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  City of Bogo, Cebu: A Microcosm of Rebuilding After Yolanda
by Dr. Lillian Pardo
March 2014


When Typhoon Yolanda (also known as Haiyan) hit the Visayan islands on November 8, 2013, news stories from Leyte and Samar hit the airwaves and television stations worldwide. It was truly a disaster unprecedented in the annals of weather history. The damage to the islands and the death toll climbed to higher and higher numbers as communications started to function from those areas.

The global response to aid the Philippines was overwhelming. Donations and aid from several countries literally came to the rescue as soon as they could possibly can, despite the politics, the donated goods trickled to the people. CNN's Anderson Cooper broadcasted live from Tacloban, Leyte, other US major stations also came to cover the event. The fundraising from the US also evolved in many cities, especially those with many Filipinos and Filipino-Americans.

Deeply touched by the images shown on television and from stories of relatives of people we knew in Kansas City, our own Filipino Association (FA) here in Kansas City responded immediately to collect clothing and other goods for them. Donations of money from total strangers came in through appeals on television and the newspapers. From these collections we were able to send several boxes to Samar and Leyte to relatives of our local members. Through the Outreach Committee of the FA, funds were allocated to two identified charities that could directly benefit them – the Divine World Hospital of St. Scholastica College in Tacloban, Leyte and the SHEO entrepreneurial group of women who still help rebuild houses in Leyte.

The Philippine Medical Society of Greater Kansas City (PMS) and the Philippine Nurses Association of Greater Kansas City (PNA) had already organized a medical mission to Angono, Rizal in the island of Luzon for late January 2014. But the group wanted to do more to directly assist the people affected by Yolanda, so we planned on going further north of Leyte to Bantayan Island (that had to be reached by ferry from the island of Cebu). After an initial contact with the mayor of Bantayan failed, a decision was made to go to Bogo, Cebu which was also affected by Yolanda in many different ways.

Our group had been to Bogo, on an earlier medical mission in 2009, so we were familiar with their hospital and their community. But what we found out how they were affected by typhoon Yolanda surprised us. The news media had not mentioned Bogo in their news releases.

Bogo City is in the northernmost part of the island of Cebu and was hit by 250 mph winds at the height of the typhoon on November 8. The city population is close to 82,000 people, with a number of municipalities or barangays by the coast. Initial damage assessments to homes affected revealed 18,000 damaged houses: 4,000 needed to be relocated, 6,000 to be rebuilt on site and 8,000 needed to be repaired on site. There were 17 deaths, mostly from the coastal areas. Early evacuation and relocation to the city arena when the "surge" was announced prevented more deaths and injuries. Even after the roof of the arena was blown off by the fierce winds, only rain and flooding affected the evacuees. The coconut plantations were extensively damaged, the boats that the fishermen used for their livelihood were washed away and thousands of people had to be relocated, many were rendered homeless due to destruction of their flimsy thatched-roof houses, as shown in the photo above.

Our group of twenty two medical missioners, half of those who participated in an earlier mission to Angono, Rizal, arrived at the Cebu International Airport in the island of Mactan after a one-hour flight from Manila. A bit of excitement occurred during the flight when a call for "a doctor on board" was made. Four doctors from our group attended to the young patient, a child of about one year old who most likely had a febrile seizure. After assurances from us, things settled down, and upon arrival in Cebu, the child had medical attention by an ambulance team that met the plane.

A school bus, courtesy of the University of Cebu met us, and after a three hour bus ride, we arrived in Bogo City. On the drive along the way, we noticed many coconut trees that were affected by the strong winds during the typhoon, their leaves were permanently in one direction, no coconuts seen hanging from the trees and were told that basically the crops are destroyed and though still standing, will take a growing cycle of several years for the trees to bear fruits again. We were met at our mountain resort hotel, hastily booked for us by the mayor's office and was met by the Vice Mayor of Bogo for a welcome reception. We felt instantly welcomed with food on the table, entertainment and music prepared for us. Although the accommodations were not 4-star, just having a warm bed to sleep in, running water to bathe and native fare to eat were welcome comforts. The next day, the mayor Jun Martinez also had a dinner reception for the group at the nearby town of San Remigio at a resort that newly re-opened after the typhoon destroyed parts of their facilities.

Before we went to our hotel, we dropped off twenty boxes of medicines and supplies at the Severo Verallo Memorial Hospital, the site of our medical-surgical mission for the weekend. We had a full day medical surgical clinic the following day. The nurses group also sponsored a feeding program for some 120 school children who were rendered homeless after the typhoon who were staying in temporary shelters until their houses can be rebuilt or repaired. The medical group bought slippers for the kids, and our group brought along some stuffed animals and some toys, which made the children quite happy with the meager possessions they have had.

In talking to the Mayor and Vice Mayor's staff, we learned of the relocation and rebuilding of houses for those whose homes were destroyed during the typhoon and brought us to one of their projects, the Yolanda Village.

The medical mission group that went to Bogo visited the site of the Yolanda Village where 120 houses is planned to be built for those whose homes were destroyed by the typhoon on one hectare (2.47 acres) of government land. Donations were received for some building materials and a church group donated the equivalent for 25 houses. The city government instituted a program called Adopt A Barangay asking for funding to complete the projects of rebuilding. For PhP50,000 ($1,111) building materials and labor for a residential unit of 12'x14' can be constructed for a family. Our medical group decided to donate PhP100,000 ($2,222) for two houses and remitted the money to the City of Bogo within the week that we saw how we could help the people directly.

Another important component of their program is what they refer to as revitalization, which aims to enhance and upgrade their existing livelihood, to assist in their economic recovery. They intend to work with other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to establish community livelihood programs including micro financing of small industries such as replacing the boats of the fishermen, providing seeds and other needs for agriculture and piglets to support the hog-raising program.

The commitment of the city to assist their citizens is without question a critical key to this city's full recovery, which will take months if not years. Their planning cycle predicted a two-year community rebuilding plan, and will require at a minimum, based on their damage assessment, PhP295M ($6.5M) to complete. Another critical key to their recovery is the availability of funds. This will be an ongoing project of the community, they can always accept donations of money, in–kind building materials and in our case, the medical needs of their people, though it was a drop in the bucket for such a brief time, in all sincerity and modesty, we were touched by the gratitude of the people of Bogo for the medicines and the services we rendered.

For additional information, e-mail the author.