Dyaryo El Libertad

Thanks to the efforts of Xavier Uni-versity – Ateneo de Cagayan and the local government of Cagayan de Oro that aims to resettle at least 500 families who are victims of the tropical storm Sendong. BY build-ing a community “Xavier EcoVille” located in zone 3, Lumbia, CDOC.July 6, the day finally came to cel-ebrate Dayun, Padayun: Xavier EcoVille hope festival and blessing of permanent houses for the Sen-dong survivors. Were a day of fes-tivities took place to mark a new start for the survivors.With help from partner sponsors: Union Bank, Ladies Association of Sacred Heart, Cebu, Habitat for Humanity, Rotary, Maybank, Reli-gious of the Assumption, ADMV, JCI Manila/Macahalar, Moreno, San Miguel. The Lumbia Resettle-ment Project ( Xavier EcoVille) was made possible."The real challenge in building a community does not solely focus

on providing homes for the ty-phoon Sendong survivors but it is on helping the people get em-ployment opportunities," said XU President Fr. Roberto C. Yap SJ.EcoVille holds a total# of 517 households. 2,586# of individu-al. Who has received 50 sqm. A floor area of 21.30 sqm. With a total cost per unit of 110,000 pesos. Which was given to a carefully selected beneficiaries that involve a careful proses of that involve a careful proses of cross-examination of data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Arch-diocese of Cagayan de Oro.Xavier EcoVille is a new begin-ning, a second chance, a helping hand, a hope for the families af-fected by tropical storm Sendong to re-build what they have lost. “Xavier will not leave you behind,” said Fr. Roberto C Yap SJ.

December 17, 2011 -The city of Cagayan de Oro was turned upside down by tropical storm Sendong. With winds reaching 100 kph. triggering flash floods and landslides all over the af-fected areas.According to the National Disas-ter Risk and Management Coun-cil (NDRRMC) about 1,268 lives were taken. 1.3 billion in busi-ness and agricultural damages, leaving many in the poverty line.Cagayan de Oro City never ex-pected to be hit as hard for never has the city seen a tropi-cal storm with that much power. Affecting 22 barangays namely: Agusan, Baikingan, Balubal, Balulang, Bugo, Canto-an, Carmen, Consulacion, Cugman, Gusa, Iponan, Kauswagan, Mak-abalan, Macasandig, Puntod, Tablon, Brgy.7, Brgy.10, Brgy.13, Brgy.14, Brgy.15. Leav-ing many homeless.

Xavier EcoVille new hope for Sendong survivorsBy Hero James Redila

The Apple Never Falls Far from Its TreeBy Hero James Redila

Having a strong family founda-tion is what keeps us standing. Gets us trough the up's and down of life. Motivates us to be more than what we expect of our selves. Family is with us trough life and death whether we choose to or not. Like the story choose to or not. Like the story of Boying Jurolan. On the 12th of January, 1986. Boying Jurolan was born to a father who works as a farmer and a mother who works as an employee in a local gov-ernment group in their at area at Malaybalay city Bukidnon. Boying would never forget what Boying would never forget what his parents had to sacrifice to provide for him and two of his siblings. His father would always wake up every 4 in the morning to get ready and tend to their rice fields all day. His mother would follow at 5 to get ready for would follow at 5 to get ready for work and prepare their break-fast and get them ready for the day. His family lived a simple life but his parents never let their financial status get in the

way of his education. "I guess that was one of the one of the challeng-es that my family had to face, be-cause high quality education is never cheap," said Boying. At a young age of 11 Boyings ultimate dream in life was to finish his schooling all the way until he graduates in collage. "Seeing what my parents had to go trough to get us proper education, I had made it my goal to not fail them," said Boying. Boying had his high school at the Secondary School Laborato-ry of Bukidnon State College in Malaybalay City. The school only accepts 100 freshmen students every year. During my interview with Boying I could just see the passion in his eyes as he recolpassion in his eyes as he recol-lects the memories of his past achievements. One of which is when he had received the news that he was one of the top 100 en-rollees that got in. "Seeing how happy and proud my parents were to me was just heaven on earth, That gave me more inspiration on my studies. It was good news for my parents because the secondary laboratory school is one of the least expensive schools that offer quality education ," said Boying. The challenge that he had to go The challenge that he had to go trough in high school was to deal with having to maintain his aca-demic performance. Being among the top performing students, he had to make a few sacrifices. Like spending time with friends and had to deal with being alone most of the time. But he had to live up to what was expected from him. This is why he was always thank-ful for his family for being so sup-

portive all through out his life, who motivated him to keeping never give up and follow his dreams. Boying kept his promise Boying kept his promise to his self and his family to never give up on his studies and giving it his best. Years went by so fast and before he knew it, he had to prepare for college life; Fearing if his family would still be able to support his studies without comsupport his studies without com-promising his siblings. Till one day his prayer was answered when he has received a letter from Xavier University telling him about an academic scholar-ship under Office of Scholarship & Financial Aid (OSFA) which he qualified in. "I can still remember the look on my parents' faces when I told them the news. They were too grateful that I would be studying in one of the most pres-tigious institutions in Northern Mindanao." Xavier is seen as almost synonymous to academic excel-lence and being accepted even as a regular student is already an achievement in itself. What made being a scholar harder than reg-ular students is the fact that a QPI had to maintained. ON Boy-ing's case he had to maintain a 3.0. QPI. Regular students can take subjects again the following semester if they do not pass. However, for scholars, failure is not an option. Then again, the inspiration that he got from my family was what drove him to attain his goals. Aside from maintaining his grades, Boying also faces a

new challenge of his life. The challenge of being on his own away from his family, adjusting to the college community which is totally different from high school. Making new friends and figuring out what he really wants to be after his studies. wants to be after his studies. Enrolled as an Civil Engineering student he felt very passionate and content with the course he chose. "I had to learn to be more independent if I wanted to finish my studies. Though my parents are away it gave me comfort that are away it gave me comfort that they are near my heart support-ing me with all I wanted. I could have not ask for a better parent," said Boying. On the year of 2008 Boying has finally accomplished his hearts desire, finally gradu-ated. His parents hard work fi-nally paid off. Boying can still remember the day of his gradua-tion like it just happened yesterday as he was explaining the event. He said the best thing that happened to him during all of his experience in school was, when he finally graduated col-lege and both his mother and father hug him and whispered

"Thank you son, we are so proud of you and we love you with all our hearts." Right after college, Boying Right after college, Boying was hired and is still working as a software engineer in an outstand-ing IT company in Manila. "I got hired right after college and I be-lieve that my education is one of the main reasons why I landed the job. I already make enough to sup-port my family financially and to help my siblings with their school-ing," he said. At first, living in Manila was hard for him but the training and experience he had during his college years really came to play. Not to mention his family was always at his back. The further he goes away from them the close he gets to them. He thanks God with all the blessings he received throughout his life, but he said he can never thank god enough for giving him a very loving and supportive parents. At the end of our discussion, Boying said "I can actually say that I am now content and happy with I am now content and happy with what I am doing. My experience in the past had helped me become what I am now and there is noth-ing about it that I would change."

Having a strong family founda-tion in our life is one of the key in success. The stronger the family bond the better we are in facing life's challenges. Family is with us all trough our lives whether we choose to or not. No one is truly alone family will one is truly alone family will always be there for you.

Syria’s silent KillerBy Hero James Redila

According to Mark Lander and Jonathan Wiseman of The New York Times; each morning for the last week, at 7:45 more than a dozen White House aides have mustered in the corner office of President Obama’s chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, to get Denis R. McDonough, to get their marching orders for what has become the most intense, uphill lobbying campaign of the Obama presidency.

The White House’s goal is to persuade Congress to authorize a limited military strike against Syria to punish it for a deadly chemical weapons attack. Weeks of frantic phone calls, wall-to-wall intelligence briefing and hours of hearing with and hours of hearing with Mr.Obama’s war council. Both Republicans and Democrats are lining up to vote against the president of the United States (POTUS) decision to yet again get involved in another Middle East

war to punish Syria for a deadly chemical weapon attack on the outskirts of Damascus on Aug.21 that they say left more than 1,400 people dead. Admin-istration officials said they suc-ceeded in dispelling doubts about whether the forces of the Syrian president, Bashar al-As-sad, carried out the attack. “We set a goal this week of making sure people understood the facts of the case,” Mr.McDonough said Friday.” No one with whom I’ve spoken doubts the intelli-gence. We’re not really debating the veracity of the central charge.”

But people on Capitol Hill said the White House’s internal case for action proved unpersua-sive. I for one feel that the presi-dent and his administration do not have a very persuasive reason on getting involved with this issue. They should just wait for the confirmation of the United Nation, confirming whether it was the Syrian gov-ernment who authorized the attack.

America has to really look into this carefully and don’t try to be the hero all the time, or it will just be another Vietnam or Iraq war where thousands of brave soldiers sacrificed their lives for the country and at what cost. It has not been a year since cost. It has not been a year since America has withdrawn its troops from Iraq. Now president Obama wants to lead another fight and retaliate on Syria’s ac-tions without support from more than half the nation and other countries looking at this matter.Wait for solid evidence that the Syrian government was the one

who really carried out the attack to its citizens killing 1,400 people. Work with other nations to solve the issue at hand. Don’t just attack without the support of others, for this will only add fuel to the fire. Most importantly never attack without knowing the truth attack without knowing the truth for sure on who really carried out the attack. Stop relying on hunch-es or wrong information, or history will just keep on repeating it self.

One Can Never Be Too PreparedBy Hero James RedilaA FLASH BACK IN TIME The time when the city of Cagay-an de Oro (CdeO) was hit by the tropical storm Sendong, was defi-nitely a tragedy that struck could certainly have been avoided. It was an event waiting to happen. It was foretold three years ago, but was dismissed by law-makers as ''too alarmist.''

The cities of CdeO and Illigan were all too ''alarmed'' and caught unaware, when both cities scram-bled to brave the storm and pan-icked for missing family members when the storm finally hit that tragic night. Rescue agencies were embarrassingly clueless on how to respond right away, leaving many citizens stranded or fighting for their dear lives.

Disaster came knocking, and no one was there to answer the door. Rescue teams ended up recover-ing the dead instead of saving the living. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) is currently conducting a training for (ICS) for conducting a training for (ICS) for the region. ICS is encourage by the United States to help our di-

saster risk agencies respond to an incident or prevent one, by al-lowing the different agencies to work together in coherence by having one central command.

WHO YOU GONNA CALL

Incident Command System (ICE) is a standardized on scene incident management concept designed specifically to allow re-sponders to adopt an integrated organizational structure equal to complexity and demands of any single incident or multiple incisingle incident or multiple inci-dents without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries. Having ICE implemented could greatly helped on that tragic day. Our rescue agencies would have had a better and cohesive plan of action. Giving a faster rate of action. Giving a faster rate of re-sponding to the peoples cry for help that day.

Most citizens strongly believe that implementing the ICE pro-gram is great idea. To make our disaster risk reduction agencies the best tool to make their job more effective. It would make our nation and its citizens safer and prepared for whatever curand prepared for whatever cur-veball Mother Nature may throw our way in the near future.

EMERGENCY RESPOND FOOD CHAIN

An ICE enables integrated communication and planning by establishing a manageable span of control. An ICE divides an emergency functions essential for emergency response opera-tions: Command, Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance Planning, Logistics, and Finance and Administration.