Two years after Typhoon Haiyan devastated the central Philippine province of Leyte, hundreds of families remain in temporary shelters. (Photo by Vincent Go)
Many survivors of Typhoon Haiyan are too busy rebuilding their lives to join church activities, a Catholic priest said as the second anniversary of the devastating storm approaches.
Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the central Philippines in early November 2013, killed at least 7,500 people and displaced more than 1 million others. Two years later, many are still picking up the pieces.
"[The faithful] are not psychologically ready," said Father Elmo Manching, social action director of Palo Archdiocese. "Many families are still busy rebuilding their homes.”
Father Manching said archdiocesan church leaders are trying to reach out to the faithful with pastoral activities in school campuses, through catechism and other "regular liturgical avenues."
In a forum on Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato si’ held Oct. 30, labor group Sanlakas volunteered to help the archdiocese in promoting the "spirit of the encyclical" to communities through a partnership with church leaders.
Under a program dubbed "Linking the Village and the Church," village leaders aim to "synchronize" good governance advocacy with parishes.
Father Manching, however, said only a few people attended the meetings because "many families are still building their homes."
The priest said the social action office of the archdiocese is preparing a module that incorporates social issues like climate change and care for the environment for catechists to bring to different schools.
Days before the second anniversary of Haiyan's landfall in the province of Leyte on Nov. 8, displaced families continue to complain about the lack of permanent houses for disaster victims.
As of Nov. 2, at least 2,400 people continue to live in bunkhouses in the outskirts of Tacloban City.
Marissa Cabaljo, secretary-general of People Surge, an alliance of typhoon survivors, said the government broke its promise to families "who have long been waiting for permanent shelter.”
In January 2015, the government vowed to build permanent houses for displaced families in six months.
"What [the displaced families] got were only empty promises and false hopes," said Cabaljo.
Government housing figures show that only 534 permanent houses have been built by the government out of 13,801 projected to be finished by September 2015.
Slow aid
Rep. Martin Romualdez of Leyte province has asked the Office of Civil Defense to explain the findings of a government audit that found that out of the US$3 million in cash donations for typhoon-affected areas, only US$825,000 had been released to victims as of the end of 2014.
"The remaining amount could have gone a long, long way in providing for the immediate needs of the victims, like permanent shelter and food," said Romualdez.
The legislator said typhoon survivors "have the right to know the whole truth."
The government's Commission on Audit criticized the "very low" utilization of donations for victims of various calamities that have hit the country since 2008.