Typhoon Reming

MANILA, Philippines -- Survivors of Supertyphoon “Reming” (international code name: Durian) have had enough of cramped evacuation centers and government promises of relocation sites. They returned to their homes in Guinobatan town in Albay province, most of which were still covered in volcanic sand.

There are now signs of life in the area beyond the chapel named after Archangel Gabriel in Maipon, Guinobatan, serving as the start of the area’s “danger zone.”

Former residents scraped, scooped and shoveled heaps of Mount Mayon’s volcanic debris from their old homes as the relocation sites remained promises.

Desperation, it seemed, was more palpable among those who had settled back in their sunken homes -- amid rubble and dead neighbors whose bodies remained unearthed since Reming struck on Nov. 30.

Steve Luces, 44, knew he was flirting with danger. But going back and making do with what was left of his house was the practical choice between surviving in a cramped evacuation center and a perilous place he could call his own.

“Of course, fear will always be with us. But we have no choice. We have nowhere else to go,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview.

Luces is among the 400 families reported to have gone back to their doomed villages in Maipon because of lack of space at the evacuation center in the “Oval.”

The Oval is an open field at the Marcial Rañola High School, which earlier housed 417 families from three barangays (villages) in Guinobatan. Ninety-four of the families are from Maipon.

Luces related that in five months, he was able to dig out his old home using a shovel and a crowbar he received in one of the earlier relief operations. He also managed to remove six feet of volcanic debris from his kitchen.

“I found my sink and some of the utensils,” he said.

Rain, rain go away

But Luces would have to endure more back-breaking work in the next few weeks or even months before he could finally clear his home of sand that turns to mud during heavy downpours.

In contrast, his 62-year-old neighbor, Rogelio Natuel, built a new home on top of his old entombed one.

With old age preventing Natuel from burrowing through the mess, he gathered pieces of wood from fallen coconut trees, collected metal scraps, and used these to furnish his new home.

Others cleared a portion of their home’s doorways and windows, big enough to let them pass through and then gave up all excavation efforts. They had gone back to their regular routine, preparing for work, doing household chores, oblivious to the sand and rubble.

Imminent danger

Volunteer worker Jean Llorin was bothered when the old neighborhood started coming back to life.

Llorin, who grew up in Guinobatan, had engaged the government in rehabilitation work for some 10,000 evacuees in Albay after Reming triggered a mudslide, killing almost a thousand people.

She belongs to the Christian Life Community, an international organization working with the Church of the poor.

With the rains coming more often now, the danger of Mount Mayon setting off another deadly avalanche is imminent, according to Llorin.

“There are still some 9 million metric tons of rock and sand up there. They should not have gone back there but these people have nowhere else to go,” she told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Homeless in Albay

Llorin said nothing had changed in Maipon seven months after “Reming” barreled through Albay -- majority are still homeless, despite promises made by local government officials early this year.

“It was expected that after three months, relocation sites for [the displaced] would already be made available by local executives,” she said.

The latest and only piece of good news for the town was that a 7-hectare lot owned by the Bicol University had been officially appropriated for the 108 families still marooned in the Oval, Llorin said.

But it would take four more months before the families could be moved in because the property has yet to be developed, she added.

Promises, promises

Survivor Lily Samson, who was swept away by the torrents of mud with her two children on that fateful day, clearly remembers her brief conversation with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a post-typhoon visit.

She even has a picture of that dialogue.

When the picture was taken, Samson said, the President was making her a promise that they would be provided a relocation site as soon as possible.

“But up to now, we have yet to see the relocation site. That’s why I am appealing to her,” she said.

Relaying the findings of some 100 family heads during a recent barangay assembly, Llorin said the root of the problem was the local government’s snail-paced efforts to purchase and allocate lands for relocation sites.

Looking for sites

The difficulty of finding relocation sites was acknowledged by Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral during a press conference at the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s main office in Quezon City early this month.

Even the DSWD has been experiencing setbacks in its housing project due to lack of space.

Cabral said the DSWD recently allocated P75 million for the construction of 4,265 permanent homes for the displaced families in the Bicol region. Out of the total target, only 166 units had been completed while 229 were still undergoing construction.

The rest of the work would have to be put on hold until the local government units have acquired lands for this, she said.

“Looking for relocation sites in Albay is really a problem. It’s difficult to find land where displaced families could be [resettled] safely,” Cabral added.