MANILA, PHILIPPINES – A month after the catastrophic cyclone Yolanda (Haiyan) hit several provinces in the Philippines, survivors from Samar and Leyte towns including cross-registrants from University of the Philippines campuses in Tacloban and Palo, and their relatives and supporters gather last Monday in an activity at the Sunken Garden in UP Diliman, Quezon City to “forge their solidarity in demanding accountability from the Aquino administration for the incompetence and criminal neglect in addressing the immediate and long-term needs of the affected families and communities.”
According to Pastora Irma Balaba, a pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and coordinator of Tabang-Eastern Visayas, “the Aquino government’s response before, during and after the typhoon exemplifies its callousness to the needs of the poverty-stricken communities.”
“A month after Yolanda, countless bodies have yet to be retrieved while scores of families continue to look for their loved ones, amid the hunger, homelessness, dislocation and neglect of the government. Despite harsh lessons from the impacts of past typhoons Sendong and Pablo, billions of calamity funds being allocated from public funds, and days and nights of waiting for government rescue and relief in Eastern Visayas, we ask: where is the government?” Balaba said.
“A month after Yolanda ravaged our province, we do not see any genuine and serious move of the Aquino government to aid the affected communities — from rescue, relief to rehabilitation operations. Aside from politicking and blaming others, this government has made no comprehensive and genuinely pro-people plan to uplift the lives and dignity of the victims of Yolanda,“ said Arnold Repique, spokesperson of Tindog Katawhan, a network of relatives, supporters and victims of typhoon Yolanda in the National Capital Region.
Fr. Ben Alforque of Dambana church people’s network for relief support for typhoon victims said that the solidarity of the victim-survivors and the people here and abroad is “proof of the timeless viability and the profound effectiveness of united people’s action.”
“Today, we rise with the victim-survivors, their loved ones, their communities, our communities. Only through our united action – when we stand as one people – in asserting rights and human dignity can we truly overcome especially the human-induced disasters that come our way,” he stressed.
The ecumenical liturgical activity is being organised by Tindog Network, Tindog UP Diliman, Kalikasan PNE, DAMBANA and Karapatan.
