Tent City operations at SRP end tomorrow

CEBU, Philippines - While the Tent City at the South Road Properties is expected to halt operations tomorrow, some survivors of super typhoon Yolanda have expressed their intention to stay in Cebu City.

Lea Mei Abejar, 23, will return tomorrow to her typhoon-stricken town in Leyte but said that she will definitely be back in Cebu.

“Kinahanglan gyud ko mubalik diri ug mangita og trabaho para naa’y makaon akong pamilya sa Leyte,” said Abejar, a native of Tabango town in Leyte.

Abejar and her family is just one of the 35 families that will be going back to Leyte tomorrow since their three-month stay at the Tent City or the Family Rebuilding Center at the SRP already ended.

There were 54 families that have stayed at the Tent City and 19 families opted to remain in Cebu since they have found jobs and have already secured places to stay.

Abejar said that with their entire dried coconut meat (kopra) and piggery-business in Tabango town washed out, they have lost their source of livelihood.

Even their house was washed away so her family will have to stay first at the bunkhouses in Tabango, which have been prearranged by their municipal government for typhoon victims.

Abejar, a graduate of Elementary Education in Palompon Institute of Technology in 2011, said she is hoping to find a job in Cebu where she can practice her profession.

For the meantime, she said she will be taking review lessons here starting April as she will be taking up the Licensure Examination for Teachers in July. Her fees at the review center have been paid by a private donor.

She is the third sibling in a brood of nine with both her elder brothers already married.

“Mahog nga ako ang bread winner. Every Saturday man akong klase puhon so kinahanglan ko makatrabaho bisan Lunes kutob Byernes para naa ko’y mapada nila,” she said.

Abejar served as the emcee during the culminating program held for the Yolanda survivors at Tent City yesterday afternoon.

Present at the program were personnel from Philippine Red Cross, Philippine Navy, Rotary Club of Cebu, Metro Cebu Resources Inc., Department of Social Welfare and Services, and the International Organization for Migration.

The families returning to Leyte will be transported via a C130 of the Central Command.

Lawyer Joy Pesquera, head of the Family Rebuilding Center, said the families’ baggage, most of which were donations from various donors, will be taken to the CentCom today so it would be less hassle tomorrow.

Pesquera said they have already coordinated with the different local government units in Leyte for possible shelters before the Yolanda victims will arrive.

She said that before going to their respective hometowns, the victims have already undergone livelihood trainings, stress debriefing, and anti-human trafficking and disaster preparedness seminars.

Mayor Michael Rama, in his speech, explained that the city has a lot of constituents to attend to, reason for them not to consider extending the grace period for the families at the Tent City.

“Dili lalim ang inyong giagian, apan di na mahimo na puy-an diri hantod sa hantod. Kinahanglan ninyong mubangon,” Rama told the typhoon survivors, as he thanked them for allowing the city government to help.

Abejar shared the same reason with the mayor.

“Mas okay na lang na mubalik mi sa amo kaysa maging dependent mi. Kinahanglan namo mu-move on ug mubangon. After all, in every end, there is a new beginning,” she expressed. —/ATO (FREEMAN)