THE REHABILITATION OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDPs) IN ALBAY THROUGH COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION

Renelyn E. Bautista, Ph.D.Associate Professor II

Bachelor in Secondary Education Department (BSED)Bicol University College of Education, Daraga, Province of Albay, Philippines

renelynbautista428@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

This is an ethnographic study that documented community education as a component of the intervention activities implemented in evacuation centers and transitional sites through the Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Province of Albay. The project was implemented four months after super typhoon Reming (Int’l. code: Durian) devastated Albay on November 30, 2006. This is part of the rehabilitation for IDPs, the term used to include persons displaced from their original homes or settings as a result of a massive disaster. Originally, an IDP is considered as someone displaced from their homes because of wars. But said term has now included those driven from their homes because of massive disasters. Thus, the use of IDP in this study was done in that context. In studying the intervention activities on community organizing, information dissemination, and trainings conducted, it also looked into the IDP’s life history, before the typhoon, during the typhoon, and after the typhoon with particular focus on the rehabilitation centered on community education. This included the results of said community mobilization in line with empowerment, knowledge and skills gained and socio-economic opportunities derived by the IDPs. The IDPs life histories were documented through a compilation of their experiences in narrative form using creative writing, particularly the short story genre. From studying the process of mobilization and the intervention activities, extension strategies were proposed in manual form for community organizing and education to contribute to disaster management and disaster risk reduction efforts of the Province and Bicol University’s vision of “bringing the University closer to the community.”

Keywords: displacement, community education, Internally Displaced Persons, extension strategies, community mobilization, barangay (small community within a rural or urban setting)

69

1.INTRODUCTION

The recent typhoons Ondoy and Peping that visited the Philippines in the months of September and October have allowed the people in Metro Manila to experience once more the extent of damage and destruction that the Bicolanos have undergone through typhoon Reming (Intl. name: Durian) as a result of climate change. Tropical storm Ondoy flooded the Philippines with a month’s worth of rain that fell in just six hours causing severe rainfall that resulted in the worst flooding of Manila in more than 42 years.1 This resulted in other areas becoming isolated with residents unable to access assistance and relief goods.

Recently, the eruption of Mount Mayon in the Bicol Region has again triggered the evacuation of thousands of people from the affected areas to cramped schools and other identified evacuation centers. The events and circumstances surrounding typhoons Ondoy and Peping as well as the exodus of the evacuees from the more recent Mayon eruption were reminiscent of Reming way back three years ago.

For majority of Bicolanos, November

30, 2006 was the day when nature unleashed its full fury and turned what could have been an ordinary Philippine holiday into Albay Province’s worst ever disaster as super typhoon Reming (international code: Durian) packing winds of 275kph crossed the province bringing eight hours of unceasing torrential rains and ravaging the municipalities of Daraga, Camalig, and Guinobatan including Legazpi City. The pattern of life of the Bikolanos suddenly took on a different turn as super typhoon Reming lashed across the Province of Albay in the Bicol Region, leaving in its wake a destruction that the

Bicolanos have never seen or experienced before.

The barrage of rainfall would later on create another disaster as the majestic Mt. Mayon, known for its beauty and perfection, released mudflows sending with it massive boulders, hot sands and cascading mud that totally wiped out concrete houses, burying villagers and several villages and towns located directly in its path in tons of thick mud, and creating scenes of apocalyptic destruction, despair, displacement, and doom.

In the days and weeks after the disaster, more tragic news would come as the entire nation fixed its eyes on the aftermath of the disaster to the Province of Albay and the lives of its people. Places like Padang and Busay would become a familiar fixture in both national and international media news. The entire province would be plunged in darkness. Rescue, retrieval and relief operations would go side by side with mass burials, clearing of roads and bridges, and the massive mass hysteria of grief and despair that clothe the entire province of Albay the following weeks after the typhoon.

The grim facts say it all: 604 dead, countless more missing; 119,848 totally damaged houses with 101,210 substantially destroyed; 1,053,950 persons affected, leaving 22,248 number of families as evacuees scattered in 86 evacuation centers. Whatever economic progress the province was having underwent a dramatic setback brought about by the losses to agriculture (P533,409,734), livestock and poultry (P20,754,708), municipal fishery (15,099.069), aquaculture (Pl.382,000), and infrastructure (P875,087,897) with a grand total damage amounting to PI,445,733,408.2

70

Thus, the massive extent of the destruction brought about by the disaster that was typhoon Reming, created an overwhelming social phenomenon – displacement – as majority of the Bicolanos found themselves homeless, jobless, segregated and dispersed among the various evacuation centers inside and outside their respective barangays and unsafe zones.

In the aftermath of super typhoon Reming, various agencies and other non-government organizations started collaborating with the Local Government Units (LGUs) including church organizations. One of the many international organizations that helped in the rehabilitation of the evacuees of typhoon Reming or the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Albay was Oxfam International (Oxford Family).

Oxfam is an international non-government organization based in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is currently helping in over 70 countries with its development programs and humanitarian relief. It launches emergency responses where there is threat to health, life, and livelihood brought forth by natural disasters and armed conflicts, offering a wide-range of programs that aims to bring services to affected areas and communities. Oxfam shapes favorable policies and projects with long range effects and is supported by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Department.3

The visits to the various evacuation sites saw the chaos and disorganization of the evacuees. Other stakeholders were unable to have a systematic distribution of relief goods. In addition, it was observed that the evacuees were simply waiting for whatever assistance they will be receiving not even trying to lobby for their needs. Furthermore, there were many instances when the relief services provided to them were not really what they needed. There

were also incidents of misinformation and/or lack of proper information on issues relevant to the evacuees which were generally observed in the evacuation centers.

As a result of these various observations, Oxfam International then decided to launch a community organizing and mobilization for the evacuees or IDPs as part of their rehabilitation process. They also decided to tie up with the Social Action Center-Diocese of Legazpi (SAC-Legazpi) to utilize its pool of community organizers for a concerted effort in offering a different kind of assistance with the end-goal of empowering the IDPs by getting them organized and informed.

It is in this context that said stakeholders responded to the plight of the IDPs in the three hardest hit areas of Brgy. Padang in Legazpi City, and the three municipalities of Daraga, Camalig, and Guinobatan in the Province of Albay. Thus started the Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Persons in Albay (CMIDP) anchored on the following objectives: (a.) facilitate flow of accurate, timely, and relevant information and access to assistance, (b.) aid and make possible participation in the planning process particularly those in the transitional centers, relocation sites, and returned evacuees, and (c.) ensure through and in mobilization process ‘ownership’ by communities of advocacy plans.4

Sadly, not every victim could be accommodated in the already limited spaces of an evacuation center. As a result, some chose to stay in the high risk areas and identified unsafe zones which were outside the evacuation centers, while others simply remained in whatever was left of their homes. Families were torn apart as some wives and their children stayed at the evacuation centers while their husbands and some male and older members of their family chose to stay in the affected areas to be able to work and provide for their families.

71

Originally, displacement as a social phenomenon has been taken into context specifically by the United Nations as a result of wars and conflicts. Thus, Webster defines a displaced person as “one who has been driven from his/her homeland by war.” Nevertheless, as a result of the extensive destruction and displacement caused by super typhoon Reming to the Bicolanos in the Province of Albay, the term Internally Displaced Persons or IDPs has now been expanded to include persons displaced and driven from his/her home resulting from a massive disaster. Such is the case of the victims of super typhoon Reming – the IDPs in the four disaster areas of Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan, and Legazpi City.

In line with the CMIDP Project, the researcher received an invitation sometime in January 2007 from Mr. Joel Calla, the Project Coordinator for said program of the Social Action Center-Diocese of Legazpi (SAC), requesting her to work for a mobilization project for a period of three months beginning February 12 until the end of May 2007. Having been a volunteer writer-researcher and documenter for SAC-Legazpi for the past four years doing field works in the far flung communities and barangays in Albay, the researcher then decided to accept the challenge of being the project’s Information Officer. She became in charge of the creation and installation of a popular village level system of information for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

As part of her duties, she immediately set up the creation of a grassroots level newsletter in the vernacular that aims to facilitate access to timely, relevant information and in the process allow the IDPs to be educated and organized as well as gain access and swift assistance from various agencies and organizations. This included visiting the four project areas of Brgy. Padang in Legazpi City,

Brgy. Busay in Daraga, Albay, Camalig and Brgy. Maipon in Guinobatan.

Thus, began her involvement with the Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Persons or CMIDP Project. Having seen the effects of how the informal education component of the CMIDP Project could help in mobilizing as well as empowering the IDPs towards community development, the researcher then deemed it significant to delve into a descriptive analysis of the IDPs and examine how the various intervention strategies with the element of community education mechanisms provided by the said project affected and effected changes in the community life of the IDPs, particularly in their rehabilitation process. In addition, the vision of Bicol University in “bringing the university closer to the community” became another major factor in the researcher’s interest in delving into the complex world of community organizing for it brings to light the reality that education do happen and is perhaps much more dynamic when it is extended far beyond the four walls of a classroom.

It is in this context that this research has been chosen to discuss the plight of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with particular emphasis on the intervention mechanisms used that became the basis for the identification of extension strategies which can be utilized both by the academe as well as non-academic institutions. Finally, a manual that outlined the identified extension strategies with emphasis on the areas of community organizing, education, and mobilization is produced for the benefit of any interested stakeholders as a way of replicating the mobilization process in both disaster and non-disaster areas.

In like manner, it is hoped that this study would serve to highlight the role of education towards social and community

72

transformation ultimately making education truly liberating and relevant.

Specifically, this study focused on the following questions:1. What is the life history of selected Internally Displaced Persons in Albay?2. What intervention activities were introduced and implemented by Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Persons (CMIDP) along:(a.) community organizing, (b.) information dissemination, and (c.) trainings?3. What are the results of the CMIDP experience in terms of (a.) empowerment, (b.) knowledge and skills gained, and (c.) socio-economic benefits and opportunities derived?4. What extension strategies may be proposed for community organizing and community education based from the CMIDP experience for implementation by academic and other non-academic institutions?

2. METHODOLOGY

The qualitative method, specifically descriptive-ethnographic analysis of the rehabilitation of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) or the evacuees of typhoon Reming in the Province of Albay through community mobilization was used. By identifying the various intervention strategies and/or mechanisms utilized throughout the project process, the study produced a guide on extension strategies for organizing, education, and mobilization that can be applied in both disaster and non-disaster areas by the academe as well as non-academic institutions.

The IDPs’ life history prior to, during, and after said disaster in line with the CMIDP intervention was considered as comprising the bulk of the data necessary for this qualitative analysis. At the same time, the results of the CMIDP intervention in terms of knowledge and

skills gained, socio-economic opportunities derived and empowerment of IDPs as well as the intervention strategies and/or mechanisms were also considered as the IDPs’ life histories were studied for this revealed the transforming power of community or grassroots education including the IDPs’ transitions from disorganized individuals to a highly organized and mobilized group.

Further, the fifteen respondent IDPs were considered in terms of a cross-sectional representation to ensure that all affected sectors were represented. As part of the data gathering, the researcher utilized participant-observation, interviews of the IDPs and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) of key informants who in this case are the community organizers. Participant-observation was used since the researcher was involved with the community mobilization for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as Information Officer and observed the transition of the IDPs from their status as evacuees because of displacement until they were organized into core groups leading to their mobilization.

Triangulated data culled from the Project Coordinator, community organizers, the IDPs and the researcher as the project’s Information Officer were analyzed by looking at the recurring themes and/or patterns and came up with whatever was common or the most likely thread that provided insights and guides into the implementation of extension strategies geared towards community organizing, education, and mobilization – all of which were documented in an operations manual for academic as well as non-academic institutions.

Following the context of the research theorist, Paulo Friere and his action-reflection-action praxis, the researcher provided her analysis in the form of reflections incorporating her insights and observations regarding the general flow of the data utilized in this study.

73

In the process of conducting this qualitative-descriptive analysis, the researcher consulted several sources of data that further deepened the perspective and progress of the study. The IDPs were foremost among the sources of data including the community organizers and project coordinator of the CMIDP Project. Data were gathered through informal interviews, brainstorming sessions, and focus group discussions.

Among the primary sources of data for this research were the interviews conducted of the fifteen IDP respondents. In addition, the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) participated in by the community organizers and other people directly involved in the project was also a great source of significant data particularly on identifying the possible extension activities that could be proposed and/or developed by the researcher. The Terminal Report of the Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) project provided the concrete details for identifying the services accessed by the IDPs.

Since this is a qualitative descriptive study, the particular instrument was the life history of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) culled from interviews and participant-observation. The life history of IDPs was known from said interviews using the interview guide and guide questions in the focus group discussion. All interviews were videotaped and manuscripts of said FGDs and structured interviews were transcribed. The IDPs’ life histories were recorded utilizing creative writing particularly the short story genre to breathe life into their stories. The IDPs’ vernacular was also quoted verbatim with English translations done in parentheses in writing their stories. The community organizers were also interviewed using the focus group guide questions to gather needed information from them.

3. DATA GATHERING

Ocular visits were initially conducted to the evacuation centers and transitional sites including the affected sites. The relocation areas in Brgy. Anislag in the Municipality of Daraga, and Brgy. Taysan in Legazpi City where the IDPs from the following areas of Brgy. Busay, Daraga, Albay and Brgy. Padang, Legazpi City had been relocated were also visited. Site visits and interviews were conducted at the following resettlement areas – Mauraro in Guinobatan, Albay and Brgy. Pandan in Busay, Albay. The actual disaster sites of Brgy. Busay, Daraga, Albay, Brgy. Padang, Legazpi City, Brgy. Maipon, Guinobatan, Albay and Brgy. Tagaytay, Camalig, Albay were also visited to have an actual feel of the devastation caused by Reming. Evacuation centers and transitional sites were also part of the ocular data gathering in 2007 as part of the researcher’s job as Information Officer for the Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Persons (CMIDP) project.

The fifteen IDP respondents from across levels were accessed through the Social Action Center-Diocese of Legazpi particularly the Disaster Management Program Officer who assigned a Community Development Worker (CDW) to groundwork the interviews in the various communities. Coordination was done with the CDW for the schedule and set-up of interviews with the IDPs. The Municipal Social Worker was also consulted along with the Chief Social Worker of the Municipality assigned to Busay and Anislag respectively.

Selected Internally Displaced Persons in the following areas of Brgy. Busay, Daraga, Albay, Brgy. Maipon, Guinobatan, Albay, and Brgy. Padang, Legazpi City were then interviewed either in the resettlement areas or in their old homes. The project coordinator and the community organizers involved in the said

74

project were also interviewed. The researcher’s views as Information Officer of the CMIDP Project were also considered. From the said interviews, the focus group discussion and other brainstorming activities, the IDPs’ transition prior to, during, and after the disaster were traced in line with the Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Persons (CMIDP) Project.

The supporting documents of the said project from its inception on February 12, 2007 until its phase out on April 12, 2007 were examined in the Terminal Report of the Project Coordinator to help identify the project’s progress and the extension activities and/or mechanisms involved in the community organizing and mobilization aspect as well as its effects on the lives of IDPs.

In the process of conducting the interviews with IDPs however, there were many limitations and obstacles encountered. Foremost was the inability to enter and conduct interviews at the Taysan Resettlement Site in Brgy. Taysan, Legazpi City where IDPs from Brgy. Padang were relocated. The main reason given was the incidence of exploitation experienced by selected IDPs from Brgy. Padang who were interviewed by a supposed foreign funding agency who promised aid to those in the resettlement area. Said promise never materialized. Thus, those who would be conducting interviews were first asked to secure a Mayor’s Permit. Second, most of the IDPs no longer wanted to share their stories as they felt that recalling the incident brought back the memory of their tragic and traumatic experiences. The result was simply to go to Brgy. Padang, Legazpi City to find willing IDPs and interviewed them at the Brgy. Hall and in their own homes.

Having taken into consideration all the aspects of the project, the informal or community education mechanisms employed

were identified as part of the program’s intervention strategy giving particular emphasis on how such mechanisms have contributed significantly to the organization and mobilization of the IDPs ultimately leading to community transformation and development. Finally, extension strategies for community organizing and education were identified and/or developed in a manual designed for community extension activities.

4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 The Life Histories of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Province of Albay

After typhoon Reming, the IDPs in the Province of Albay were scattered in various evacuation centers or transitional sites in the three municipalities of Daraga, Camalig, and Guinobatan and in Legazpi City. Legazpi City had one transitional site and seven barangays with a consolidated number of five hundred twenty six (526) direct beneficiaries and one thousand three hundred ninety-nine (1,399) indirect beneficiaries. The municipality of Daraga had one transitional site, three evacuation centers and four barangays with nine hundred seventy-four (974) direct beneficiaries and seven hundred six (706) indirect beneficiaries, Camalig had four evacuation centers and six barangays with one hundred forty (140) direct beneficiaries and five hundred eighty-nine (589) indirect beneficiaries.

Guinobatan had one transitional site and five barangays consisting of two sitios with three hundred sixty-five (365) direct beneficiaries and one thousand three hundred nine (1309) indirect beneficiaries. These data are culled from the baseline research done by the community organizers and were included as part of their report on the project areas covered.

75

In the months that followed, it was found out based from the data gathered by the CMIDP community organizers that a number of the IDPs did not actually like to stay in the evacuation centers for different reasons. These reasons ranged from cramped space, lack of privacy, lack of basic necessities such as water and electricity (a situation that was true also in some evacuation centers such as in Brgy. Bagumbayan where IDPs from Brgy. Binitayan were housed) and a generally chaotic and confusing situation because of the inability to provide a sense and system of order especially in relief distributions.

This resulted in a massive number of families who chose to return home to their respective barangays. These were the families whose houses and properties were either totally or partially damaged. This was most evident in the municipality of Camalig with almost four thousand families who chose to return home; followed by the municipality of Daraga with almost three thousand families and Legazpi City with around two thousand families. The municipality of Guinobatan, on the other hand had the least number of families who opted to go back to their homes. However, Guinobatan ranked second in terms of having families who chose to still live in identified high risk areas; and Legazpi City having the biggest number. Only five hundred families in Legazpi City chose to stay in the evacuation and transitional sites; Daraga had around two hundred fifty, Camalig had less than two hundred and Guinobatan had four hundred.

At present, even though majority of the CMIDP beneficiaries have been relocated, a large number of these relocated IDPs still choose to go back to their homes particularly those coming from the resettlement area in Brgy. Anislag, Daraga, Albay. IDPs who are from Brgy. Padang and Busay, two of the hardest hit barangays during the typhoon, maintain their homes in the resettlement site but still continue

to live in their original barangays which are now considered unsafe zones. This scene is replicated among the relocated IDPs from the municipalities of Camalig and Guinobatan.

4.1.1 In the eye of the storm: the internally displaced persons’ tales of triumph and survival

As Mitch Albom said, stories do sit on top of each other – just waiting to be told. Some of these stories forever hold secrets that would shed light and understanding to an otherwise incomprehensible event. But how should one begin a story of purposeful lives lived and just as suddenly lost? How would one explain what now lies wasted and barren? How does one live over a tragedy that would eventually haunt every corner of one’s mind? More pointedly, how do we ever begin to understand it all?

Perhaps even in the eye of the storm, these tales of triumph and survival may help us begin to understand the plight of the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) – their fears, sorrows, and hopes for whatever lies ahead; and in the process, come to terms with the tragedy that was Reming. For ultimately, in spite of the bleakness, there is still hope even in the eye of the storm.

4.1.2 A Brother’s Grief

In the outskirts of densely populated Barangay Padang, within the city of Legazpi, Jose Bermundo, a slightly built man of 47 years with streaks of gray on his otherwise thick mass of hair, has practically lived a life of farming that has supported his family well. That was, until tragedy struck in the morning of November 30, 2007 when he and his entire family were caught unaware of a typhoon so great in strength and magnitude, the likes of which they have never experienced before.

76

The day before the storm, like everyone else in their barangay, Jose started securing their house and other modest properties anticipating the usual storm that often visited typhoon-riddled Bicol Region. His house was just near his parents’ as well as that of his eldest brother’s family, typical of the extended Filipino family. He was not worried at all since their houses have weathered several storms prior to Reming. Lulled by a sense of security that like the previous storms, they would simply have to endure and wait for it to settle, life went on as usual for Jose and the rest of his family. But this was not meant to be. “At around 9 o‘clock in the morning, torrential rains started to pound on the roofs of houses. I saw how fast the waters have risen. Since my house was just near my parents’ and brother’s, I saw how, just in a span of a few minutes, our house was engulfed by the flood waters. My family and I swam and took refuge at a neighbor’s house minutes before the flood waters reached us. My brother and his family were not so lucky, however. I saw how the raging flood waters and its strong current carried the entire house of my brother. I learned later that my brother including his teenage sons and daughters climbed on top of a table after bolting tightly the door of their house thinking that they will be safe there. I could not do anything. There was just too much water and the big boulders just kept on coming.”

rains started to pound on the roofs of houses. I saw how fast the waters have risen. Since my house was just near my parents’ and brother’s, I saw how, just in a span of a few minutes, our house was engulfed by the flood waters. My familAt Until now his brother, four nephews and nieces, including the 4 year-old daughter of one of his nieces, are still missing. “I have searched everywhere for them - for their bodies. I have tried so hard to dig up their

remains. I could no longer find them. They are all gone. My wife and daughter are staying at the Taysan Transitional Site. My other children who are still studying are all here with me. I cannot even visit them because I have no money to pay for the transportation. I have to continue working because I have children who depend on me for their daily needs. We have lost everything. My farm is gone. My farming equipment, too, are gone. Even my trusted carabao had been swept away. I now work here in the quarry. This is my only source of income.”

Jose appreciates the help that has been extended to them in the aftermath of the storm. He has slowly accepted what has happened to his family because as he has said, he can no longer do anything except to accept the tragedy that has happened. He views his life’s tragedy as just one of the many trials that he has to undergo.

“I don’t want to depend too much on dole outs and aids although I do appreciate it very much. I just want to go back to farming - may be get another farming equipment. I think I can still dig our farm although it has been buried. I want us — my family — to rise again from this tragedy’ through our own efforts — by our own initiative and not simply depend on the government or the people who keep on helping us.”

He knows that he can no longer just depend on the relief goods and other services that come their way. In fact, he does not want to depend too much on it knowing that these too, would all eventually stop. He now lives with his mother and children in a shack just beside the quarry site in the now barren and wasted land that was once a thriving community. In spite of having been through the eye of the storm (both literally and figuratively), he sees hope. Jose’s grief knows no bounds. He has lost

77

a brother whose body will forever be someplace…only God knows where.

4.1.3 A Father’s Anguish

“Before, our life here in Padang, Purok 4 was good. We have a piggery. We have a farm. I have a job as a watchman at Tuanson. Life here was good. I have a family, a wife, and three children.” Barangay Kagawad (Councilor) Isidro Santander, 39 years old recalls the good old days of his life before typhoon Reming hit their community and destroyed the pattern of life as they knew it. “Before there were about more or less 500 households here. Now, we only have about 300.” With such reminiscing, he then remembers with great anguish and regret how he was unable to protect and save his family at the height of storm Reming.

“I was in Tuanson at the height of the storm. I got tied up there because I was on duty there at that time. I went around Tuanson. The wind and rain were not that strong yet. I thought it was just like the previous storms that were not that strong since we have been hit previously by typhoon Milenyo (a previous typhoon that struck the Bicol Region prior to Reming). But when the storm kept getting stronger, I decided to go home and see my family’s situation. When I went out of Tuanson, that’s when I got hit by really strong storm winds. So I could not take it. I hid first and took shelter in the store near Tuanson. That’s where the great flashflood overtook me. I thought it was the end of my life for me. But I was still able to climb on a concrete slab. Then I was able to transfer along with the others to Estevez. It was at around 4pm that I was able to climb down because that was also the time when the floods started to wane.”

Isidro then began his long way home to his family through flooded streets blocked by

boulders and tons of mud. He only had one thing in mind – his family. “When I got back home, our house was gone. My parents’ house, which was just near our home, was no longer there, too. My family was gone. My parents were also gone. I was not even able to help them. While I was at Tuanson, they were already being carried away by the flood.”

Isidro recalls everything as vividly as if the entire tragic event happened only yesterday. He gets teary-eyed and nearly chokes on his words as he re-tells the sorrow and anguish of a father’s heart filled with longings and regrets. “When I was about to start the search for my family, several neighbors started calling me. They were able to rescue one of my children and they deployed him to the house of a councilor. When I saw my child, his face and entire body was filled with bruises. They told me that we could not bring him to the hospital and we had to wait till the next day because the roads are impassable. Padang was isolated. I told them, if we will wait till the next day, my child might be dead by then.”

So with his only surviving family member, Isidro decided to take a chance. He was unable to help his other family members but he had a chance now to help his sole surviving child. “I carried my child. Then I walked through flooded streets going to Aquinas; Rawis was still so flooded at that time. I walked until we reached Provincial Hospital. I walked through it all because I really wanted my child to live. When we reached the hospital, there were no doctors around because we were the very first patients who came in just a few hours when typhoon Reming began to wane. I really begged the people there to take care of my child. Then they started calling up the doctors who came and treated my child. My son lived. He’s the only one left to me. Everything is gone.”

78

In the days and months that followed he tried to come to terms with the enormity of his situation. “For three months, I was unable to do anything. I kept on thinking about what had happened. So what I just did was to keep on drinking to let myself forget. I did not go back to my job at Tuanson for three months. But what gave me the strength to go on was my child.”

At present, Isidro says little by little he is trying to return his life to a semblance of normalcy. He now serves as barangay kagawad (barangay councilor) and is still connected with Tuanson Corp. Although he is a recipient of a house and lot at the resettlement site in Brgy. Taysan, Legazpi City, he still prefers to live in Pada ng just like many of his neighbors.

“There in the resettlement there are no permanent jobs. My work is here. If there is bad weather or if there is heavy rains, then we go to Taysan. But we still live here.” Looking back at what happened to his family, he believes that it was their overconfident attitude that aggravated their situation. He shares the lesson and insights that he got from his experience.

“We were so confident. Milenyo did not bring that much damage to us so we thought that Reming was the same thing. The lesson that I really got was not to be too confident. We should be vigilant and prepared the next time.” In spite of it all, he looks forward to the future as he has now come to terms with the grim fact that his wife, two children, and parents will no longer be found. But the anguish that he feels will forever be buried in his heart as he tries to be hopeful about the future.

4.1.4 A Farmer’s Tale

“Most of us here are farmers. All those lands you see around were once farm lands. Even the houses here were big. There are also plenty of OFWs (Overseas FilipinoWorkers)

here.” Describing what used to be Brgy. Maipon, Eugenio Corda, fifty-seven years old who used to be a farmer by profession began his reminiscences of their community before Reming came.

“At present, I have nothing more to farm so I just do extra work as foreman in constructions and door-to-door.” (Door-to-door is a mode of transportation via the motorcycle that is normally utilized for travels to far-off barangays bringing the traveler from one point to the exact destination.Thus, the term, door-to-door.) Eugenio says that life has been really difficult for him and the rest of his neighbors, especially farmers like him who relied on their farmlands for livelihood. He then recalls how Reming changed his life.

“During typhoon Reming, I was at my farm. That’s where the typhoon caught me. I was in the middle of my farm fixing my farming equipment because I already heard over the radio that there was another typhoon coming – a supertyphoon. But I did not think that it would really be that strong because we have already experienced Milenyo. At around eleven in the morning, I was about to go to the house of ex-barangay captain but then that’s when the strong flash flood came. The floodwaters were so high! As I was struggling with the floodwaters, I already saw that there were houses, people, and uprooted trees being swept by the flood. So I just decided to hold on to the trunk of a mango tree. The others were already swept away by the flood. At first, I was the only one on the tree. Later, there were already five of us there. The others were swept away. From eleven in the morning until three in the afternoon, I was up there.”

He also witnessed the huge floodwaters that covered the entire community along with the big boulders that cascaded from Mt. Mayon. “I think the flood waters were about six feet high or even more because the flood

79

waters reached the coconut trees.” At present he feels the burden of not being able to go back to his old means of livelihood – farming.

“Our life is so difficult now. Yes you may have a house in the resettlement area but you don’t have a livelihood that can sustain you. They don’t even have potable water there so we still go back here in our own homes. What we do now is to do door-to-door services and to sell things.” Although Eugenio is thankful for having been given the chance to relocate, he laments the fact that he really can no longer go back to the old life that he once knew.

“Our life is really very difficult now. All my farms are gone that’s why I cannot go back to my old ways.” His fervent hope is to be able to sustain his needs through long-term livelihood projects so that he can at least meet his family’s needs. “I hope that we will really have a livelihood because that’s what’s really lacking here. That’s why we keep on returning to our old place.” Meanwhile, for Eugenio, life goes on even in the midst of his difficulties.

4.1.5 A Grandmother’s Tale

Sometimes people tend to rise up to the challenge of a situation displaying unexplainable deeds of courage and in the process defying all odds. For Maria Arquiero, a widow at age fifty-five and now a sixty year old grandmother from Brgy. Padang who remarried and had eight children from her previous marriage, (two of whom has died from natural causes) her courage, presence of mind, and sheer determination to live were what propelled her to survive her ordeal that fateful November day when typhoon Reming unleashed its full force on their community.

Maria still shivers at the thought of reliving her experience as she recalls the story of how she survived everything at her age of sixty-eight years. She begins her tale by pointing to

the direction where the ruins of her old house still stand. “That’s where our house was. That one – the one without the roof. And that’s also the house of the two old couple whom I helped at the height of the typhoon.”

“I did not lose any family member because even before the storm became worse, I already sent them away. I chose to stay at home. I wanted to go to the school when the storm winds started getting stronger. The floods came at around ten o’clock. I transferred to the house next door – the house of the two old couple. The flood was really terrible! I already held on to the roof…I think it was already the toilet. We climbed all the way up to the ceiling. I also helped the old couple to climb all the way up to the ceiling. I don’t’ know how I did it. We were up there for three hours. Until almost three o’clock in the afternoon. When the floods stopped, I could no longer go down. It’s a good thing that the rescuers came.”

Looking back at what she had lost, she says she was thankful that she did not lose any family member. “The things that were really destroyed were our house, farm, and piggery. It was a sad thing that happened.” At present, things are going back little by little to normal. When reflecting on the lessons she has gained from the experience she says people must have faith and pray to God.

Although she has also been relocated, she still comes home to Padang because she says it is in Padang where she finds livelihood and sustenance for her daily needs. She gets her livelihood from farming and vending. Nevertheless, she is still optimistic about the future and always thankful for the gift of life that she has received – something that most of her towns mate would never be able to enjoy.

80

4.1.6 A Tale of Two Women

Sometimes a tragic event has a way of bringing out the best - and the worst in people. For Melanie and Editha, it brought out the best in them as they forged an unusual friendship borne out of loss and shared grief offering hope in the most unlikely place where grief and despair abound - the evacuation center in Barangay Busay, Daraga, Albay. These are their tales and how their lives became entwined when tragedy struck their separate lives

.

4.1.6.1 A Widow’s Tale

Like most families who had long been struggling from financial woes, Melanie Llaguno, a thirty year old mother of two, with a still-trim figure and an open, pleasant face went to Manila a few days before the storm not only to try her luck but also to visit her father who had been shot. There was much to be happy about since her husband, Melchor Llaguno had just found a job and was about to report for work on December 1, 2007.

November 30 was her husband’s birthday and it would be the first time that he would be celebrating it without her. Melchor had sent her several text messages the previous days, urging her to come home and to buy him three white shirts and some candles for his birthday’. Asked why he wanted candles for his birthday, her husband replied that they would go to church and offer it in thanksgiving for his birthday. However, because of the impending bad weather, she had decided to postpone coming home.

She had no idea that those would be the last text message she would receive from her husband. She had no idea that she would neither never see him again nor be able to hold or view his body at least for the last time. Like the countless other victims of typhoon Reming,

there would be no body to come home to and no burial to hold. Her husband would be declared missing along with the twelve occupants of a two storey house that was swept by the boulders, mud flow and flashing huge waters in Barangay Busay, Daraga, Albay. But Melanie only knew this when she got home.

She first learned about the incident when the first television footage of Barangay Padang started coming in. She was thinking her family was safe. It was only in Padang after all. Anytime soon she expected a call or text message informing her that her family is safe. Nothing came. There was only silence. And then, another footage - this time, of Barangay Busay. She just knew right there and then that something was terribly wrong.

It took her two more days before she was able to come home to where they used to live in Busay. The scene that greeted her upon her return was straight out of a badly scripted movie where nothing was emphasized except total chaos, confusion, death, and decay. In place of numerous houses that used to dot the now barren and arid landscape, boulders from the slopes of Mount Mayon, as big as the houses that were swept, covered the vast area. Cries of mourning and despair as families call out the names of their missing loved ones reverberate throughout the still, cold air. Scenes of men, women, and children silently clawing through thick sands and mud in search of their families while others helplessly looked on were duplicated throughout the barangay.

The street where Melanie’s house used to be was filled with rows and rows of lined-up coffins - with the recovered bodies waiting to be buried. Melanie came home to nothing - except her two children ages seven and ten who her husband was able to evacuate along with the others living in the house where they used to stay. Her husband was not so lucky as she would learn later.

81

Plate 5. Melanie Llaguno with her child at the Busay Evacuation Center, Daraga, Albay, back in 2007. At the back stands her friend, Editha Mirabueno.

At around three o’clock in the afternoon, when the flood waters were just knee-deep, Melchor, her husband, was summoned by his sister-in-law at the nearby Llaguno house purportedly to help in transferring the appliances and furniture to the second floor of the house. Securing first his children to a higher ground, Melchor willingly went, unwittingly, to his death. His children witnessed how their father and the rest of the Llaguno household were swept by the strong current mixed with boulders and mud a few minutes after their father entered the house. Melchor never made it out of the Llaguno house. He, along with his nephews and nieces, mother, and sister-in-law, perished without a trace. Only the body of one of the Llaguno children was found.

There was no house to come home to. No husband to welcome her - just the big boulder where their house used to be. Just the big boulder where Melanie, oblivious to the stares of countless passers-by, bitterly wept. The few months that she was staying at the Busay Evacuation Center, she only felt utter despair. She swears life will never be the same gain. But she has found a source of strength in her friendship with Editha, another Busay survivor. Daily, the two of them have been each other’s support as they try to make sense of what has happened. They cry to and with each other. Never mind the age gap (Editha is 50) for they perfectly understand each other and commiserate with their needs. In spite of it all she believes that God is still good.

“God is still good. He left me my two other children. I don’t think I would be able to accept everything and continue living if God had taken my children along with my husband. I think God knows this. That’s why He never bothered to take my children. Losing my husband is like losing the other half of my wing.

It is very difficult to go on. When I’m alone, I still cry a lot. But I feel that slowly my tears are drying up. I feel I have no more tears to shed. I’ve shed them all. The only thing that keeps me going is my children. I have to be strong for them. I have to work for them.”

However, she does not like to wait it out in the evacuation center. “I have to take the initiative to earn money for my children. Otherwise, how can I support their needs? Although I am a reflexologist, there are not much people these days who are willing to be my customers. That is the bigger problem that I face daily. I hope those concerned would help us in providing livelihood because we don’t want also to rely on relief goods all the time. We have needs beyond food.”

She further appeals to people in general to understand their situation. “People should be more careful with their words or those that they say about us like somebody who said that by June (when classes begin) people like us and the tents should no longer be here. We did not choose to be in this situation. We did not ask for it. Of course we want to be relocated. We have nowhere else to go. Who would have wanted to trade places with us? That’s why I feel hurt every time or when I hear these comments. They should know better than to say these things.”

Still, for Melanie, now a widow after 11 years of marriage, life must and do go on although she is still trying to grapple with the enormity of it all.

4.1.6.2 A Mother’s Sorrow

82

It is quite an amazing sight to see smiles amidst all the tales of woe that abound in Busay. It is even more amazing that such smiles and laughter would come from a mother who lost her husband and six of her eleven children, with the four declared as missing. Indeed the indomitable human spirit knows no bounds.

Yet torrents of tears fall from her grieving eyes as she unravels a mother’s sorrow each time she recalls how the wrath of typhoon Reming took her husband and children. It was ten o’clock in the morning when Editha Mirabueno, a small diminutive woman of fifty, and her husband Carling, decided to let their eleven children eat their meager lunch consisting of linanot (a pasty rice porridge) mixed with tawyo (soy sauce) as the rains began its non-stop heavy pounding on their roof. She recalls how she had carried her youngest daughter, who refused to eat for want of another viand, when the winds began to howl. She tearfully laments that had she known it would be the last time that she would be carrying the body of her youngest daughter alive, she would have moved mountains just so she could provide her with a more decent and sumptuous meal.

As the rains continued pouring its might, Editha and Carling, both farmers who ply their trade at the Daraga public market, did not bother to move their family to a more secure and safer ground believing that they would remain unharmed in their modest concrete house. After all, the previous typhoon Milenyo had come and gone leaving them intact. When their kitchen roof was detached by the strong winds, Editha and Carling made their children take refuge under the beds. They tried securing

all their belongings in the midst of the disturbance. However, like weightless leaves being lifted off the ground, major portions of their roof started to fly past their yard and onto the dark and murky waters that were steadily starting to rise.

Editha and her family were now suddenly exposed to the elements and the fury of the typhoon. In a span of just a few minutes, floodwaters rose to chest level until it engulfed the entire portion of their house so that they could only hold on to the beams - the only portion of the house that was not yet submerged in water. The last image she saw before the raging floodwaters totally engulfed their entire house was that of her children desperately holding on to the beams of their house, their ten-year old child, the youngest, protectively carried by her husband Carling who was clinging with all his might to the beam.

Then it was all over. A huge wave mixed with mud, sands, and boulders covered their entire house as all of them went under the deep waters. A few seconds earlier, she helplessly watched as the strong current carried her husband Carling and their youngest child away from her towards their death. Then the floodwaters closed in on her.

“The water felt hot and I could feel bits and pieces of sands and rocks sting my cheeks. I just kept on moving and flailing my arms desperate to swim out of the current. I could no longer think. I just knew I had to get moving far, away from the boulders, the mud — away from the strong current. I had no idea where my other children were. There was nothing but darkness and water all around me.”

83

At last, she saw a coconut tree nearby. Grabbing its trunk, she held on to it until the flood waters finally receded. When it did recede, she looked around her and what she saw shocked her beyond belief. Where houses once stood, there was nothing but countless boulders and mud. She could no longer recognize the area. She could not even be sure if it was the place where her family used to live.

One by one she called out the names of her children. Her voice echoed in the stillness. There was no response. By this time, she was shivering. Parts of her clothes were torn. Her ribs hurt from some stones that had smashed onto it during her struggle to stay afloat. She started to vomit. She was crying hysterically when some of her neighbors, whose houses remained intact, found her. She was brought to one of these houses by her neighbors who kindly fed, clothed and revived her.

A few hours later, another neighbor came with the news that five of her children have been found and were being sheltered in other neighboring houses. One of her sons was found half buried in the sands with only his buttocks visible. Her son, she later learned, had been dug terribly shivering and in a state of shock. Another daughter would be found totally naked. Sadly, six of her children including her husband and youngest daughter would remain missing. In the ensuing weeks, the bodies of two of her missing children would be recovered.

She hands over photographs of the recovered bodies of her other daughters. “But my hope of a better future has faded with the death of my daughter who is a first year student at Bicol University College of Education. She

used to tell us, my husband and I, not to worry because once she finished her studies she would be helping us. But now, she is gone. I could not even find her body. I could not even claim the insurance that the school provides because she is not declared dead -just missing.”

In spite of what happened, she does not blame God. “God kept me alive when I should have been dead.” With her friend Melanie beside her, holding her hand and wiping away her tears, she nevertheless, could not help but resentfully blurt out her feelings.

“I feel so terrible. I cannot sleep because I kept on thinking how they were all taken from me in just a matter of minutes. I cannot forget what happened. Why was I kept alive if this is just what will happen? Why am I still alive and my children dead?”

She believes she still has so many things to do that is why she has been kept alive. However, the chasm of sorrow that her mother’s heart carries is too deep for words. She knows that her surviving children feel the same sorrow. That is why at present, she refuses to be around her children and stay in the same tent because once they start to gather, they are unable to do anything but cry. Her other surviving children temporarily live with other evacuees in the nearby tents and visit her from time to time.

Amidst her sorrow. Editha shares a few hearty laughs with her friend Melanie. Hidden within her smiles and laughter is the pain - the unfathomable sorrow of a mother’s heart.

4.1.7 The Rescuer

In a small barangay famous for its group with cultic-like faith on a certain Lola Maria, 47 years old Noel Ojeda witnessed how

84

their community was almost washed out by the fury of typhoon Reming. He can still recall the very gruesome details he witnessed on the fateful day of November 30, 2006 when he was thrust into the role of a reluctant rescuer.

“The floodwaters came at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. It was all so sudden. The water just kept on rising. There were just the two of us at home at that time – just my son and I – so we started saving our things and placing them on higher ground. Everything was wet; even the clothes on our back. As suddenly as the waters came, it quickly subsided. I wanted to see what was happening to my neighbors so at around 4 o’clock in the afternoon still at the height of the storm, I went out of the house wading in still knee-deep waters. What I saw shocked me beyond belief. The once crowded neighborhood was now a sea of flood waters. Most of the houses were gone. There was wailing and crying as people whom I knew were all trying to save themselves from drowning in the raging waters.”

Unwittingly, Noel was thrust into the role of a reluctant rescuer. He was among the first to respond to the rescue of his neighbors. Disregarding his own safety, he managed to aid some of his neighbors and lead them to safety. However, not everyone was lucky enough to survive. Later on, the rescue turned into a living nightmare as more and more bodies were retrieved. What started out as a rescue operation for Noel suddenly turned into a mere retrieval of bodies in several gruesome stages of death and decay. With tears in his eyes Noel recalls the harrowing event of the rescue.

“It was so sad. I mean, these were my neighbors – people whom I knew and have known for quite a long time. And yet, here they were – dead…lifeless. There was a young girl whom we found naked and shivering hanging on to dear life from a protruding tree. There were

many others like her. Most of them were naked. Even the remains that we found buried in tons of mud were all like that – naked. Some were even missing part of their limbs. Others had twisted bodies. It was so difficult looking at those bodies. The anguish I felt at the plight of my neighbors was indescribable and traumatic. The last body that we pulled out was that of a young girl whose leg was missing.”

He said that it took him quite a while to get back to their half destroyed house since the rescue which turned into a retrieval operation for the bodies of the typhoon victims lasted until the wee hours of the morning and continued for the better part of the next few days. Although he felt blessed to have been spared from the tragedy, he still feels despondent over his present situation.

“I used to own several hectares of land near our place. But like the rest, everything has been destroyed and buried. It is so difficult now. There is too much hardship especially in providing for our daily needs. We are appealing for your help. But please don’t give us false hopes. We are willing to relocate but there is no clear ruling and resolution on the issue.”

With tears in his eyes, Noel feels the burden of an IDP. With his home destroyed, his livelihood gone, and his community’s landscape totally altered, he still hopes that like all things, this too, shall pass – that he may still find hope in the eye of the storm.

4.1.8 The Saving Grace in Joshua’s Life

Brgy. Tagaytay, Camalig, Albay – The rough roads and open canals on both sides of the streets make one wonder what life awaits the people of this rustic barangay particularly on rainy months. Prone to flooding and situated on a low level land, the people seemed to have gotten used to the feel of surging floodwaters.

85

Although the barangay is now back on its feet after typhoon Reming, it has been officially declared as a permanent unsafe zone. Residents have been advised to stay in the resettlement areas. However, like the other IDPs, they still maintain their houses and would just stay at the resettlement area when there is bad weather.

It was in this barangay where two unlikely pair lives. At first glance one could actually mistake them for a regular mother and son tandem. But Grace Mortega and Joshua Moral are not blood relations. They are not even distant relatives. Both are IDPs whose bond was forged and made stronger after the disaster that hit their place. Since then, Grace has been Joshua’s guardian – giving him not just the guidance that he so obviously needs but more importantly a stable family life and a home where he has been warmly welcomed as part of Grace’s family. Grace remembers the time when she first came to know Joshua.

“Even before, he was always here in the house. He watches TV. I just let him because he told me he does not go to school. He told me he has stopped. I noticed that he was pale, lethargic and he was also thin before. He is unable to eat properly that’s why. Sometimes we include him in our food because I pity him.”

Grace works as a barangay secretary and her husband is a laborer. Hers is an extended family with children, grandchildren, and her other unmarried daughters all staying in their modest two bedroom concrete house located just across an old railroad track. Although her other sons have work and they are somehow able to meet their daily needs, they still feel the constraints that the disastrous Reming has brought upon them. But this did not deter her from offering her house and welcoming Joshua into her family and in the process assuming the role of Joshua’s guardian.

“I have gotten used to his presence because he has always been here even before the typhoon. Another thing, he is not being attended to by his parents because they are so poor. His father is a deaf-mute. He does not have a permanent job. He does extra work here and there. His mother on the other hand is mentally/intellectually challenged. Sometimes she becomes the object of jokes. She does laundry work for other people. He has another brother and that’s the one who stays with the parents. Then their shanty was destroyed at the height of the typhoon because there was a landslide. It’s a good thing they were able to get out. That’s why they were saved. But there really is no house to return to. So I thought…I asked him ‘do you want to stay with us?’ He said yes. He asked permission from his parents. And then his parents were the ones who brought him here. I also asked him if he wants to go to school. He said yes. So I enrolled him at Tagaytay Elementary School. He is now in Grade III.”

Grace said that during the typhoon it was really frightening. And she is thankful that they were lucky enough to evacuate even at the height of the typhoon.

“We really had such an experience during typhoon Reming. There really is no other typhoon that can be stronger. That was really the strongest typhoon ever that hit this place. Even the elderly said so. Just imagine the floodwaters reached the roof of this house. We just saw that all of our things – clothes, chairs, TV set, ref, all of those were just floating on such a very high floodwaters. We were unable to bring anything except the clothes that we were wearing. That is all. Then we went and evacuated ourselves.”

She said that though they stayed for a while at the evacuation centers, they kept on returning to their house. “When we returned

86

here in our house, we saw thick mud. There were portions in this house that we had to dig.”

At present they already have a place at the resettlement area. But they only go there when it’s rainy or when there is bad weather. “My husband and I sleep there. Our children stay here. It’s so far. And our jobs are here. It will be such a waste for this house. Even if our barangay has been declared permanent unsafe zone.”

She then recalls how grateful she is to CMIDP for what the community organizers has done to her appeal for Joshua. She was once part of CMIDP’s Camalig core group. “I am really thankful because the appeal for help in behalf of Joshua was published in your newsletter. The donor was really a big help in helping me with the needs of Joshua especially in his education. What I get from my work as barangay secretaty is not that much. That’s why I’m thankful.”

She expresses her wish not for herself but for Joshua. “I hope I can get a sponsor for Joshua. We do need it. As I have said, what I get from my work as barangay secretary is not really that big. I also have grandchildren who I support.”

Holding Joshua’s birth certificate, Grace further says she would like to have Joshua at least baptized. “I would have wanted that Joshua be baptized. I have here his birth certificate. It is still good that he be baptized.”

In the midst of her own difficulties, Grace proves that one is never too poor to help for in love there is always abundance. And Joshua has indeed found the saving grace of his life.

4.1.9 This Boy’s Life

“They are indeed kind.”

So says Joshua Moral about Grace’s family. A smile curves his thin lips as he glances at Grace and the family he has come to know and love as his own.

Born on June 12, 1993 at the Center for the Deaf and Mute in Camalig, Albay, Joshua, now a tall and lanky but shy fifteen year old boy recalls in brief responses his experience at the height of typhoon Reming. “There was a landslide. Our house was buried.”

Joshua recalls in a matter-of-fact way how they were lucky that they got out ahead of time before the landslide occurred. “We were able to evacuate. We left. When we returned after the typhoon, we just saw that our house was already destroyed.”

Recalling the typhoon, Joshua says that he still feels apprehensive every time it rains. “I am afraid every time it rains.” Like the rest of the IDPs, Joshua has not yet gotten over the trauma of their plight at the height of typhoon Reming when they sought shelter at one of their neighbors.

Living with a deaf-mute father and an intellectually challenged mother, Joshua and his brother has since stopped schooling because their family finds it difficult to make both ends meet. His father ekes out a living through whatever extra work is offered in their community while his mother does laundry work. His parents and his brother now lives at the resettlement site for IDPs in Camalig. So when Grace asked him if he wanted to live with them, he immediately said yes.

Expressing his desire to continue his studies, Joshua was featured in the CMIDP newsletter by the community organizers assigned in the Camalig Area. His appeal for help generated a wide response so that he was able to initially have some financial help for his studies and school supplies. However, such help was short-lived. At present, he and Grace are

87

looking for possible sponsors to help further his studies.

“I want to finish my studies…have a good life.” This seems to be the direction where Joshua is going as of the moment. He is now enrolled in Grade III at Tagaytay Elementary School and has just recently finished as First Honor in his class. This boy’s life has indeed been filled with challenges. But with Joshua’s perseverance and the people behind him, his efforts will not be in vain.

Going back over the disaster, he smiles shyly as he sheepishly blurts out the lesson he has learned. “One should not panic.”

Perhaps this has indeed been subsconciously the message that he has picked up all his young and hard life. This boy’s life may not be the typical story every young boy would dream of having. But an IDP’s life is never typical and will never be typical. But Joshua’s story lives on in every young boy and girl who seeks for a better life.4.1.10 Scarred for Life

Adelaida B. Opeňa or Tiya Aida as she is most fondly known in their resettlement community has never gotten over the tragic turn of events that befell her family and left her disfured for life. Aida now 59 years old used to live in Purok 2, Maipon, Guinobatan, Albay – a place tha was once a thriving community but has now been transformed into a desolate ghost town. Aida recalls her life when everything was good and hardships were easily hurdled.

“Before our life was okay. We have rice fields. I buy and sell animals. So far life was okay. My child went abroad and worked as a domestic helper in Kuwait.” But then, tragedy struck and the once peaceful life that they knew was gone forever. It took quite a while for Aida as she once again visited the dark memories left by Reming

. “We were inside the house. When the

storm started getting stronger, I was cooking. I saw that the water was already leveled. I started crying then. I said that the surroundings looked liked the sea. A little later, the water started coming in. Somebody took shelter with us but her family died. She is the only one who survived. Then suddenly it seems that there was a big boulder that crashed into our house. Then, we all drifted off. I was holding my two grandchildren. My husband was holding the other one. The water level had risen beyond the height of houses. There were many houses that simply disappeared. I just felt that half of my body was already buried. My daughter was able to perch on a boulder. I had plenty of wounds on my face…on my feet. My hips were terribly swollen. I could no longer move my feet. I just held on to the rocks. My husband and two grandchildren were carried off by the strong currents. I was no longer able to see them.”

It took Aida a while to realize that she

had been badly wounded. “I already saw several people. They saw me too. They clothe me and carried me to the only house that has remained half-buried. Then they left me in that house because they said that they will also save themselves. I stayed there until morning. Then my husband’s relatives came and they took me away. Then they advised me to go home along with the others whose wounds were not that severe. I said, how can I go home? I can no longer see any houses where I used to live. That’s why afterwards, they brought me to BRTTH (Bicol Regional Teaching and Training Hospital). When I got there, I pleaded with the doctor. I asked him to call up my relatives’ number. I told him that they will take care of everything.”

She did not see any of her relatives or family members until Decembers 5. “Around December 5, my relatives and sibling came.

88

Then they brought me to Jose Reyes in Binondo.”

Aida, who has been interviewed many times by local and national media was very articulate as she specifically and vividly described her ordeal that led to her almost losing her left leg. She is now disfigured for life and walks with the help of a steel walker. “I was x-rayed. According to them I had a broken pelvis. It was cemented. Then after a month, I was again admitted to the hospital. February 9, I was operated on my pelvis and steel was placed. Then I was simply an outpatient. I was finally discharged from the hospital on Feb.14.”

Aida gets teary-eyed and her voice quivers as she mentions her dead grandchildren. “Every time I pass by Bldg. 1 where my grandchild used to attend school, I can’t help but cry. My husband’s body was found already inside Maipon. Near the chapel, along with my other grandchild. My other grandchild, his feet got stuck among the rocks, so he was unable to get up.It’s been almost three years and I still couldn’t forget Reming. I still remember them. When my daughter arrived, we went to the beach. I said, why should we go to the beach? I don’t want the water! Those waters stole everything. Nothing was left of our things. Totally washed out. That’s why I really can’t forget what happened. Just seeing Bldg. 1 where my grandchild used to study makes me cry. I have not yet recovered. I think I won’t ever recover. My daughter went back to Kuwait. Every time she comes home, she would tell me, forget about it. It did not happen only to us.”

She can only ponder the lessons that the tragedy has brought to her life. Aida says the experience with Reming has taught her to become vigilant. “Whenever I get to hear of reports of an impending typhoon, I really feel so nervous. Then everything that has happened comes back. Especially when I saw what happened to Marikina. I said, it’s a good thing

that there were no stones. It reminds me of somebody I knew. Just like Mary Ann; beautiful girl, with a nice job. Her long hair gor caught in one of the branches of a tree. She was unable to free herself. Her body was cut into two in mid-torso by a galvanized iron. The other half of her body was no longer retrieved. She was about 22.”

At present, Aida has been relocated at the Mauraro Resettlement Site in Guinobatan, Albay. She describes her life in the resettlement as difficult. “Life is difficult here, ma’am. We were also given by Save the Children, but they got bankrupt. We had six thousand worth grocery…then there was the weighing scale. So that we can start anew. We pay them staggard-type. But most of us were unable to pay.”

She further laments the source of income in their resettled community. “My source of income is simply what my daughter sends me. I actually own rice fields. I have coconut farms. But then, it’s the others who benefit from it because I can no longer manage it. There is really no source of income here. That’s why the others just go back to Maipon because there they are able to get jobs. Your house may be beautiful but then you have no food. It’s too far here. The fare is really too much.”

Aida, with her bunch of painful memories and scars, now lives with her sole surviving grandchild in their house at the Mauraro Resettlement Site in Guinobatan, Albay.

4.1.11 A Youth’s Tale

“Life was okey…simple…there was no problem with rice because there are rice fields. The basic needs are okay; even education…our problem comes when it rains. My father is a driver and Mama was an orchid vendor at

89

Cagsawa. We have been living in Busay for more than ten years.”

Ailyn Baranquil, now 18 years old and Secretary of their Homeowners’ Association, wistfully narrates her life as she used to know it at Purok 5, Busay, Daraga, Albay. “We were all there in our house. One of our cousins went to our house to take shelter because our house was concrete. We all ate and then prayed the Rosary and we were even joking with each other. My mother and then Papa were placing rags all over the house because water was starting to come in. Then we were asked to go to the CR/comfort room because our house was already flooded. When I looked at the toilet bowl the water has overflowed and that really alarmed us. I was even holding several children. Then Papa told us to go out of the house. We really could not see anything. So we decided to just go out of the house. By then we were all surrounded by water. I said we should go. My father said that we should go forward. But I said we should rather go backwards because the water is moving forward. But Papa prevailed. When we went to my first cousin’s house, it was already swamped by waters…so we just perched on the beams. I was even wounded on my foot because I stepped on a piece of galvanized iron. It was there where we all gathered.”

Ailyn recalls the events leading to the death of her mother, grandparents, several of her smaller cousins and their youngest sister, with the resiliency of youth – rarely pausing, misty-eyed, pensive, yet articulate.

“The first to die were my grandparents on my father’s side. They died in my first cousin’s house where we took shelter. They died because of exposure to extreme cold. The waters would suddenly gain strength and swamp everything on its path. Then it would just as soon lose its momentum in a few minutes. When the first wave of the waters came, my male cousin said that I would be lifted off to the

“baligang” tree. In the initial stages of the flood, my cousin and I were able to stay on top of the “baligang” tree. Then when we looked down, we saw that they were no longer there. They were perched on top of the beam. The strong flood currents have swept them away. Then we, too, were swept away. Due to the strong wind and rain, my clothes were ripped off from my body…I was now totally naked. Nothing remained of the clothes I was wearing. The combination of rocks, strong winds and rains on my back were painful. My cousin said that we should stay holding each other’s hands. But then, I still slipped away from him. I even swallowed sand. I really thought it was the end for me.”

Ailyn’s youthful voice trails off momentarily as she grapples with the enormity of her experience. Yet determinedly, she continues in a far more confident voice. “My cousin called me. We climbed on top of the Agoho tree when the flood waters momentarily receded. We were up there for about an hour. We kept on looking at the houses because we heard people calling us. There were places where the floodwaters did not come. It veered away. I even saw some people vomiting there. It was there where I saw my cousin who refused to follow us. I also saw my father there just a few moments before he was swept away. Papa did not die. But Papa was crippled. My youngest sister died. The ones who were missing are my mother, my aunt, and my other smaller cousins.”

Looking back, she describes her feelings regarding the heartrending events in her young life. “Of course, it was difficult to accept because everything happened so fast. I really lost hope. I blamed God. I would have wanted that they just die of sickness. But I did not stop going to school. A few weeks after Reming, they brought me to Manila.”

At present, Ailyn says that she has definitely moved on. “I’ve moved on. Little by

90

little. Eventhough it was hard. I’ve already accepted. My faith in God has returned. I’ve gone back to concentrating on my studies.”

She shares her observations on their life in the resettlement at Children’s International Mabuhay Village at Brgy. Pandan, Busay, Daraga, Albay. “This house was constructed by CSCDI. It was made sure that no matter how many storms come, it will be strong. This place is elevated. But the others still return to their old place. In terms of livelihood, they really find it difficult. In the morning, you will find all the houses here empty because they go back to their farms in their former places.”

Reflecting on the devastating effects of that typhoon Reming has brought to her life, Ailyn becomes nostalgic and philosophical as she carefully chooses the insights she has learned. Her words echo way beyond her tender years made stronger by experience. “Life is short. Do everything that you can. Value every hour and time that you have. No matter what happens, never lose your faith because everything is just a test.”

She says that the trauma will always be there. Everytime it rains or there is an impending bad weather she always feels scared. Perhaps because of what she has experienced, Ailyn is able to see the needs of her community.

“It’s because when it happened…we were really planning to evacuate…those of us who were there because we know that the place really experiences flooding. We were supposed to evacuate at Busay Elementary School even before the typhoon got stronger but we were not allowed. So we just went back to our place. The government then should really see to it that if there is an impending disaster, people should be

evacuated so that those who really want to evacuate will not be turned down. The houses for resettlement areas should really be sturdy. Then continued counselling should be done in the resettlement. Before there was group counseling at the evacuation centers. But I think it would be better if we have individual counseling here at the resettlement areas.”

Ailyn is now a picture of youth’s resiliency and exuberance as she looks forward to a future of hope as she tries to bury the ghosts of her past.

4.1.12 Those Who Were Left Behind

At the back of Busay Elementary School in Brgy. Busay, Daraga, Albay, wooden partitions that resemble makeshift row houses with IOM labels still stand. A group of women on the left side of the large land area seated on wooden benches in one of the few nipa huts; their hands busy fidgeting with coconut fronds which they try to fashion into miniature containers for a native delicacy known as suman (rice pudding). Children mill around their elders while some ran around eagerly smiling at the camera. Tomorrow they will be celebrating the eve of their barangay fiesta. And in their own limited way, they pool their resources – whatever they have – to continue their tradition. The smiles on their faces belie the hardships that they continue to face – three long years after typhoon Reming.

They are the ones left behind in the only remaining evacuation center. About twenty-five families continue to share the makeshift houses without electricity and water supply. Here, in this difficult set-up, Irene Cabaylo, 25 years old and mother to a four year old little girl resides.

91

“Before we used to live in Cagsawa. Our house was near the river. We transferred even before it started to rain. The next day, there were heavy rains. We didn’t notice that along with the rain came sulfur. Then we went to our neighbor’s house. The house that we came to was already surrounded by waters. We just perched on the beam. The next day, it was so sad because the carabaos were gone, the houses, the people…everything was gone. I lost so many of my nephews and nieces…six. One of my brothers lost all of his three children. My three nephews were eleven, nine, and six years old respectively. The other two were fifteen and seven. All of them are still missing. The one and a half year old baby was found. But its hand and ears were missing.”

It has been almost three years from the time when typhoon Reming destroyed the once normal life of Irene and the rest of his townmates. But they have been staying at the Busay Evacuation Center for almost three years now while the rest of the other IDPs have been relocated in various resettlement sites.

“Right after Reming…we really lost hope. Those who were able to get sponsors were able to resettle ahead of us. We already have lots but we are still waiting for equipment…so that we can be resettled in Anislag. We even signed already a cheque amounting to 70,000 pesos but it is still in the bank according to people from DSWD/Department of Social Work and Development. We were supposed to have been resettled last September but I don’t know what happened because it’s already November and we are still here. The papers are still waiting to be processed. We are not even organized here that’s why we don’t have any idea how to

process our relocation. May be it is left to the officials to take care of it. May be it should be there at the municipal office. We don’t really know.”

Irene and the rest of the IDPs staying at Busay Evacuation center bewail their situation. They feel that nobody cares about them anymore. “Before there were plenty of people who would come. Now, nobody comes anymore. Before we have a stable livelihood because we do farm work and we harvest vegetables. Now, we just sell food stuff. Sometimes, when it’s available, we do handicraft work. If before we just pick vegetables on our farms, now we are starting all over again from scratch. We are little by little trying to forget.”

She describes their life in the evacuation center as really difficult and uncomfortable. “We can’t really recover because we have not been resettled yet. But then, if ever we become resettled, the fare and livelihood will again be our next problem because the resettlement site is really very far. Maybe we have been forgotten…And it will soon be Christmas. It’s difficult here because we don’t have electricity. It has been cut off. Had we not exerted and pooled our resources for a water pump, we would not even have a source of water because water supply has been cut off, too. Although we have been given lands and funds for the resettlement, we will be the ones to provide for the construction, and that is what we don’t have – the resources for construction along with the equipment.”

She said that the situation has taught her lessons but she could not help compare her past life to the one that she has now. “I learned that we should really pray. We should move closer to God. But it’s really so difficult here. Before we don’t even have to buy rice. Before, there were about 1000 families living near the Cagsawa ruins…then about three fourths of

92

them went missing right after Reming. Here, we have only about 25 families left.

In her heart, she says what she really wants for all of them is to be resettled soon. After all, they have been evacuees for three years now – the only ones remaining. “But when we are already resettled, I hope that we would be given some starting fund so that we can really start over.”

4.1.13 No Lives Lost

The survival stories of Albay’s Internally Displaced Persons present a web of tears, trials, and tragedies beyond what anyone could possibly ever imagine. However, there are those few who blessedly escaped along with their families from the terrible loss of life that normally accompany such unexpected disaster. Here are their stories.

4.1.13.1 Winnie’s Story

Winnie Obiala, 30 years old used to live in Purok 3, Brgy. Maipon, Guinobatan, Albay. Now a Brgy. Kagawad, Winnie, who happens to be still single, used to work as a Liason Officer at Elkanconstruct in Gogon, Legazpi City. She says that like the rest of her neighbors, she was simply confident that like the previous storm that has battered their town, Reming would just be a typhoon she has to endure for several hours. She wasn’t prepared for the grim events that would happen next.

“Our house is a concrete one. We really locked in the house when the storm came. We didn’t even know that our sorroundings was already flooded. Had somebody not knocked on our door, we would not have known that we were about to swept away by the flood waters.”

Several days after the storm and upon further reflection, Winnie said that they must have been saved by their patron – St. Micheal, the Archangel. “What was strange was that the one who knocked on our door was a child…may be about seven years old. But even if everything around us was flooded, the child was not even wet. And then after he knocked, in just a split second, he was gone and we didn’t even notice where he went anymore because we already started to evacuate. Now, I’m thinking, because they said that he could have been St. Michael – our patron saint. We were able to evacuate fast. Our house was washed out but not one among us died. I just learned later that many of our neighbors either lost their lives or have someone from their family who lost it.”

Winnie says that all the people in Brgy. Maipon, who survived, are now relocated at the resettlement site in Brgy. Mauraro. Although the relocation did not really solve their problem. “There in the relocation, there is no source of potable water. That’s why we still go back here to get water. We already have a house at the relocation site, but we really do not want that our barangay be simply lost and forgotten. And then it’s really far. There really is no fix livelihood there so we go come back here. It’s because the rtice fields, the farms, and the coconut fields are here – whatever’s left of it. But it’s not that much. It’s not really like before. The livelihood has really gone down. That’s why people in the relocation site would always return here.”

Winnie says that what they really need in the relocation site is potable water and sustainable livelihood. Although Brgy. Maipon has been declared a permanent risk area, she observes that as long as people do not have sustainable livelihood enough to provide for their basic needs, they will never be fully resettled. At present majority of people from Brgy. Maipon are engaged in gravel and sand and selling volcanic debris. The majority of

93

women who used to be vegetable farmers sell foodstuff. Some men engage in door-to-door transportation. The rest are jobless.

“What we do hope is for us to be able to return to normal and rehabilitate our barangay. Be able to at least achieve a little upward mobility in life. Until now, we still experience trauma. But the others perhaps are getting used to it little by little.”

4.1.13.2 Eden’s Story

The resettlement site at Brgy. Tagaytay, Camalig, Albay, is probably one of the biggest with concrete roads snaking its way through several groups of houses separated into what seemed like villages of their own. In one of these houses lives Eden along with her ailing husband.

“Our life before was really good. We used to live at Pruork 6, Mipaga, Brgy. Anoling, Camalig, Albay. I have three sons and one daughter – a special child. We were farmers. We own several lands. We harvest vegetables.”

Thus, Eden Naag, 55 years old, begins her story. “We were there in our farm because we were planting cabbage and beans. We didn’t leave because it was just signal number 2. That was until the storm caught us in our farm hut. We were supposed to go down to take shelter at the nearby house but then the house was fully destroyed before we even reached it. I just took shelter in a culvert. Then when the storm slowly started to abate, we crossed to the other side. We used the branch of a jackfruit tree as a bridge so that we could cross to the other side. Then we were there on the other side until the next morning. We were there til the next morning with all our clothes wet. Thank God not one of us suffered anything bad. We stayed until morning in our old house. But that same house

were we took shelter later on was washed out. But we just stayed there. It took us a week after Reming to evacuate because it was impossible to travel the roads then as there was a landslide.”

Describing her life after Reming, she narrates in her strong voice their experiences in the evacuation center. The resettlement site where she now lives was the same place that once became the evacuation center.

“After Reming, there was so much suffering. Our tomatoes were all gone, the vegetables…gone. Everything was totally gone. It was really so sad after Reming. We lost 1 hectare of tomatoes. We used to harvest 40 sacks of sayote, now we could not harvest even 1. Now what we plant are baguio and string beans. By the time we were already here in the evacuation center that now serves as our resettlement. I do handicraft works now and I still have a little savings left. Life was really so difficult in the evacuation center back then. You can’t ask for some share because you yourself have nothing to share in return.”

Her life now revolves on doing handicraft works when there are orders and farming with her sons. Her husband who is suffering from heart disease is unable to join them in the work. She now carries the brunt of responsibility as she still has to maintain her husband’s expensive daily medication.

“Nowadays, it’s handicraft and farming. We still have portions of our old farm. The other portions have been covered by landslide. It would have been better if we were still staying in our old place. It is okay here but you have to buy everything here. In the morning we stay there in our old place – in the farm and we come back here in the afternoon. Our old life

94

was far better. It’s really all difficulties now. Before, I was the one whom my neighbors would run to for money. Now I’m the one who asks for loans.”

But then Eden reflects that they somehow, all of them, live the same lives…the same situation. “We all seem to have the same lives here. I think we’re even worse because my husband is sick. He has heart ailment.”

The experiences that she had with Reming still remain with her and are a constant reminder every time it rains. “There is too much phobia. Every time I hear anything about a signal for a storm I feel so afraid. We haven’t fully recovered yet as I still have plenty of loans and I still have so much to pay for.”

At present, she laments the lack of income in the resettlement. “I would have wanted that we are given livelihood programs here because we really don’t have any source of income here. You really can’t earn that much in handicraft nowadays. The orders come in trickles and the payment is so meager. When we were finally resettled here, there was no livelihood of any kind that was offered.”

In conclusion, she makes an appeal to anyone or anybody who cares or dares to listen. “We were only given a portion of land here. The houses that they built here were just small. We were the ones who took the initiative to make our house bigger. It’s really so difficult with the finances since we haven’t fully recovered. If it is at all possible that we could be helped.”

She can only hung her head sadly as she gains an insight into her present situation. “I really regretted much because I was not able to take care of the money. I became so confident about our good situation. I never thought this would happen.”

4.1.13.3 Ghie’s Story

People from all walks of life were indeed heavily affected by typhoon Reming’s fury. This was one disaster where status didn’t matter. Ordinary folks and even professionals underwent the horror of Reming.

Mergie A. Nocos or Ghie as she is fondly known, 31 years old, is one of those professionals who became displaced as a result of the disaster. She and her family used to live at Crossing Ilawod, Camalig, Albay. Prior to typhoon Reming, she worked at St. John the Baptist Parish as a staff.

“Life was okay before. There was extra income. Then our place was accessible in terms of transportation and school. During typhoon Reming we were in the house. I was busy with my baby. I was so worried because I could hear the clashing of the boulders and I could see the houses that were being washed away. At that time, we already transferred to our neighbor’s house because they have a second floor and because our roof was already gone. We stayed in that house. But the house that we used to stay in was not ours. We only rented. In the first floor of the old house where we rented somebody died because the entire house was engulfed by the flood.”

Ghie says she has learned many things from her experience with Reming. “First and foremost, take care of the environment. When that happened, I immediately, see, we keep on cutting trees that’s why. Second, flooded, it’s where everything finds its way. Another thing, during calamities, quarrels do disappear. In the case of our neighbors who have been fueding with each other for a long time now, they ended helping each other during Reming. At present, they are already at peace with each other. I was thinking, on the other hand, there is after all something good that came out of Reming.”

95

At present, Ghie lives at Purok I, Salugan, Camalig, Albay that according to her is also not a safe place. It is in fact the first place where flood waters run its course. The place where they stay at the moment is owned by a distant relative.

“I am in Salugan now – Purok I, Salugan, Camalig, Albay; that is not even safe. It is the first place that becomes flooded. During Reming, we did not stay at the evacuation center. We stayed with grandmother while our house was being re-built.”

Ghie says that her life before Reming was very much different from what she’s having now. “There really is a big difference especially in terms of livelihood. My father used to own farm lands. It was covered. There was a landslide. Then we have coconut farms but these, too, were lost. That’s why there really is too much poverty. It is only now that we have little by little recovered. Even our things were lost, too.”

The land where they are having a house constructed is not theirs. So it becomes a problem for Ghie as she doesn’t know when they could get evicted.

“We just asked favor for our house to be constructed but we don’t own the land and we don’t know until when we can be there. And then we have really been traumatized. Take the case of my child, when it rains even if it’s not that strong, she becomes nervous. Now that the volcano is erupting, there is something to worry about again. We are already paranoid.”

Ghie was unable to avail of housing in the resettlement areas. “I was not able to avail of resettlement. That’s what really hurts us now because we were not able to be relocated. The (barangay) captain said the reason is because I am a church worker. I was told that the church

also gave for the relocation. But there was actually nothing. There were even those whose houses were not destroyed but they were given relocation. But it’s okay.”

Ghie’s observations about the resettlement areas echo the common complaints of the relocatees themselves. “They lack water – I was invited there so I was able to go to the relocation. Another thing, there is no recreation center even just for the kids. Another thing, it’s really very hot there in the relocation because there are no trees.”

Like the rest of the IDPs, Ghie hopes for the same things – a safe home and additional income. “What I really like first of all is to have a house – a safe house and additional income.”At present, Ghie works at the Social Action Center-Legazpi under its Good Governance Program.

Behind every face is a story. Behind every story is a page of life – a history of every person marked by experiences and the passage of time. Having entered into the page of life of the IDPs by recording their experiences of typhoon Reming and being rewarded with a glimpse of their past and the hope for their future, it is but fitting to capture their images in the context of understanding who they really are. Who, indeed, are the IDPs? What are the resonant voices and patterns that they all share?

Generally speaking, the IDPs are recognized by the LGUs as displaced families of the community who are recovering from the effects of disaster in the areas of economic downturn, psychological adjustments, and political displacement. To be more specific, IDPs share the following attributes as culled from their life histories:

The IDPs are permanently displaced people.

96

The massive disaster that was Reming, as mentioned in the previous discussions left the communities where the IDPs used to belong, totally and permanently altered. Places like Maipon in Guinobatan, Busay in Daraga, and Padang in Legazpi City where majority of the IDPs came from, are no longer fit for human habitation. Such places have already been dubbed as “no man’s land.” Therefore, the IDPs have permanently lost their old community. They may already be resettled but resettlement does not change their status as displaced persons. Their status as displaced persons may have been changed only because they are already settled thus no longer “displaced;” but on a greater scale and looking at it from a larger vantage point, IDPs are permanently displaced people for they can no longer reclaim the old life in their own communities and live life as it were prior to the disaster.

The IDPs are people who, in the ensuing disaster either lost their loved ones, their homes and other properties or both.

The common thing about the IDPs is the extent of destruction that typhoon Reming has brought into their lives. All share a common experience of grief, bereavement and loss of lives and properties. Their sorrow is often equated with the tragic event of having lost loved ones and at the same time the product of their labors – home, livelihood and other sources of income.

The IDPs are people who come from all walks of life, from all age groups and majority come from the marginalized sectors in the society.

In the aftermath of a disaster, oftentimes, it is the underprivileged who are greatly affected. Fires that happen in greatly urbanized cities often occur in slums or “squatters’ area.” However, in the case of

typhoon Reming, it became sort of a great ‘leveler.’ Everybody was affected regardless of socio-economic status, age and level of educational attainment. No one was spared. Men, women, children, young and old alike met with the disastrous effects of Reming. Everything from basic nipa hut, to concrete houses and towering mansions in both rural and suburban areas were affected and destroyed. Professionals, farmers, ordinary people from all walks of life suffered from the onslaught of the disaster. Thus, all the sectors in the Bicol Region were in one way or the other highly affected by the typhoon.

The IDPs are people who are either already living in resettlement areas or have yet to be resettled as of present.

At present almost all of the IDPs have already been resettled in the following core shelter areas such as Brgy. Mauraro in Guinobatan, Albay, Brgy. Tagaytay in Camalig, Albay, Brgy. Taysan in Legazpi City, Brgy. Pandan in Busay, Daraga, the resettlement in Anislag, Daraga, Albay, and even in San Andres, Sto. Domingo, Albay. But there are still others not yet resettled like the case of the 25 families still living at the only existing evacuation center at the back of Busay Elementary School in Daraga, Albay. Although they already have lots allotted for them at the Anislag Resettlement Area, they have no equipment to start constructing the houses as they themselves are tasked to provide for such need. Hence, there are still IDPs who continue to face the hardships in an evacuation center three years after typhoon Reming.

This can perhaps be attributed to the inability of the LGUs to look after and follow through with the projects for the rehabilitation of the IDPs. Furthermore, it seems that lack of an organized community structure like the appointment of point-persons to at least oversee or follow up matters regarding relocations is also contributory to the inability of

97

certain IDPs to be fully resettled. In this instance, this gap reveals the significance of community organizing and creating proper channels of information through community education. For if these IDPs were organized in the first place, they would at least be well-represented and would be able to follow up their issue on relocation in the municipal level. At the same time, side by side with organizing, should be creating proper channels of information so that the IDPs will be knowledgeable about their situation for them to be able to do something about it and not simply make unsure assumptions that can further add to confusions among themselves.The IDPs are people still struggling with psychological and emotional traumas.

In the interviews conducted, the fears among the IDPs were still evident. They continue to struggle with the psychological and emotional traumas left by typhoon Reming. It has been very difficult for them to forget what has happened. Although they have been provided with psychological debriefing in the evacuation centers, it seems it was not enough.

These emotional and psychological traumas become evident whenever it rains or when the IDPs hear news about an impending typhoon. Some of them also have nightmares about what they have experienced with Reming. In the resettlement areas, debriefing and other stress-releasing activities are no longer available. This is one area that should perhaps be given attention when planning the rehabilitation of people affected by disasters. Since the emotional and psychological traumas oftentimes take a longer period to recover from, it should be continued and made part of the entire rehabilitation program and/or process.

The IDPs are people who share a common vision of hoping for a better future through a more stable livelihood program.

The most common complaint among IDPs is the lack of livelihood or available source of income in the resettlement areas or core shelter. It is in fact, one of the reasons why IDPs keep on returning to their old communities even if those have been declared as permanent danger zones.

Since the IDPs have lost everything including their source of livelihood, it becomes even more difficult for them to start looking for new sources of income. Although they are really grateful for having been relocated, they find no stability in their new homes and communities because the resettlement areas do not offer livelihood opportunities or programs. It is also very far in terms of distance and proximity so they still have to contend with monetary issues such as the fare in going from the resettlement area to the marketplace or any other necessary point of destination.

There have been other NGOs that have tried to provide them with livelihood opportunities but so far it proved to be unstable. The most common source of income in the resettlement areas are the ‘sari-sari’ (mobile) stores. In Anislag, Daraga and Tagaytay, Camalig for example, some IDPs weave ‘sinamay’ while others engage in handicraft. But the clients are few and far between.

Accordingly, in planning the rehabilitation of disaster victims and/or evacuees, resettlement should not simply be the focal point of the entire program. There must be a wholistic approach to the entire rehabilitation process. After all, rehabilitation does not end with the issuance of resettlement lots and having the IDPs resettled in the respective core shelters. Rehabilitation is a continuing and life-long process. And the foremost consideration for the resettlement program should be providing fix and stable sources of income and/or livelihood so that the IDPs would be encouraged to really settle in their new homes.

98

This will avoid triggering in the IDPs the need to go back to their old communities and treat their new homes in the resettlement areas as more of a half-way house. In fact, IDPs would hike daily back to their old communities because that is where they can get income. Then they go back in the evenings. Sometimes, other IDPs like those in Padang, would maintain their old houses in the damaged community and would only go back to their resettlement homes during the threat of a flood or typhoon.

The IDPs are people who are still in the process of recovering and rehabilitation.

As mentioned earlier, rehabilitation is a long and continuous process. It does not end with the IDPs being resettled. Each day is a daily struggle for the IDPs to survive from the scars of the past (emotional and psychological traumas), the crisis of the present (stable livelihood and source of income) and the uncertainty of the future. Hence, in the ensuing rehabilitation process constant follow-up and assistance to the IDPs in terms of community building should be given.

When the community mobilization was first conceptualized for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Albay, the project areas (see Fig.3) chosen were not simply based on the number of casualties, the extent of damage or the impact of the disaster to said areas, although these were understandably considered. In this sense, impact has reference to the threat of potential flow of volcanic debris and lahar as triggered by rainfall. The four chosen project areas is a case in point of how disaster preparedness and management is totally challenged when faced with managing vulnerable areas. Thus, going beyond such above-mentioned reasons, the four project areas selected become the focal point since these are believed to provide and generate a wealth of experiences of the communities that have direct and first-hand experience of the

impact of a tremendous disaster that in turn can become a good source of materials for disaster mitigation and climate change adaptation.

It is in these four areas of Daraga,Camalig, Guinobatan, and Legazpi City were the effects of a disaster of major proportions totally altered the topography and general landscape of such places and ultimately the lives of the people living in these communities creating the social phenomenon of displacement. With thousands of families displaced, the IDPs were forced to temporarily take shelter in government-identified evacuation centers and transitional sites. Once the IDPs were in the evacuation centers, they were faced with a host of other problems originating from the main dilemma of displacement.

Crammed into limited spaces, the IDPs faced disorganization, confusion, lack of privacy and the basic necessities resulting in total chaos. There was no system of relief distributions so that there were IDPs who were no longer reached by relief goods and products much like what happened in the recent typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng where isolated barangays abounded. There are several points for reflection and analysis regarding the movement of IDPs right after typhoon Reming.

First, what could be the possible reasons for the inability of relief distributions to become fully systematized so as to avoid chaos and confusion in the evacuation centers? We have to remember that the IDPs consisted of people from all walks of life who were fully traumatized by a major disaster. Hence, they could not at the moment fend or even think for themselves as they would have been able to given normal circumstances. In addition, their socio-economic and even political structures within their barangay and/or community have been altered, if not lost. There was disintegration of everything. And as such is the

99

case, what would one expect as an effect except the same disintegration. The IDPs have simply beome passive receivers who seem to have been bereft of any choice but to become such. Therefore, there was a gap that community organizing (with education as a tool) needed to fill in order to establish a semblance of order in evacuation centers and transitional sites.

Second, why is it that the IDPs, as shown in the consolidated data of IDPs’ movement chose to return to their homes in high risk areas instead of choosing to stay in the evacuation centers after the typhoon devastation? Hypothetically, this can be attributed to the slow response of respective government structures that were not-so adept yet in dealing with such a first-time massive disaster. At the same time, the lack of effective community information system that would educate and/or inform the IDPs on the issues relevant to their situations such as the relocation and resettlement plans left them without a clue and a guide for them to properly decide on their situation. Since what lies ahead is cloudy and unknown in the evacuation centers, the IDPs turned to what they are already familiar with – to what is already known – their old way of life or whatever was left of it rather than take their chances on the unknown. Thus, this created the IDPs’ exodus back to the high risk areas and to their partially or totally damaged homes. Surprisingly, such attitude may also reveal the Bikolanos’ resiliency for this type of disaster that they can survive with and display positive coping mechanism.

Finally, at present, with the majority of the IDPs’ resettled, why are they (the IDPs) still unable to fully settle and start their life in the resettlement areas? Why do they keep on going back to their old communites? When the resettlement and/or relocation sites were being identified by the respective Local Government Units (LGUs), there were no consultations made or informal meetings held to inform the IDPs

themselves of the plans. Perhaps this was because at that time, the LGUs and other agencies involved in the rehabilitation process were still filled with uncertainties themselves. But this lack of consultation and information regarding the issue where the future of the IDPs depend, might have clearly fueled the desire of the IDPs to simply stay and do the opposite (going back to their old communities instead of fully staying in the resettlement areas) for they cannot ‘own’ the process in the decision-making that ironically is about their very life. And something that one cannot fully ‘own’ does not take root in one’s being; thus, developing a sense of detachment. However, in the data gathered during the process of consolidating the life histories of the IDPs, certain tangible reasons were discovered.

The foremost reason for their inability to become permanent settlers in the resettlement sites is the lack of livelihood opportunities in their present homes as well as the accessibility of their new homes. In other words the resettlement sites are not yet fully operational communities for majority of the basic structures needed in a community are not yet in place. Another factor for this behavior is the fact that the relocated IDPs barely know their neighbors and thus are unable to establish a lasting social rapport necessary for such a uniquely structured community.

Accordingly, a massive disaster, natural or man-made may lead to the disintegration of community socio-economic and political structures and this may be alleviated or remedied by introducing organizing principles grounded on community education with the end-goal of mobilizing affected communities leading to their ultimate rehabilitation.

.

100

4.1.14 Intervention Activities Utilized for Community Mobilization in the Rehabilitation of the Internally Displaced Persons

The main mechanism of the Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Persons in Albay (CMIDP) was the implementation in the evacuation centers under the project areas of several intervention activities. In mobilizing the displaced persons after the destructive typhoon Reming that hit the Bicol Region, several intervention activities were implemented in the various evacuation centers and/or project sites. To implement such project for the IDPs, community organizers from the Social Action Center-Diocese of Legazpi was assigned in each project area. The community organizers involved in said project was assigned in four areas as a team with a corresponding leader.

The following were the community organizers and their respective project area assignment: Guinobatan Team: Lorrybel Nachor, Team Leadar, with Leoniv Crisostomo, and Angelo Mijares; Camalig Team: Edgar Vista, Team Leader, with Tess Laopao, and Wilson Madela; Legazpi Team: Gigi Ventanilla, Team Leader, with Edcel Benoyo, and Susan Balane; Daraga Team: Raymond Bilangel, Team Leader, with Joel Mendez, Herbert Baloloy, and Rolando Iglesia. Joel Calla was the Project Coordinator who became the over-all in-charge of the CMIDP. To handle the Information Dissemination component of the project and establish a village level system of information, the researcher was assigned as the project’s Information Officer with John Bautista as the Layout Artist.

Having conducted a series of visits in the respective affected areas, the community organizers began their implementation of the intervention activities based on the program objectives. There were three particular

objectives that the mobilization process evolved. These are to (a.) facilitate the flow of accurate, timely, and relevant information and access to assistance, (b.) aid and make possible participation in the planning process particularly those in the transitional centers, relocation sites, and returned evacuees, and (c.) ensure through and in the mobilization process ‘ownership’ by communities of advocacy plans.

One of the things that the community organizers observed was the lack of proper information among the IDPs especially on the relocation issues as well as the corresponding agencies and their respective relief operations. Furthermore, a chaotic atmosphere pervaded in the evacuation centers since there were uneven distributions of assistance resulting in the inability of other IDPs in certain evacuation centers to gain access to such assistance. With these scenarios, the inclusion of community or informal education as one of the strategies for organizing and mobilization was utilized

4.1.14.1 Community Organizing

The community organizers assigned in each respective affected area started their community entry by regularly meeting the IDPs and at the same time allowing them to identify, discuss, and air out the Problems, Issues, and Concerns (PINCs) of their group and/or evacuation center. The intervention activities on community organizing, information dissemination, including trainings evolved from among the project objectives.

In terms of community organizing, the intervention activity and/or mechanism introduced was core group formation in the respective project areas. This became the main activity and/or mechanism of the entire mobilization. The figure on the next page gives a more detailed description and discussion of the core group formation as an intervention activity.

101

There has always been strength in structures. A single strand of broomstick cannot sweep all the dirt. But bundle such broomsticks and tie them all tightly and these would be able to perform the task of cleaning up the dirt well. The formation of core groups in the four project areas were IDPs abound has definitely shown that such activity and/or mechanism is an effective means for community organizing and mobilization. The basic principle in community development according to Saul Alinsky is “to start from where the people are (the present circumstance/situation) and to build on what they have.” It is in this context that the mobilization of IDPs was built.

The core group leaders and/or members were comprised of cross sectional representatives from the (a.) Barangay Council and Purok, (b.) classroom leaders or evacuation center coordinators, (c.) women groups, (d.) livelihood groups and cooperatives, (e.) barangay health workers (BHW), (f.) young people, (g.) religious groups, and (h.) professionals.

Through such representation and selection process fair and just as well as broad representations of groups and individuals in the respective target or project areas and/or communities is assured. It is understood that all core group leaders and/or members are IDPs.

The core group's main function is to take the lead in the facilitation and surfacing out of issues, initiating significant roles in the analysis, planning, action-taking, lobbying and negotiating, as well as information dissemination to improve conditions of the target and vulnerable families. The core group also acted as their respective communities' formal representatives to Ayuda-Albay, Local Government Units (LGUs), other Non-government Organizations and Peoples Organization (NGO-PO) and stakeholders.

As the project progressed core groups were formed even in barangays outside of evacuation centers. The total target number of core group leaders was one hundred twenty (120) but there has been a significant increase in the core group leaders organized. As of the project termination, three hundred (300) core group leaders have been organized.

At first, the IDPs were a scattered, disorganized group whose very existence brought forth by the Reming disaster bred dependency on agencies and other groups that extended their relief assistance and operations. With the onset of the CMIDP project, core groups were formed and organized. The IDPs’ needs and issues were weeded out and brought to the proper forum. The agencies and other organizations began to recognize the active participation of the IDPs themselves in reconstructing and rebuilding whatever was left of their lives and properties. Slowly they began to realize the importance of building self-reliant communities even in the midst of the aftermath of a calamity. Through the core group activity and/or mechanism, the entire process became people-centered where the IDPs became the principal actors and the government, non-government organizations as well as the project implementers served as facilitators.

Core groups formed and organized in the four project areas namely, Legazpi City, Camalig, Guinobatan, and Daraga, Albay far exceeded the expected or target core group leaders from an average of 120 target leaders to 300 actual core group leaders formed and mobilized.

The core group members consisted of IDPs in the respective transitional sites and evacuation centers coming from the four disaster areas of Legazpi City, Daraga, Camalig, and Guinobatan, Albay. Those who were selected by their peers as core group leaders

102 Plate 17. Core Group leaders from Tandarora, Guinobatan, Albay.

and/or members belonged to a multi-sector level such as barangay captains and councilors, leaders of women organizations, farmers, vendors or small-scale entrepreneurs, professionals, government employees and other groups present in the respective area/community. As the mobilization process progressed, core groups were formed even in barangays outside the evacuation centers.

Core group formation was utilized as community organizing intervention activity and/or mechanism to address the issue on disorganization among the IDPs and help ease the chaos and confusion which is a staple scenario in transitional sites and evacuation centers after a disaster.

4.1.14.2 Information Dissemination

In the case of information dissemination, the intervention activities and/or mechanisms utilized were the creation of a grassroots level community newsletter and the mobile all-purpose community information board. Below is a detailed description and discussion of the process.

One of the primary objectives of the mobilization process was on facilitating the flow of accurate, timely, and relevant information that would in a way become a vehicle for access to assistance for the IDPs. Hence the installation of a popular community and/or village level information system was foremost among the project objectives. Utilizing the skills of the community organizers in strategizing the participation of the IDPs as well as the creative expertise of the project’s layout artist and the ingenuity of the Information Officer, the idea of a grassroots level newsletter began to take shape and was realized through the creation of An Tingog nin Kabaklay (The Voice of a Co-Sojourner/Pilgrim) an issue-oriented grassroots level advocacy, the first of its kind in the region.

Written in the Bicol vernacular and

anchored on the concept of communication as catalyst for social transformation, the grassroots level newsletter became a vehicle for IDPs’ participation not only in airing out issues but also in giving attention to their plight as well as creating linkages with stakeholders in the entire mobilization process. As such, the newsletter became their empowering voice while at the same time highlighting their partnership with the CMIDP project implementers. At the same time, the mass distribution of the newsletter to core group members and barangay officials and other agencies in the fifty project sites became a concrete realization of a wide extent of information dissemination as timely and relevant information was accessed by the IDPs and other groups.

Limited as it may have been, with only five issues published in the span of the three months project duration, including 7, 500 copies printed and distributed on a weekly basis to all Core Groups in all sites covered including local government units (LGUs), the pioneer grassroots newsletter has definitely made its mark. With issues ranging from mere clarifications of project’s status, to relocation, access to much needed assistance, and personal stories and written contributions of IDPs’, the newsletter has indeed generated awareness by providing all these and more.

What could indeed be considered as the crowning glory of An Tingog nin Kabaklay (The Voice of a Co-Sojourner/Pilgrim) was the overwhelming response generated by the public service announcement of the Camalig Team

published in the 4th issue of the newsletter appealing for any help especially in terms of his studies/education, that can be accessed by Joshua Moral Malle, an impoverished 14 year old, Grade III IDP from Camalig, Albay whose parents Daniel Malle, (a mute) and Sonia Moral (‘an intellectually challenged individual’) are

103

both jobless. At the height of SAC-Legazpi’s relief operations, a certain male benefactor (who has chosen to remain anonymous) happen

to read a copy of the newsletter’s 4th issue that he found in one of the offices. Having read the brief appeal of Camalig Team on behalf of Joshua, whose picture along with his father appeared on the same front page announcement, he immediately contacted SAC-Legazpi office offering financial as well as livelihood assistance.

At present, the unknown benefactor has given an initial financial assistance of Php 12,000.00 that would be enough to cover his various needs including education as well as the planned livelihood assistance for his family which is still being processed. Joshua for the meantime is now in the care of an established guardian, Grace B. Mortega, a CMIDP Core Group leader. Stories like these do proclaim the transforming power of social communications.

The CMIDP experience has indeed underscored the need for establishing a vital link in the grassroots level of a community based newsletter that would cater to the issues and needs of the common ‘tao’ (man/woman) within his/her own social microcosm thereby establishing connections with persons and agencies in authorities paving the way for a more localized, participative and empowered approach. To be informed is to be empowered. Access to correct and relevant information is power. This is what An Tingog nin Kabaklay is all about.

Thus, the newsletter became the IDPs’ empowering voice. The selected survival stories of IDPs were featured in the newsletter as well as interviews with respective authorities on certain issues relevant to the IDPs such as relocation problems, including new concepts and explanations of other IDP-related concerns. The IDPs themselves also shared creative writing (poetry) and a letter of thanks and appreciation for one helpful school principal both of which

were published in the newsletter. An appeal to the municipal mayor of Daraga regarding the lack of water and electricity in one evacuation center was also given space in the said publication.

On the other hand, the installation of thirty (30) Core Group Public Information Board in the thirty (30) project sites provided a continuous commitment to information dissemination.

4.1.14.3 Trainings

When it comes to trainings, issue advocacy and development were the main concerns of the mobilization process. To ensure through and in the mobilization process ‘ownership’ of the IDPs’ advocacy plans, the organization of the First IDPs’ General Assembly as part of the intervention activity and/or mechanism for advocacy and mobilization. The said IDPs’ Assembly was held at Bethlehem, Bacacay, Albay on April8-9, 2007 attended by about a hundred score group leaders and members representing various evacuation centers. The assembly was facilitated by the CMIDP Project Coordinator and the respective community organizers.

In the said assembly, part of the training that they received was leadership and resolution making. The other half of said assembly was utilized for explaining and discussing the mobilization process and drafting a resolution to be read during the General Assembly of AYUDA-Albay. Said assembly also became a venue to surface out significant issues in preparation for the General Assembly of AYUDA Albay, a conglomeration of LGUs (local government units) and NGOs (non-government organization) working together for the rehabilitation of the Province of Albay formed under then Gov. Fernando Gonzalez. The day after the IDPs Assembly, a resolution drafted by

104

the IDPs themselves expressing their desire to be part of the decision-making process as partners of AYUDA-Albay on the relocation and resettlement issue was read at the General Assembly of AYUDA-Albay at the People’s Hall, at Albay Provincial Capitol in front of then Gov. Fernando Gonzalez and the rest of the stakeholders.

The IDPs were able to gain recognition as a group for the first time during said assembly when they were given the chance to speak up for their situation and be representatives of their group. After the assembly of the AYUDA Albay, another General Assembly was held at Bethlehem, Bacacay, Albay on June 3, 2007 to have an organizational consolidation of existing core groups and core group members. Thus, from these gatherings, the IDPs were taught to identify relevant issues, problems, and concerns that their group has encountered, is encountering, and will encounter resulting from their situation of displacement.

In addition, they were encouraged to take a stand on the identified issues relevant to them and in the process have the courage to voice out and ultimately access their needs on their own and not simply wait and partake of the relief goods and services that were methodically handed down to them. They were also given the chance to represent and lobby for the needs of their fellow IDPs.

In every crisis, particularly a disaster of a great magnitude, it is necessary to introduce intervention activities that would really organize and develop in the evacuees the sense of self-worth and dignity needed to rehabilitate them and transform their situation from helpless and dependent victims to participatory and empowered individuals. Normally, the inability of the evacuees to be fully informed about their situation makes them even more helpless and confused. Thus the key to effectively organize a

group as diverse as the IDPs was the utilization of information dissemination.

The lack of access to timely and relevant information pertinent to the IDPs’ situation was countered by the establishment of a grassroots newsletter. Information is power. He who has knowledge has the power. This then became the key to initiate the participation of the IDPs in getting involved with their own rehabilitation and made the organizing aspect of the mobilization program easier.

Because they were now informed about their situation and they were given the power to express themselves in informal meetings and assemblies, they gained confidence to face, lobby and dialogue with all agencies and organizations involved in planning their rehabilitation. Although this would not have been made possible were it not for the fact that they were first organized into core groups as potential leaders were spotted among the various IDPs scattered in the different evacuation centers.

Thus, three main activities emerged as effective in the rehabilitation of the IDPs through community mobilization. First, if one wants to bring order, a sense of system and effective management of people affected in a disaster, one must give them access to timely and relevant information. In other words, educate them so that they would be able to fully understand their situation. The grassroots newsletter in the vernacular is an effective means of reaching out and giving voice to the often unheard of masses or IDPs. Information boards also contribute to generating awareness.

Second, spot potential leaders among the evacuees and organize them into core groups that would represent each community of evacuees. After all, it is easier to lobby for one’s needs and issues when one is represented by a group and not as individuals. There really is

105

strength in numbers. Finally, with the knowledge that they have and the personality and strength emanating from their core group representation expose them to situations that would further enhance their capacity to lobby for their needs and access services through their own participatory measures via community mobilization.

4.1.15 Results of the Community Mobilization Experience for Internally Displaced Persons in Albay (CMIDP)

In the actual mobilization process, there were three particular things that made community organizing among the IDPs a real challenge. Notwithstanding the chaos and displacement scenario amidst the aftereffects of a disaster, the community organizers and those involved in the mobilization process had to contend with delivering results on the areas of (1.) empowerment, (2.) knowledge and skills gained, and (3.) socio-economic benefits and/opportunities derived directed towards the IDPs as a way of helping in their rehabilitation process. Thus, it is in these three particular areas that the discussion on the mobilization process would evolve.

The data provided for identifying the results of the CMIDP experience on these three particular areas were culled from the interviews and focus group discussions with the community organizers on three separate occasions. The first was an informal group interview done sometime in October 2008 at the Social Action Center-Diocese of Legazpi with three community organizers namely Lorrybel Nachor (Guinobatan Area), Rolando Iglesia (Daraga Area), Edgardo Vista (Camalig Area), and Tess Laopao (Camalig Area.) The second activity conducted was a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) involving Joel Calla (Project Coordinator), Angelo Mijares (Guinobatan Area), Tess Laopao (Camalig Area),

John Bautista (Layout Artist) and the researcher who facilitated as well as took part in the discussion. This two hour discussion was conducted at the Parish Social Action Center in Guinobatan, Albay.

The third interview was with Wilson Madela (Camalig Area) and Susan Balane (Legazpi Area) at the Radyo Veritas DWBS Station where the two works as broadcasters at Tahao Road, Legazpi City. The other community organizers who were no longer available are Raymond Bilangel (Daraga Area), Gigi Ventanilla (Legazpi Area), and Herbert Baloloy (Daraga, Area), all of whom are no longer connected to Social Action Center-Legazpi; Raymond Bilangel and Herbert Baloloy has pursued other career paths while Gigi Ventanilla now works at Dubai. The other community organizers who are still connected with SAC-Legazpi but are currently unavailable in terms of schedule are Edcel Benoyo (Legazpi Area), Joel Mendez (Daraga Area), and Leoniv Crisostomo (Guinobatan Area).

EmpowermentGenerally speaking, empowerment has

to do with the ability of a marginalized sector to lobby for their rights out of their own initiative. Former President Corazon C. Aquino, on the other hand, defined empowerment (in an interview with Deedee Sytangco published in the Provincial Section of The Manila Bullettin dated February 18, 2008) as “all about helping people to gain access to opportunities, assistance, and non-financial things such as skills training to have better lives.” Furthermore, it is “harnessing the resources of corporations, foundations, the academe, microfinance institutions and NGOs to fight poverty.”

In the ensuing mobilization process however, it was noted that prior to their immersion in the respective evacuation areas and unsafe zones, the community organizers already have a clear-cut view of what empowerment means to them. In fact, their

106

views regarding empowerment was both diverse and interesting – focusing on various angles that are normally part and parcel of the entire process.By providing concrete anecdotes and/or analogies, the community organizers were able to capture empowerment and how it works.

Hence, majority of the community organizers view empowerment as the development of the ability of a marginalized person to speak up and stand for his/her rights, share his/her talents to others and the larger community, lobby for his/her own needs and rights through his/her own established initiatives, and become the ‘empowered’ who empowers the entire community. In view of the results of the CMIDP experience and going by the above ideas on empowerment, such process was truly evident because of the activites employed in the organizing and mobilization process.

The IDPs became a marginalized group because of displacement brought about by a massive disaster. When they were herded off into cramped evacuation centers they carried with them not only the trauma of what happened but also the apprehension about the new situation that awaited them. As generally observed by all community organizers, the IDPs’ situation in the evacuation centers were truly “chaotic, confusing, devoid of any sense of normalcy physically, emotionally, and even spiritually.” They did not have the capacity to “even think much less speak of and about their rights.” They simply “waited on the dole outs and relief operations” that became their new means of survival. Thus, from this vantage point, they were not yet empowered.

Initially, when the community organizers began their community survey and entry and started conducting meetings with the IDPs for issue identification, the IDPs were “wary of the community organizers’ presence.” At first the IDPs came in hordes and showed interest in the meetings because they thought that the

organizers were there to distribute relief goods. But once they found out that no such thing was coming, they slowly drifted out of the meetings.

However, with the continued community meetings conducted by the organizers in the respective evacuation centers and barangays, little by little the IDPs were able to understand the mobilization process and the type of ‘help’ that the project offers them. As they began to be interested, the number of IDPs attending meetings increased. The community organizers were already able to establish rapport with the IDPs and they began spotting potential leaders.

At first, the IDPs were timid and lacked the confidence necessary for expressing their ideas. They were even afraid and apprehensive about asking questions and interacting in general with the crowd – whether such crowd was made up of local government officials, personnel involveld in the relief operations, and even with the CMIDP community organizers. Nevertheless, as they began to be informed about their rights as IDPs, including the corresponding needs brought about by their unique situation, the IDPs started showing signs of self-confidence.

They were “no longer afraid to ask or approach persons in authority and they began voicing out their needs.” It came to a point where the IDPs from Brgy. Padang even began getting the contact numbers of local officials and other agencies involved in the rehabilitation process and when they have questions or clarifications to be made about a particular issue, they themselves were the ones who would contact the officials concerned. Thus began the initial stages of developing initiative in the lethargic and despairing demeanor of the IDPs. At this point, their primary concern however was still focused on their individual needs. They have not yet started looking at themselves as a group. The agenda of the IDPs

107

in attending meetings and trainings conducted in the early stages of the community entry were still purely individualistic.

After all, the concept of “teaching people to help themselves by lobbying for their needs on their own initiatives” which was the concept of the mobilization process was still something new to them. They have not yet gone beyond the concept of “asking for the fish” – something that’s temporary. They were simply in the initial stages of understanding that “learning how to fish” is something that is sustainable and more permanent. Hence, their motivation for participating in the community meetings was still based on the idea that once they enter into the entire mobilization process they will get the much needed rehabilitation support.

The greater portion of the gradual transformation of the IDPs from timid individuals (whose main agenda was “where to get the next meal” and whose response to the presence of groups in the community is to “ask for relief goods” thereby developing the ‘doleout mentality’) was due to the core group organizing introduced among the IDPs. Core group formation and organizing paved the way in purging the timidness and apprehension out of the IDPs to give way to building a culture of awareness and understanding of their situation as well as their corresponding rights and turned them into a more self-assured and self-confident individuals who were now ready to lobby for their rights as a group and not simply for their own needs.

As the IDPs were assimilated into their new roles as either core group leaders or members, they started developing out of their own initiatives, simple house rules in their respective evacuation centers to establish a semblance of order in their community. Such rules were formed, facilitated, and supervised by the IDPs themselves who were now active

members of core groups. They also started linking with other organizations working or present in their evacuation centers with the goal of facilitating access to assistance in the rehabilitation process.

At the same time, the community organizers were already preparing the ground work for a general assembly of the IDPs from the project sites. About a hundred leaders of each core group from the various project sites attended the First General Assembly of IDPs at Bethlehem, Bacacay, Albay on April 8-9, 2007. Armed with a new sense of purpose, confidence in their newfound abilities and awareness of their rights, they spent the two days in the said assembly discussing and threshing out all the issues pertinent to their situation as IDPs. They were also able to come out with a group consensus on the common issues that they were facing which were brought out and lobbied during the General Assembly of AYUDA-Albay, a conglomeration of all the agencies helping in the rehabilitation of Albay Province founded by then Gov. Fernando Gonzalez. In this assembly the IDPs themselves also composed a resolution that was read during the AYUDA-Albay Assembly.

The general assembly of the IDPs in Bacacay was in preparation for the ultimate test of empowerment of the entire mobilization process – facing the LGUs, NGO-POs, and the governor himself in the AYUDA-Albay Assembly. Although in the end the IDPs were not fully recognized by AYUDA-Albay as partners in the rehabilitation process, nevertheless they were able to express their concerns in the Provincial Level.

The realization of the community organizers regarding the outcome of the failure to give the IDPs recognition as partners by AYUDA-Albay in the entire rehabilitation process was that “the established stakeholders were not yet ready to change their concept of IDPs as

108

victims that were supposed to be given help and not as their equal in the rehabilitation process.” In other words, they still fail to recognize the need of the IDPs to have a say in their rehabilitation.

However, the IDPs were not recognized in the assembly as partners in the rehabilitation process, but they still lobbied with Gov. Gonzalez as the core groups formed KABAKLAY (Katabang sa Biktima nin Kalamidad). Said group was formed after the final assembly of IDPs on June 3, 2007 as part of the exit process of the project. The IDPs now known as KABAKLAY submitted a position paper to Gov. Gonzalez expressing their concerns and lobbying for their rights and recognition.

The community organizers and the IDPs themselves also affirmed the significant part that the newsletter An Tingog nin Kabaklay (The Voice of a Co-soujourner) had on their becoming empowered. Said newsletter became their empowering voice through the inclusion of a section on the newsletter entitled Tingog Komunidad (Community Voices). Tingog Komunidad, a section in the newsletter An Tingog nin Kabaklay, was created to become a vehicle for expressing the thoughts and sentiments of the IDPs either directly or through the community organizers on community issues pertinent or relevant to their situation.

One of the highlights on how the newsletter became an empowering voice for the IDPs was when an IDP from Brgy. Binitayan was interviewed regarding their issues and sentiments particularly on the relief operation as well as the internal conflicts arising among the IDPs in the evacuation centers. Said IDP who requested that her name be withheld appealed to then Daraga Municipal Mayor Jaucian to be more visible and to visit them in their evacuation centers so that he may see their situation and respond to their need for water and electricity. Another instance was the appeal

for educational support and assistancemade by the Camalig community organizers regarding a young IDP.

This was published in the newsletter and generated positive results from the readers. Hence, these were the instances when the grassroots newsletter indeed became an empowering voice for the IDPs. At present those IDPs who became active members and/or leaders of the core groups are still active in their respective resettlement centers. The barangay captain of Padang was once part of the core group. Grace Mortega of Brgy. Tagaytay in Camalig, Albay is still active in community works as barangay secretary.

Majority of the IDPs who became active leaders in the core groups during the entire mobilization process have even become elected officials in their community. Those IDPs who belong to Padang and Arimbay are still active This only shows that not only were the IDPs empowered but they in turn have learned to empower others and became partners in empowering their respective communities.14.1.15.1 Knowledge and Skills Gained

The Encarta Dictionary defines knowledge as “general awareness or possession of information, facts, ideas, truths, or principles.” It further classified knowledge into five areas, namely, erudition or knowledge acquired through study and reading; information or the collected facts and data about a specific subject; learning or knowledge or skill gained through education; scholarship or academic learning or achievement; and wisdom or accumulated knowledge of life or of a sphere of activity that has been gained through experience.

However, the kind of knowledge evident in the mobilization process was information, learning, and wisdom. This was because the main thrust of the community

109

mobilization process for the IDPs in the Province of Albay as part of their rehabilitation was advocacy and information dissemination. Therefore, in the ensuing mobilization process, knowledge became a main component. Since one of the main observations of the community organizers regarding the IDPs was their lack of access to proper and timely information, the starting point for information access was the regular meetings set up by the community organizers with the IDPs. In these meetings, problems, issues, and concerns were discussed and deliberated upon by the IDPs themselves through the facilitation of the community organizers. The second component that largely helped in information dissemination as well as learning was the creation of a grassroots newsletter An Tingog nin Kabaklay were issues relevant to the IDPs were published.

Among the knowledge the IDPs have gained were a clearer and more concrete understanding of the relocation issues through an interview with the head of the relocation committee; the publication of an editorial explaining the mobilization process, the coverage of the rehabilitation process in various evacuation centers, interviews with IDPs regarding their life and rights, particular issues and concerns in their respective evacuation centers that were made known to proper authorities; feedbacks from IDPs regarding the mobilization process were also made known to the public. In general, collected facts and data about the IDPs, of the IDPs and for the IDPs were made known and disseminated showing the extent of awareness generated through information.

Thus, the knowledge gained through community education done by the community organizers along the lines of organizing and mobilization brought about learnings on their situation particularly a better understanding of their condition and the relocation plans of the various agencies involved in the rehabilitation

process. In terms of skills, the IDPs were able to enhance their interpersonal and social skills through the development of self-confidence, assertiveness and articulateness.

Technical writing skills were also developed through resolution making and letters of communication done during the general assemblies. Public speaking skills were honed through seeking out and asserting their rights as they face heads of agencies, municipal leaders and other stakeholders particularly when they faced AYUDA-Albay. Leadership skills became an offshoot of their mobilization as the IDPs stood out as leaders through the core group formation thereby gaining self-confidence that later on allowed them to become leaders in their respective communities.

Finally, through the combined processes of organizing, education, and mobilization the IDPs were able above all to gain an accumulated knowledge about their situation, how to move beyond their situation and create opportunities for themselves and fellow IDPs through their direct experiences of mobilization.

4.1.15.2 Socio-Economic Benefits and Opportunities Derived

Since the concern of the rehabilitation process for the IDPs is geared on community organizing, education, and mobilization, socio-economic benefits were not really the main thrust or concern of the CMIDP project. The context of the mobilization process does not involve directly giving socio-economic benefits and opportunities.

The dole outs, relief goods, and other material assistance were left to the other stakeholders and agencies helping out in the rehabilitation process of the IDPs. However, as a result of the activities and/or mechanisms

110

utilized for the IDPs, access to socio-economic benefits and opportunities were opened. It was through the combined efforts of the community organizers and the IDPs themselves through the core groups formed that other groups who are giving out assistance were effectively accessed. One concrete example was the financial assistance given to Joshua Moral when his appeal for help was published in the CMIDP newsletter. In addition, baseline data were provided by the CMIDP organizers that paved the way for other services to be accessed by the IDPs.

Among the baseline data presented were a survey of IDPs’ needs (the kind of assistance needed, for how many IDPs, in what evacuation center or unsafe zone, etc.) presented to various local, national, and international agencies for immediate action and assistance. A particular instance was when lack of potable water was noted in several evacuation centers, Oxfam International installed a temporary potable water system as well as portalets. Another was the installation of electric lines as a result of lobbying with the LGU in Bagumbayan Evacuation Center. Brgy. Padang IDPs’ were given priority access to avail of housing units and the opportunity for replanting for livelihood through the provision of ten (10) sacks of camote cuttings and four (4) bundles of cassava cuttings. Food for work for twenty-eight (28) families and free transportation provided by IOM while volunteer workers were being mobilized by the core group was also accessed at Banag, Daraga, Albay. IDPs from Brgy. Tagas in Daraga were also able to request for the implementation of a ceramics making training. In Camalig, twenty additional (20) tents were realeased and the installation of ten (10) barracks-type shelter was facilitated. In Guinobatan, twenty-three (23) IDP families were able to transfer from tent dwellings to core shelter units within the Oval Transitional Site at Marcial O. Raňola Memorial School (MORMS).

The First IDP Sportsfest was also held through solicitation from private individuals. In addition, relief assistance was also extended beyond the established evacuation centers despite policies that only those IDPs inside the evacuation can avail of such assistance. Two barangays benefitted from this lobbying of the core groups (CG) – Brgy. Maipon, and Sitio Mabugos in Guinobatan.

All these socio-economic benefits and/or opportunities derived from the CMIDP experience were made possible through an orderly, organized, and effective community education and mobilization that gave the IDPs the chance to seek out assistance for themselves.

In general, the CMIDP experience in the four project areas of Legazpi City, Daraga, Camalig, and Guinobatan, Albay resulted in an efficient and effective access to services and assistance, provided a sense and system of order in the evacuation centers, while generating recognition and representation of the IDPs, and creating awareness of their rights resulting in measures for rights protection, thereby transforming their image from that of ‘disaster victims’ or mere ‘evacuees’ to a strong and well represented empowered group.

A holistic approach in the rehabilitation process is necessary for the said process to become more effective and lasting. Part of the approach should be participative in nature. We educate not simply to inform but to allow the affected people (ex. the IDPs), to participate in their own rehabilitation or transformation. We do relief operations and give them assistance and access to services not just to temporarily relieve their pain and anguish but to anticipate the pain and anguish that is yet to come or that has not yet even surfaced. Hence, we do not just offer temporary solutions but we give them a way of dealing with the situation and the future of their situation.

111

Involvement is the key in becoming empowered. Thus, those involved in the rehabilitation process must not just look at evacuees from the vantage point of helpless people ready to accept doleouts. We have to lead them out of their state of helplessness and the stagnation brought about by the creation of a doleout mentality by giving them options and treating them as partners in the entire rehabilitation process. Without these, relocations and resettlements become simply a temporary alleviation of their helplessness and displacement. Without proper planning on all the socio-economic, political aspects as well as emotional and psychological traumas, they would never fully recover and be rehabilitated.

Disasters and calamities come in all forms whether natural or man-made.The Bicol Region is particularly prone to disasters and the effects of climate change because of Mt. Mayon, an active volcano.

If we examine the situation of IDPs they are the same people who are also affected by the eruption of Mt. Mayon. As such, said situation is already part of the cycle of life for Bicolanos. Hence, the Bicolanos and other stakeholders have to contend with adaptation, management, risk-reduction, and rehabilitation of those affected by such events in the context of community education.

The tremendous loss of life and properties and the permanent scars left by Typhoon Reming have taught the resilient Bicolanos to take stock of the general preparations and the extent of preparedness in terms of responding to disaster and most importantly preventing loss of lives and properties. This is evident in the prompt and orderly evacuation of people affected by the recent eruption of Mt. Mayon. The provincial government and the other Local Government Units (LGUs) have stepped up and doubled their efforts to ensure the safety and protection of

their constituents with the zero casualty projection.

Part of the holistic approach is the interventions that take a relevant role in keeping a sense of stability in evacuation centers or disaster areas. When such interventions done by stakeholders are identified, documented and recognized, there is an even greater chance of its replication because from these other possible programs could be developed. And all these become part of the rehabilitation process that is grounded on the principles of utilizing community education for community organizing and development.

Since the paradigm shift is now on creating and building linkages and networks such interventions become functional extension strategies that can strengthen partnerships of all stakeholders as they are now able to have a blue print for implementation especially if such interventions are manualized and/or documented.

Finally, true community development would only be possible when the evacuees, IDPs or all affected persons are given a chance to chart their own rehabilitation as their voices are heard and listened to in real participatory approach that will ultimately allow the onset of empowered individuals leading to empowered communities.

4.1.1Proposed Extension Strategies through the Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Person (CMIDP) Experience

In the ensuing discussions and interviews conducted with the CMIDP community organizers, several steps as well as strategies were identified based on the CMIDP experience which could be replicated and utilized by other interested parties both in the academe and other non-academic institutions. Recommendations were also given on specific

112

extension activities with the IDPs in mind. The mobilization process implemented several intervention activities. In examining the entire mobilization process through the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and interviews of the community organizers and those involved in the program, such intervention activities can be subordinated under three particular strategies that the researcher was able to identify.

These are baseline research, community organizing, and community education. Such strategies can also be utilized for community extension activities and/or programs. Thus, these strategies based on the CMIDP experience are proposed by the researcher for implementation by academic and non-academic institutions and other interested parties or stakeholders.

Although these extension strategies can be used in other areas and/or communities (even in the non-disaster areas and/or in the absence of disasters), it was unanimously observed by all of the organizers that these strategies be continuously utilized for the IDPs who are now in the various resettlement sites. These intervention activities now identified by the researcher under the mentioned strategies were recommended by the community organizers because of its proven effectiveness and practicality in terms of implementation.

Hence, the proposed extension strategies that can be implemented by the academic and non-academic institutions in disaster as well as non-disaster areas and/or communities are outlined and fully discussed in a manual entitled A Guide to Extention Strategies for Community Organizing and Education. The manual features the three proposed strategies namely baseline research, community organizing, and community education. Under each strategy, an overview is provided including discussions of certain principles pertinent to the strategy. Objectives

per strategy are also enumerated that provide a step by step guide to the extentionists or the stakeholders.

The processes involved are also included as well as the expected output of the strategy. In this manner, the interested stakeholder is given a clearer view of how to practically go about in the implementation of his/her goals and projects in the target community.

The Community Mobilization for Internally Displaced Persons (CMIDP) community organizers did not specifically mention baseline research but focused more on data validation and data gathering as part of their initial community entry. Hence, the researcher adapted data validation and data gathering and modified such activities under what she proposed as baseline research.

The community organizing strategy however, particularly the intervention activities such as core group formation was adapted from the main activity and/or mechanism of the CMIDP community organizers which was expanded by the researcher as she discussed the other aspects involved in said activity. The third strategy on community education was fully developed by the researcher based on her own initiative when she was the Information Officer of the CMIDP that she then endorsed to the Project Coordinator and was implemented in the project areas.

This included the development of a grassroots level issue-oriented newsletter as the main component and tool for community education aimed at bridging the people in the target community to their respective Local Government Units (LGUs) through a participatory approach. The manual can serve as a guide on what to do as part of the rehabilitation process in times of disaster or even on ordinary and normal situations for

113

extension purposes towards community development.

Said manual hopefully aims to contribute foremost to the vision of Bicol University of “bringing the University closer to the community” in line with using education as a progressive and liberating tool towards building empowered and transformed communities.

5. CONCLUSION

The IDPs have been resettled but are forever displaced from their communities and in need of continued rehabilitation. Thus, intervention activities particularly core group formation, grassroots newsletter and mobile bulletin/info boards are necessary for community education and mobilization as part of the rehabilitation process.

The IDPs were empowered, gained knowledge and skills, and effectively accessed socio-economic benefits and opportunities resulting from the community mobilization process. Since the Bicol Region is prone to disasters because it is home to an active volcano like Mt. Mayon, there is a need to introduce strategies to be utilized in line with disaster risk reduction and management.

The proposed extension strategies that can be implemented by the academic and non-academic institutions are baseline research, community organizing, and community education that have been proven beneficial in its implementation in response to the effects of typhoon Reming in the communities. However, there should be Continued and concerted efforts of all agencies (Local Government Units, academic and non-academic institutions) and other stakeholders concerned should be given to the rehabilitation process of the IDPs in resettlement areas particularly on designing programs for sustainable livelihood, and giving

trainings on adjusting to and building a new community including spiritual formation.

In planning various resettlement sites, the recipients should also be given the chance to participate in the planning process so that they will learn to go beyond the dole out mentality and regain a piece of their dignity as they are seen as partners in the rebuilding and rehabilitation process and not merely as objects of assistance. At the same time, accessibility and the delivery if not at least the source/s of basic services should be given provision in the planning of future resettlement sites.

Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Programs should be given priority and documented along with interventions done by PDCC (Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council) and its corresponding units to facilitate identification of best practices as well as enhancement and/or improvement of said interventions for replication and implementation in other disaster-prone communities.

In terms of coping with disasters on, art therapy classes and other similar activities should be provided to counteract the life-long trauma of the IDPs’ experiences and help them cope with the tragic events in their lives particularly the children. Thus, community organizing and mobilization should form part of disaster management so that an orderly system will be evident in evacuation centers.

Short-term and one-shot deal projects should go hand in hand with a clear-cut sustainability process so that the changes or transformations that said project has brought to its recipients after it is terminated will be more effective and holistic. Similarly, those involved in extension programs should look into information awareness and dissemination through an issue-oriented grassroots newsletter facilitated by a strong core group that is

114

grounded on baseline research, as progressive strategies for community education.

Bicol University, banking on its thrust of “bringing the university closer to the community” should turn its attention to the IDPs in the resettlement areas and try to utilize extension strategies on community organizing side by side with mobilization with the end-goal of utilizing community education as a means of building empowered communities. Other possible extension strategies based on the evaluation of various community-based projects should be manualized and disseminated to all interested parties and stakeholders while interested researchers can delve into similar areas of research particularly on the IDPs, community organizing and community education.

It is also equally important that cultural studies that focus and investigate the reasons why displaced people keep on going back to their former communities in spite of the risks should be done. Finally, the manual on Extension Strategies for Community Organizers/Educators developed as a result of this study should be used, validated, and implemented as part of the Disaster Mitigation Program of the local government. Likewise, said manual should be used as a guide for those who are planning and implementing programs to assist the IDPs and others similarly situated.

6. REFERENCES

1 Typhoon Ondoy retrieved on Oct. 15, 2009 at http://www.timesnewsnetwork.com/wp.uploads/2009/09

2Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council press release

3 Oxfam International Promotional Flyer, 2007.

4CMIDP Terminal Report, 2007.

BooksAngelito Manalili, Community Organizing for People’s Empowerment, Kapatiran –Kaunlaran Inc., Manila, 1990.

F. Landa Jocano’s Slum as a Way of Life: A Study of Coping Behavior in an Urban Environment., University of the Philippines Press, Quezon City, 1975.

Garry Jacobs, Robert Macfarlane, N. Asokan, Comprehensive Theory of Social Development, International Center For Peace and Development, 2352 Stonehouse Drive, Napa, CA, Nove. 15, 1997, Retrieved August 28, 2008 at garryjacobs@worldnet.att.net

Jennifer A. Elliot, An Introduction to Sustainable Development, 2nd ed., London, 1999.

Paulo Friere, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972.

Teaching Peace, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Program on Psychosocial Trauma and Human Rights, Center for Integrative and Development Studies, University of the Philippines, 1998.

Saul David Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, Retrieved August 28, 2008 at http://www.wikipedia.alinsky.saul.com

The Blackwell Dictionary of 20th Century Social Thought, eds. William Outhwaite and Tom Bottommore, p. 15, Blackwell Publishers’ Ltd., Oxford, UK, 1998.

115

The Philippine NGO’s – A Resource Book of Social Development NGOs, Association of Foundations, Inc., 2001.

ManualsImproving the Lives of the Poor through Growth and Empowerment, Phils. Country Management Unit, East Asia and Pacific Region, World Bank Group, 30 April 2002.

Oxfam Great Britain Phils.,Building Resilient Communities: Good Practices in Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines, 2008.

JournalsCecilia Danks and Lynn Jungwirth, “The Journal of Environmental Science and Management Community-based Socio-economic Assessment and Monitoring of Activities Related to National Forest Management in California,” Journal of England’s Learning and Skills Council, Community Education, retrieved August 14, 2008 at http://www.wikepedia.com

Environmental Science and Management, University of the Phils., Los Banos, Vol.1, Number 2, 1998.

Larry Horyna and Larry Decker, “Horyna and Decker’s Community Education Principles,” Community Educational Journal, Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction retrieved August 14, 2008 at http://dpi.state.wi.us/fscp/ceprin.htm

Nancy Jennings et.al., Placed-Based Education in the Standards-Based Reform Era: Conflict or Complement, American Journal of Education retrieved July 28, 2008 at http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.

Sharon Cartwright, Patricia Case, Tom Gallagher, Ron Hathaway., Extension’s Role in Responding

to Community Crisis: Lessons from Klamath Falls, Oregon. Retrieved August 26, 2008 at http://www.journalofextension.com

Tom Heaney, Freirean Literacy in North America: The Community-Based Education Movement, Thresholds in Education, Retrieved August 28, 2008 at http://nl.edu./academics/cas/ace/resources/documents/FreireIssues.cfm.com

PapersGreg Wise, Paper on Applying U.S. Development Process Lessons, Retrieved August 16, 2008 at http://www.info@communityeduc.com

Gustavo Gutierrez, Information on Liberation Theology, Retrieved August 28, 2008 at http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/liberati.htm

James Hoorman, Engaging Minority and Culturally Diverse Audiences, Retrieved August 28, 2008 at http://www.hoorman.1@osu.edu.com

Roger Bairstow, Holly Berry, Debra Minar Driscoll, Tips for Teaching Non-Traditional Audiences, Retrieved August 28, 2008 at http://www.hollyberry@orst.edu.com

ThesisAbion, Jenneden Egar and Nerissa Nario, Social Functioning of the Adult Learner in An Alternative Learning System among Indigenous People of Iraya, Buhi, Camarines Norte, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, Bicol University College of Social Science and Philosophy, Dept. of Sociology, 2008.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, “There Is Only The Fight”...An Analysis of the Alinsky Model, Senior Thesis, Wellesley College, Retrieved August 10, 2008 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul

116

Maria Dolores Castro Mantilla and Mariel Loayza Anteza, Evaluation of Community Education Interventions in Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Urban-Marginal Areas of La Paz, Bolivia, Retrieved August 10, 2008 at http://www.community.education.com/studies

Sharon Cartwright, Tom Gallagher, Total Rural Capital: A Model to Engage Extension Faculty and the Public in Rural Community, Retrieved August 28, 2008 at http://www.ffskc@uaf.edu.com

The Solana Beach Coalition for Community Education, Extending K-12 Education: Issues Facing Informal Learning Programs, Retrieved August 14, 2008 at http://www.communityeducation.com/studies

DissertationsAmado L. Picardal, C.Ss. P. Basic Ecclesial Communities in the Philippines (An Ecclesiological Perspective), Dissertatio ad Doctoraum in Facultate Theologiae, Roma, Pontifica Universitas Gregorian, 1995.

Catherine O’Brien, Education for Sustainable Community Development at Barefoot College at Tilonia, India, A Doctoral Dissertation, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 1998.

ResearchesArnel Garcia, A Changed Landscape Redefines Farming (Infanta, Quezon), Building Resilient Communities: Good Practices in Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines, pp. 75-87, Oxfam Great Britain Philippines, 2008.

Carlos C. Galvez, Community Radio and Emergency Response Teams: Public Awareness as a First Step (Labo, Camarines Norte), Building

Resilient Communities: Good Practices in Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines, pp. 42-48, Oxfam Great Britain Philippines, 2008.

Delfin Bondad, Disaster Education and Management: Moving from Adaptation to Choice (Bato, Camarines Sur), Building Resilient Communities: Good Practices in Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines, pp. 51-64, Oxfam Great Britain Philippines, 2008.

Jo Durham, Mines Advisory Group, From Interventions to Integration: Mine Risk Education and Community Liaison, Mines Risk Programs in Angola, 2006, Retrieved August 24, 2008 at http://www.communityguide.com

Maita Magalong, To Serve and Make a Difference: The Driving Force of Grassroots Volunteerism (Barrio Obrero, Iloilo City), Building Resilient Communities: Good Practices in Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines, pp. 66-67, Oxfam Great Britain Philippines, 2008.

Mayfourth Luneta and Jesusa Grace Molina, Community Preparedness against Perennial Flooding: The Barangay as Building Block (Brgy. Mangain, Dagupan City), Building Resilient Communities: Good Practices in Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines, pp. 29-41, Oxfam Great Britain Philippines, 2008.

Nicomedes D. Briones, Community Land Use Planning in the Central Cordilleras, Philippines, Journal of Environmental Science and Management, University of the Phils., Los Banos, Vol.1, Number 2, 1998.

Red Batario, Breaking the Norms, Rethinking the News: Bandillo ng Palawan’s “Tuturan” Section,

117

Center for Community Journalism and Development, Quezon City, 2004.

Segundo E. Romero, Case Study on A Permanent Disaster Management Office: Visible, Measurable Impact over the Years (Albay Provincial Government), Building Resilient Communities: Good Practices in Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines, pp. 1-27, Oxfam Great Britain Philippines, 2008.Websitesgarryjacobs@worldnet.att.nethttp://www.communityguide.comhttp://www.communityeducation.com/studieshttp://www.ffskc@uaf.edu.comhttp://www.hollyberry@orst.edu.comhttp://www.hoorman.1@osu.edu.comhttp://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/liberati.htmhttp://www.info@communityeduc.comhttp://nl.edu./academics/cas/ace/resources/documents/FreireIssues.cfm.comhttp://www.journalofextension.comhttp://www.journals.uchicago.edu.http://dpi.state.wi.us/fscp/ceprin.htm

118