Typhoon survivors get a new lease on life

For the last five years, the family of Perlyn Bechachino held on to their dream of owning a new house far away from a danger zone.

Her family has been living in Magallanes District, a coastal community flattened by Super Typhoon Yolanda aka Haiyan in 2013.

Last month, their dream finally came true when donors led by the Roman Catholic Church awarded them a new house at the Pope Francis Village here.

“While others had already given up because it’s almost five years since the project started, my husband, our child, and I kept that dream as we trust the priests who talked to us, that they will award us a new house,” Bechachino said.

The 44-year-old mother is just one of 263 beneficiaries who received the key and documents for their new houses at the Pope Francis Village in Barangay Diit.

The village also includes a small business area, a school, and a chapel at the centre of the property.

Development and Peace (D&P) in Canada, in partnership with Caritas Canada and other local partners, formally presented 263 land titles to victims and their families.

Bishop Noël Simard from Valleyfield, Que., also led a ceremonial blessing of the homes.

Unlike other housing projects for Haiyan victims in the city, the project is just located seven kilometers away from the city’s business district and very accessible through public transportation.

“My husband who is a fisherman does not complain even if our new home is far from fishing grounds because this place is accessible and safe. We don’t need to evacuate during typhoons,” Bechachino added.

Marlon Maraya, 60, vice president of the Pope Francis Homeowners Association, said it never entered his mind that he would someday own a house.

“It is impossible for a low-income hairdresser like me to earn enough money to buy a new concrete house,” he shared.

Maraya volunteered as a community support group member as required by donors to beneficiaries of the housing project. As a volunteer, he was a finance officer, in-charge of giving salary to workers.

“I’m planning to convert the first floor of my house into a salon to earn a living. I have no competitor here since there is no salon in the community. Opening this kind of business in this area is good for me,” Maraya said.

Once fully completed, the housing project will benefit 566 families with three different designs as suggested by beneficiaries.

The two-story row houses with a floor area of 40 square meters each, costs PHP300,000. About 166 are still in the process of construction. Church, community center, and playgrounds will also be put up in the area.

Tacloban City Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasain said the project is something that must be looked into as a model for future housing projects for disaster victims.

"Pope Francis Village is a testament that in-city housing resettlement is possible,” Yaokasin said.

Soliman said the government should use the concept of a collaborative consortium that they used in implementing the Pope Francis Village project to ensure that the actual needs of victims of calamities and disasters are rightly provided.

She pointed out that aside from listening to the disaster victims, government offices should learn to work together to ensure that there is no project duplication.

“Working together will save budget on government projects, I hope that the present administration will be open on the concept of collaborative convergence,” the former DSWD chief said.

Archbishop Du, for his part, enjoined the beneficiaries of the housing project to take care of their new house and treat it as “gift from God.”

“You have to take care of the house and build a community, live as a family and work hard,” Du told the recipients.

The prelate said that aside from the housing units, the consortium will also put up commercial and industrial establishments inside the Pope Francis Village compound to create jobs.

The Catholic Register in Canada reported that D&P raised more than $12.8 million in donations with most of it eligible for matching by the Canadian government.

The organization also received a $2.3 million federal grant for a joint project with its United States’ counterpart, Catholic Relief Services.

“We pulled together resources that we already had in the Philippines because we’ve been working in the Philippines for many, many years,” said Evelyne Beaudoin, president of the Development and Peace National Council

“We asked our long-time partner Urban Poor Associates to come and help communities defend their land rights against government evictions and remain near the city where they make their livelihoods,” said Beaudoin.

After two years working with the Philippines government, D&P and its partners purchased a 12-hectare property in January 2015, just five kilometers away from the city. The property would be called Pope Francis Village in commemoration of his papal visit to the city where he held a Mass for 30,000 people in front of the airport.

Residents were trained in construction, housing management, first aid, finance, and advocacy.

“They also set up a new cinderblock factory and these cinderblocks are now renowned in the Philippines as the most solid, high-quality cinderblocks,” said Beaudoin.

Beaudoin said providing help to the typhoon victims is not enough to make lasting change in their lives. It is important that the community becomes the protagonists of their own change. The success of Pope Francis Village is a model of that, she said.

During inauguration day, Beaudoin and five other delegates visited various homes in the village. In one home, a grandmother was sitting on the floor with her three small grandchildren while the mother was cooking in the kitchen and the father was chatting with some neighbours outside.

“To see the peaceful and loving atmosphere in this home, that was very touching for us,” said Beaudoin. “It was a sign of the success of Pope Francis Village because that was one of the very dear hopes of Canadians and Development and Peace was to bring peace to these people who suffered so much.”

Sr. Georgette Gregory, congregational leader of the Sisters of St. Joseph Toronto, was also part of the delegation that visited Pope Francis Village. She met a young woman who was eight months pregnant with her seventh child when the storm hit.

She had her two-year-old son in her arms when the tsunami swept their small home. She thought she and her two children were the only ones to survive until she was reunited with her husband and five other children a year and a half later.

“It was their second chance at life and they’re grabbing it and working with it. I was very impressed and very moved by the whole day,” she said.

Construction at Pope Francis Village continues as business areas and a chapel at the centre of the compound is being finished. About 40 houses are set to be finished by June.