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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Thus, the massive extent of the
destruction brought about by the disaster that
70
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.
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.
In the aftermath of super typhoon
Reming, various agencies and other nongovernment 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).
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
Oxfam is an international nongovernment 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
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.
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
71
Brgy. Busay in Daraga, Albay, Camalig and Brgy.
Maipon in Guinobatan.
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.
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.
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).
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 nonacademic 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.
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,
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 nonacademic institutions?
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 participantobservation, 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.
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.
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.
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
Following the context of the research
theorist, Paulo Friere and his action-reflectionaction 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.
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.
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.
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.
Since this is a qualitative descriptive
study, the particular instrument was the life
history of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
culled from interviews and participantobservation. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 seventyfour (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.
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.
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.
Having taken into consideration all the
aspects of the project, the informal or
community education mechanisms employed
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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.”
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“At around 9 o‘clock in
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
a brother whose body will forever be
someplace…only God knows where.
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
4.1.3
77
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.
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.”
“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.”
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.”
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
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.”
78
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-todoor.) 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.
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.
“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 exbarangay 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.”
“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
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
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.
“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.
“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
“At present, I have nothing more to
farm so I just do extra work as foreman in
79
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.
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.”
“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
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.
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.
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.
Maria still shivers at the thought of
reliving her experience as she recalls the story of
how she survived everything at her age of sixtyeight 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.”
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
“I did not lose any family member
because even before the storm became worse, I
80
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
.
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.
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.
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.
Plate 5. Melanie Llaguno with her child at the
Cries of mourning and despair as families call
Busay Evacuation Center, Daraga, Albay,
out the names of their missing loved ones
back in 2007. At the back stands her friend,
reverberate throughout the still, cold air. Scenes
Editha
of men, women,
andMirabueno.
children silently clawing
through thick sands and mud in search of their
families while others helplessly looked on were
duplicated throughout the barangay.
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.
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.
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.
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
81
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.
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.”
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.
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.
“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.”
4.1.6.2
A Mother’s Sorrow
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.
82
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.”
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
83
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.”
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
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.
84
“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.”
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.”
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.
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
“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
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.
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
85
maintain their houses and would just stay at the
resettlement area when there is bad weather.
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.”
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 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.”
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.
She said that though they stayed for a
while at the evacuation centers, they kept on
returning to their house. “When we returned
here in our house, we saw thick mud. There
were portions in this house that we had to dig.”
“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
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
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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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
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.”
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
looking for possible sponsors to help further his
studies.
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.
“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
Born on June 12, 1993 at the Center for
the Deaf and Mute in Camalig, Albay, Joshua,
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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.
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.”
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
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.”
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
She did not see any of her relatives or
family members until Decembers 5. “Around
December 5, my relatives and sibling came.
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
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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.”
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 staggardtype. But most of us were unable to pay.”
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 midtorso by a galvanized iron. The other half of her
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
Cagsawa. We have been living in Busay for more
than ten years.”
Ailyn Baranquil, now 18 years old and
Secretary of their Homeowners’ Association,
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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.”
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.”
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.
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.”
“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
At present, Ailyn says that she has
definitely moved on. “I’ve moved on. Little by
little. Eventhough it was hard. I’ve already
accepted. My faith in God has returned. I’ve
gone back to concentrating on my studies.”
90
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.”
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.”
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.”
4.1.12
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.
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.
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
“Before we used to live in Cagsawa.
Our house was near the river. We transferred
even before it started to rain. The next day,
91
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.”
there at the municipal office. We don’t really
know.”
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.
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.”
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.”
“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
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
them went missing right after Reming. Here, we
have only about 25 families left.
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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.”
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.
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.”
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.
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
women who used to be vegetable farmers sell
“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
93
foodstuff. Some men engage in door-to-door
transportation. The rest are jobless.
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.”
“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.”
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.
4.1.13.2 Eden’s Story
“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.”
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.
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
was far better. It’s really all difficulties now.
94
Before, I was the one whom my neighbors
would run to for money. Now I’m the one who
asks for loans.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
“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.”
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.”
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.
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.”
“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.”
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.
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.”
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?
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.”
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:
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
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.
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
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
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 wellrepresented 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.
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.
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.
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 lifelong 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.
The IDPs are people who share a common vision
of hoping for a better future through a more
stable livelihood program.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
.
100
4.1.14 Intervention Activities Utilized for
Community Mobilization in the Rehabilitation
of the Internally Displaced Persons
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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, nongovernment organizations as well as the project
implementers served as facilitators.
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.
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'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 Nongovernment
Organizations
and
Peoples
Organization (NGO-PO) and stakeholders.
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.
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.
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
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.
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 CoSojourner/Pilgrim) an issue-oriented grassroots
level advocacy, the first of its kind in the region.
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
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.
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 SACLegazpi office offering financial as well as
livelihood assistance.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 selfworth 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
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.
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).
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.
Empowerment
Generally 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
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 CenterDiocese 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),
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.
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
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
107
themselves as a group. The agenda of the IDPs
in attending meetings and trainings conducted
in the early stages of the community entry were
still purely individualistic.
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.
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.
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 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 selfconfident individuals who were now ready to
lobby for their rights as a group and not simply
for their own needs.
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.
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
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
108
yet ready to change their concept of IDPs as
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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
However, the kind of knowledge
evident in the mobilization process was
information, learning, and wisdom. This was
109
because the main thrust of the community
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.
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.
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.
4.1.15.2 Socio-Economic
Opportunities Derived
Benefits
and
Since the concern of the rehabilitation
process for the IDPs is geared on community
organizing, education, and mobilization, socioeconomic 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.
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
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
110
result of the activities and/or mechanisms
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.
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.
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).
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
111
way of dealing with the situation and the future
of their situation.
Units (LGUs) have stepped up and doubled their
efforts to ensure the safety and protection of
their constituents with the zero casualty
projection.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
112
academe and other non-academic institutions.
Recommendations were also given on specific
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
113
rehabilitation process in times of disaster or
even on ordinary and normal situations for
extension purposes towards community
development.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The proposed extension strategies that
can be implemented by the academic and nonacademic 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
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
114
information awareness and dissemination
through an issue-oriented grassroots newsletter
facilitated by a strong core group that is
grounded on baseline research, as progressive
strategies for community education.
3
Oxfam International Promotional Flyer, 2007.
4
CMIDP Terminal Report, 2007.
Books
Angelito Manalili, Community Organizing for
People’s Empowerment, Kapatiran –Kaunlaran
Inc., Manila, 1990.
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.
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,
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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.
Jennifer A. Elliot, An Introduction to Sustainable
Development, 2nd ed., London, 1999.
Paulo Friere, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed,
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Saul David Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, Retrieved
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28,
2008
at
http://www.wikipedia.alinsky.saul.com
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