COMPOSTELA, Compostela Valley – Alberta Maquiling hopes that her six children, especially her one-year old baby Carmela, will finally be able to sleep soundly.

Initial bunkhouses for priority families

The family of Maquiling is among the families who were given priority so they could be relocated to a bunkhouse built for them as their temporary shelter. Her house was totally destroyed by typhoon Pablo when it wrought havoc here and in the nearby province of Davao Oriental on December 4.

“Gina-una nato og hatag ang mga dagkong pamilya, ang mga naay anak nga gagmay pa, may mga tigulang ug mabdos ug katong may mga PWD (We are prioritizing big families, families with small children, senior citizens, pregnant mothers and persons with disabilities),” said Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Acting Regional Director Priscilla N. Razon.

The Department has mobilized engineers and field workers of the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) Project to design and take charge of the construction of the bunkhouses.

The bunkhouses, measuring 7.4 meters by 24 meters and built using corrugated galvanized iron sheets as roofing and marine plywood as walls, will become the temporary shelters of the affected families within the next three months. Each bunkhouse has a bathroom for men and another for women, and has a 1 meter by 24 meters concrete walkway. A bunkhouse can accommodate 10-15 families.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman assured the affected families that the bunkhouse will just serve as temporary shelter. The national government, in cooperation with the international humanitarian organizations, will eventually build permanent houses for them through the Core Shelter Assistance Project of the Department.

 

Maquiling said the bunkhouse will be a better shelter for her children as the evacuation center was very crowded. “Diha sa eskwelahan lapas tuhod . Eleven mi kabuok didto (Water inside the school was knee-deep. 11 families occupy one classroom),” she said, pointing out that even the roof had leaks.

She recalled the harrowing experience her family had on December 4 when the rampaging wind started to destroy  houses. Coupled with the rise of the water level, the family hesitantly left their home.

 

“Kusog kaayo ang hangin. Dili unta mi mobakwit unya nangaguba na man ang balay. Tagahawak didto sa amoa. Nanagan na lang mi, (The wind was so strong. We would have wanted to stay but the storm destroyed our house. The water level was waist-deep. And so we ran to the evacuation center),” Maquiling narrated.

She said the family not only lost their home, but their livelihood. Her husband, Homanel, then working for a banana farm, has found no farm to work for because the farms were submerged in water.

“Nagtrabaho na siya sa sagingan. Nahapla man pud tanan ang saging (My husband used to work in a banana farm. But the storm toppled the banana trees),” she added.

For now, Maquiling’s family is relying on the P1,400 monthly stipend that she gets from being a beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the country’s conditional cash transfer program implemented by the DSWD.

Cash for Work

She hopes that her husband will eventually be among those who will be hired to help in the rehabilitation of the communities as the Department under the Cash-for-Work program.

Even with the bunkhouse, the 35-year old mother hopes that her family will be able to rebuild their house.

“Unta makakuha mi og kahoy gamay ug sin, mabarog namo ang balay. Gamay ra gud na pero ganahan man gyud sila didto. Sa diri na gani mi, mangadto-nganhi lang gihapon sila bisan pa og naguba na to (I hope we can get lumber and galvanized iron so we can rebuild our house. It was a small house, but my children liked it there. Even now, they would still visit the place even if it was destroyed),”she said

To date, ten families have initially moved in to the two completed bunkhouse in Compostela. The DSWD hopes to build 81 bunkhouses 20 of which will be constructed in Compostela Valley while 61 will be constructed in Davao Oriental. The beneficiaries themselves will help in the construction of the bunkhouses and will be paid P218 day. ###