When we got to Palo, we had to organize everyone. Only one barangay organized anything and people had claim stubs. The claim stubs are standard. It lets the donor know that this person is a beneficiary. The local officials should be the one to identify beneficiaries to ensure equitable distribution. The DSWD tent had a list of barangays and evacuation centers. The list also indicated which ones have already been given relief packs. Other than that, it was quite chaotic.

We distributed Kaisa claim stubs at the site. Doing so doubled the time it took to distribute the relief packs. Everyone was cooperative though, so that was a good thing.

--field report from Ganny Tan

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Preparation/ coordination for distribution in Palo 25-26 Nov

DSWD Tacloban confirmed that San Joaquin, a coastal Barangay in Palo, Leyte, suffered many casualties. Half of the goods by trucking will be given there, plus 3-tons of other goods of WedPro, which we will bring to Palo, Leyte on the truck paid for by Kaisa.

Choy Mendoza of DSWD Tacloban will coordinate with Mayor Petilla for Kaisa’s own distribution in Palo, Leyte -- she recommends barangay captain ERA of Tacuranga and barangay captain NAIDA of Canhidoc -- both in Palo. Anabel has been coordinating with Mayor Matin Petilla already as to the recipients.

The tents from Xiamen will be flown in probably Nov 26 or 27 and from NAIA straight to Tacloban. We estimate distribution of 100 tents on Nov 28. Hopefully the truck from Manila will arrive for distribution Nov 29.

If we want to continue relief in Leyte, DSWD said supplies can be sourced from some parts of Samar, parts of which is relatively unscathed. Easier to transport to Leyte rather than from Manila to Leyte.

UPDATE:The truck from Manila arrived in Leyte quite early because it was granted a priority pass. Early Nov 27, the truck entered Tacloban and proceeded to Palo. Distribution of goods commenced Nov 28. Meanwhile, the tents from Xiamen, China donated by Rosita Tan did not arrive until Nov 30, which is a Philippine holiday and a Saturday. The entire Dec 2 was spent coordinating with the airport and with the warehouse trying to get a discount for the warehousing fees. Kaisa representative, Nora Gonzales, argued that the sender was not aware that it was a holiday. Further, the tents are meant to be delivered straight to Leyte where they are badly needed, thus should not be charged any fees. Taxes were waived but the warehouse insisted on charging more than P20,000 for holding the goods for two days. N.Gonzales was finally able to negotiate a 50 percent discount.

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Baldwin, Ganny and I agree that though Tacloban is dismal… being a city, the people there are not the impoverished ones. The destruction is massive but these are to concrete buildings whose owners are not really the poor. Travelling one hour to Tanauan, Leyte, we saw the comparable devastation to Northern Iloilo coastal towns... where as far as the eyes can see, no structures remain standing… only hills upon hills of debris that have not been cleaned up. This was the road to Sto. Nino, Tanauan, recipient of the 100 tents from China. Even Palo, Leyte where we distributed relief goods to 3 barangays is not as bad as Tanauan. (Palo is one hour from Tacloban and Tanauan is another hour away). The last Barangay we went to in Palo Leyte (Tacuranga) just buried three unidentified dead uncovered from debris just hours before we arrived Ganny and Baldwin were happy that the roll of tarpaulin they brought and the one I brought to Tacloban were put to good use immediately by volunteers. It is heartwarming to see an Israeli and an Iranian working side by side to put the tarpaulin as roof to houses. Even the house where Ganny and Baldwin stayed has rain water dripping all over the place with pails catching the worst. AND, there are sudden downpours so tarpaulins are very very necessary. Unfortunately, when they reached Cebu, they couldn’t find tarpaulins anymore there and brought only one roll. I also brought one roll with difficulty because there are no porters in terminal 3. Fortunately, the guards willingly helped me. Kaisa helped purchase the nails, saws, hammers that the volunteers were using as they work with the American, Israeli, Iranian and Bolivian – yes, a united nations of volunteers – Baldwin called them true heroes.

One important discovery – Tacloban mosquitoes are not affected by insect repellent. We are all pockmarked with mosquito bites.

After Ground 0 -- Tessy Ang See

debriefing and assessment

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mandala peace workshop | 18 November 2013

Students gathered at the Kaisa Heritage Center, 18 Nov for a Mandala Peace Arts Workshop and a Peace Pole ceremony

facilitated by Mario Fungo of the World Peace Prayer Society.

Participants wrote words of love and peace in a circular pattern, reinforcing the meaning of the words.

The peace pole is a monument that

displays the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth in the language of the country where it

is placed. Baldwin Kho gifted to Kaisa the peace pole he had been granted for his work in promoting

world peace through art and charitable work.

Around the peace pole, Fungo led an ecumenical prayer for world peace with special intention for the Philippines.