By Ephraim Aguilar
Legazpi City
TWO YEARS AFTER SUPERTYPHOON “REMING” sent lahar from Mayon Volcano crashing down villages in Albay, killing over a thousand people, new heroes have risen from the rubble to sustain what was started from scratch.
Many international relief agencies had ceased to operate in the province, but new institutions are now bringing long-term assistance to the survivors.
A defining moment confronted Gail Narramore, a 30-year-old South African, when she visited the ruins left by lahar in Barangay Maipon in Guinobatan town. A grade school teacher from London, Narramore flew to Manila and Albay in January last year to see for herself the magnitude of the disaster.
Dream
Since childhood, Narramore has dreamed of putting up her own orphanage to care for abandoned, abused and neglected children.
While reading the Bible on a four-hour train trip in London, Narramore said she met an old Christian minister who befriended her. The man, however, died five years later but he had willed that all proceeds from his funeral be given to Narramore so she could start her charity work.
The woman’s visit to Maipon village wrenched her heart. “Around 300 people ran after me the moment the villagers noticed my presence. Maybe they thought I was there to distribute food or clothing. There was deep despair in the eyes of the people,” she recalled.
“It was raining and flooded that day. I saw one house made of bamboo standing, but half of it was buried under sand,” she said.
But Narramore could not forget the face of a woman survivor named Nora. “She looked very happy and was smiling to me as she pointed to her half-buried house,” she said.
Nora was tending a “sari-sari” (retail) store near her house. “I wrote a sign ‘Business as Usual’ and posted it there,” Narramore said.
Despite the tragedy, she said she was “shocked at how these people kept on going.”
Free day care classes
Narramore went back to Manila to learn the legal requirements and ways of putting up a charity institution. In October last year, she started the Tiwala Kids and Communities in Albay.
Tiwala has been holding free day-care classes for poor children in the hilly Sitio Cawayan in Barangay Calayucay, Sto. Domingo town. The schools are far from the village, an hour-long walk down a craggy trail.
“Most of their parents are farmers. The livelihood of the people there were badly affected after Reming,” Narramore said.
Tiwala has also been feeding and educating street children in the capital city of Legazpi.
It has Filipino volunteers and a staff. Narramore and two staff members had been living with the community in a farm in Cawayan, a 45-minute trek from downtown.
Alleviating hunger
Another kind-hearted soul, businesswoman Mediatrix Villanueva has been actively involved in linking government and nongovernment organizations for relief missions.
Seeing thousands of children facing hunger in the aftermath of the supertyphoon, Villanueva, who hails from Daraga town, created the Dios Mabalos Foundation. “Dios Mabalos,” which means “May God bless you in return,” is used by Bicolanos to express gratitude.
Villanueva said her group had been working with the St. Francis of Assisi Foundation and the Pondo ng Pinoy to hold supplemental feeding programs in schools and parishes.
“Since livelihood was badly affected by the disaster, the standard of living of families dropped. Poverty left many children sickly and malnourished,” said Erlinda Samonte, Dios Mabalos project manager.
The foundation has already fed 47,875 children over six months under its daily nutrition program dubbed “Hapag-asa.” It serves rice porridge containing Vita-meal (lentil fortified with over 28 vitamins).
It has already expanded its operations to Aklan, where Villanueva’s mother comes from.
Recovery
The provincial government has created a task force to implement a socioeconomic recovery program called “Albay Mabuhay.”
Its coordinator, Emily Kare, said many of the relief agencies had already closed, but there was still the need to bring the people’s lives back to normal and uplift them.
Albay Mabuhay has been providing skills training, credit assistance for livelihood, and job referrals and placements to beneficiaries.
If there is one good thing that “Reming” had brought to Albay, it strengthened the collaboration between government and nongovernment agencies, Kare said. “We have learned to combine our strengths to help the victims of disaster,” she said.
She said, however, that more funds were needed to complete the recovery as displaced families were still living in “transit” shelters in relocation sites. The dwellings are rooms made of plywood and galvanized iron sheets.
Kare placed the shelter gap at still 5,862 in two cities and five towns in Albay alone. Each resettlement house costs around P150,000.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
30,000 more teachers needed, says DepEd chief
LEGAZPI CITY—PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE country lack at least 30,000 teachers, a problem that can be addressed by investing more funds on the education sector despite the crisis, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said Monday.
Lapus, who was in Albay province for the formal turnover of school buildings donated by the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (Unicef), said the whole world is now focused on education as the best anti-poverty measure amid the global financial crisis.
“But I believe we are not that vulnerable to the crisis. We are far from the eye of the storm, so to speak” he said.
Lapus added that there are no indications of a declining trend in the amount of foreign aid pouring in for the education sector as the world crunch looms.
As proof, he cited the Safe Schools Project of the Unicef, which aims to build 60 classrooms in 49 schools and to rehabilitate 86 classrooms in 36 schools with funds of at least $321,000.
“I believe that our country is not so vulnerable to the crisis. We have a diversified economy and sources (of foreign aid),” Lapus said.
He added that there are countries, like Australia, that have increased their aid for the country’s education by as much as three to four times.
Lapus said the classroom gap is also gradually being bridged.
“We now generally have a 1-is-to-45-classroom-student ratio, which is what the law requires,” he said.
The Safe Schools Project aims to build elevated hazard-resilient classrooms that can also serve as safer evacuation centers in times of disasters. There are now 16 typhoon-proof school buildings in Bicol.
The buildings are made of concrete and steel while the roof is reinforced by concrete beams to withstand pressure. The floor line is built one meter above the ground. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Lapus, who was in Albay province for the formal turnover of school buildings donated by the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (Unicef), said the whole world is now focused on education as the best anti-poverty measure amid the global financial crisis.
“But I believe we are not that vulnerable to the crisis. We are far from the eye of the storm, so to speak” he said.
Lapus added that there are no indications of a declining trend in the amount of foreign aid pouring in for the education sector as the world crunch looms.
As proof, he cited the Safe Schools Project of the Unicef, which aims to build 60 classrooms in 49 schools and to rehabilitate 86 classrooms in 36 schools with funds of at least $321,000.
“I believe that our country is not so vulnerable to the crisis. We have a diversified economy and sources (of foreign aid),” Lapus said.
He added that there are countries, like Australia, that have increased their aid for the country’s education by as much as three to four times.
Lapus said the classroom gap is also gradually being bridged.
“We now generally have a 1-is-to-45-classroom-student ratio, which is what the law requires,” he said.
The Safe Schools Project aims to build elevated hazard-resilient classrooms that can also serve as safer evacuation centers in times of disasters. There are now 16 typhoon-proof school buildings in Bicol.
The buildings are made of concrete and steel while the roof is reinforced by concrete beams to withstand pressure. The floor line is built one meter above the ground. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Sunday, March 02, 2008
No end in sight for delay in school repair
22 December 2007
LEGAZPI CITY—NO QUICK end is in sight for the repair and construction of schools that were damaged and destroyed by successive typhoons in Bicol as the Department of Education said it lacked P850 million more for the projects.
The DepEd regional office received P1.2 billion to build and repair the schools.
But Celedonio Layon, DepEd regional director, said that as of Dec. 15, 203 classrooms were still under construction and 792 were being repaired under the Bicol Calamity Assistance, Emergency Response project of the national government.
Eight school buildings have yet to be built and 107 others have yet to be constructed, he said.
Cost of school damage and destruction was estimated at P2.4 billion, although it wasn’t clear how the figure was arrived at.
Layon said the lack of funds meant only that not all schools would be repaired.
He said the DepEd had not requested additional funds.
President Macapagal-Arroyo, in a speech at the regional peace and security assembly in Masbate on Dec. 13, scolded education officials after learning that the school rehabilitation project was unfinished a year after the typhoons struck.
“Our goal now is to finish the rehabilitation of schools, up to what the funds will allow, before end of March in 2008,” Layon told the Inquirer.
He said that as of Dec. 15, 73 percent of ongoing school construction had been completed.
Damaged schools that have not been demolished to clear lots for new schools were counted as uncompleted repair work, he said.
The project was also hounded by bidding failures and fighting between government soldiers and communist guerrillas.
Layon said some contractors were being forced by rebels to pay taxes. This report has yet to be verified, however.
At a resettlement village in Taysan, a makeshift structure still serves as classroom for students displaced from their school in Barangay Padang, a lahar zone.
The grade school pupils have to endure the heat from iron sheets that served as roofing.
Without concrete flooring, the classroom would turn muddy during rainy days. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—NO QUICK end is in sight for the repair and construction of schools that were damaged and destroyed by successive typhoons in Bicol as the Department of Education said it lacked P850 million more for the projects.
The DepEd regional office received P1.2 billion to build and repair the schools.
But Celedonio Layon, DepEd regional director, said that as of Dec. 15, 203 classrooms were still under construction and 792 were being repaired under the Bicol Calamity Assistance, Emergency Response project of the national government.
Eight school buildings have yet to be built and 107 others have yet to be constructed, he said.
Cost of school damage and destruction was estimated at P2.4 billion, although it wasn’t clear how the figure was arrived at.
Layon said the lack of funds meant only that not all schools would be repaired.
He said the DepEd had not requested additional funds.
President Macapagal-Arroyo, in a speech at the regional peace and security assembly in Masbate on Dec. 13, scolded education officials after learning that the school rehabilitation project was unfinished a year after the typhoons struck.
“Our goal now is to finish the rehabilitation of schools, up to what the funds will allow, before end of March in 2008,” Layon told the Inquirer.
He said that as of Dec. 15, 73 percent of ongoing school construction had been completed.
Damaged schools that have not been demolished to clear lots for new schools were counted as uncompleted repair work, he said.
The project was also hounded by bidding failures and fighting between government soldiers and communist guerrillas.
Layon said some contractors were being forced by rebels to pay taxes. This report has yet to be verified, however.
At a resettlement village in Taysan, a makeshift structure still serves as classroom for students displaced from their school in Barangay Padang, a lahar zone.
The grade school pupils have to endure the heat from iron sheets that served as roofing.
Without concrete flooring, the classroom would turn muddy during rainy days. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Friday, August 31, 2007
Fund transfer delays Bicol schools repair
LEGAZPI CITY--A TOP education regional official said President Macapagal-Arroyo’s order to transfer funds for the rehabilitation of school buildings from the Department of Education to the Department of Public Works and Highways might raise legal issues since the school principals had already conducted bidding for the projects.
DepEd regional director Celedonio Layon said the transfer of funds might mess up the agency’s ongoing rehabilitation projects.
The problem cropped up after the President, during her visit to the Barangay Anislag Resettlement Site in Daraga, Albay, on Friday, publicly chided the DepEd for the slow rehabilitation of schools damaged by typhoons late last year.
Ms Arroyo cited reports from Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya that only seven percent of the rehabilitation projects of the DepEd under the Calamity Assistance Rehabilitation Effort (CARE) fund had been completed.
She gave instructions for the funds, formerly allotted to the DepEd, to be rechanneled to the DPWH as suggested by Albay Rep. Reno Lim (first district).
Accomplishment report
Layon, however, said it was not true that only seven percent of the projects had been implemented.
Furnishing the Inquirer a copy of printed accomplishment figures, Layon said that in Albay alone, 42.44 percent of the rehabilitation of 485 public schools in the three congressional districts had been accomplished with a total funding of P368.3 million.
In a mobile phone interview, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus stressed that the CARE fund came from the World Bank and, therefore, its use is subject to the bank’s requirements.
World Bank money
“A principal-led implementation is always faster compared to the regular school program of the DPWH, which is dependent on the efficiency of the congressmen to identify schools,” he said.
“In contrast, the DepEd can easily identify schools to be constructed depending on the school shortages per school,” he added.
In any case, he added, the amounts involved in the rehabilitation of the schools that have been contracted can no longer be taken back or realigned.
A total of 2,238 schools in all six provinces in Bicol are being rehabilitated by the DepEd with a total special allotment release order of P1.2 billion from the P2-billion CARE fund.
A total of 6,562 classrooms have to be repaired, while 733 have to be constructed.
Ms Arroyo visited the Anislag Resettlement Site last week to distribute certificates of occupancy to 61 families from Barangay Binitayan who were displaced from their homes due to the series of typhoons last year. Jaymee T. Gamil and Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
DepEd regional director Celedonio Layon said the transfer of funds might mess up the agency’s ongoing rehabilitation projects.
The problem cropped up after the President, during her visit to the Barangay Anislag Resettlement Site in Daraga, Albay, on Friday, publicly chided the DepEd for the slow rehabilitation of schools damaged by typhoons late last year.
Ms Arroyo cited reports from Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya that only seven percent of the rehabilitation projects of the DepEd under the Calamity Assistance Rehabilitation Effort (CARE) fund had been completed.
She gave instructions for the funds, formerly allotted to the DepEd, to be rechanneled to the DPWH as suggested by Albay Rep. Reno Lim (first district).
Accomplishment report
Layon, however, said it was not true that only seven percent of the projects had been implemented.
Furnishing the Inquirer a copy of printed accomplishment figures, Layon said that in Albay alone, 42.44 percent of the rehabilitation of 485 public schools in the three congressional districts had been accomplished with a total funding of P368.3 million.
In a mobile phone interview, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus stressed that the CARE fund came from the World Bank and, therefore, its use is subject to the bank’s requirements.
World Bank money
“A principal-led implementation is always faster compared to the regular school program of the DPWH, which is dependent on the efficiency of the congressmen to identify schools,” he said.
“In contrast, the DepEd can easily identify schools to be constructed depending on the school shortages per school,” he added.
In any case, he added, the amounts involved in the rehabilitation of the schools that have been contracted can no longer be taken back or realigned.
A total of 2,238 schools in all six provinces in Bicol are being rehabilitated by the DepEd with a total special allotment release order of P1.2 billion from the P2-billion CARE fund.
A total of 6,562 classrooms have to be repaired, while 733 have to be constructed.
Ms Arroyo visited the Anislag Resettlement Site last week to distribute certificates of occupancy to 61 families from Barangay Binitayan who were displaced from their homes due to the series of typhoons last year. Jaymee T. Gamil and Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)