Samar folk refuse to be silent, sing live on radio

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines – Despite patchy electricity supply and the local radio station still not operating in the wake of Super Typhoon Yolanda, Christmas will not be silent in the storm-devastated town of Guiuan, Eastern Samar.

The non-government organization Internews Earth Journalism Network set up an emergency radio station last Nov. 26 in Guiuan where the monster typhoon made landfall last Nov. 8.

Radyo Bakdaw, which means “rise up” in the Waray language, has been broadcasting 14 hours a day with a range that reaches up to Tacloban City in the north and northern Mindanao in the south.

Stijn Aelbers of Internews said putting up an emergency broadcasting facility is crucial in the humanitarian efforts for the eventual full recovery of Guiuan residents.

Communication is part of the debriefing mechanism for victims of calamities and Radyo Bakdaw is a part of that, Aelbers told members of the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists.

Before the storm, local residents used to join and sing their hearts out every Friday night live on air at the local radio station’s weekly “Karaoke Singing Contest.”

“You should see them sing every Friday,” Aelbers said, referring to contestants of the weekly singing contest that was revived by Radyo Bakdaw.

Aelbers said that the singing contest is just part of the regular programming of Radyo Bakdaw to help residents cope with the aftermath of the storm that devastated most of the houses in Guiuan.

He said the idea of reviving the weekly singing contest came to him when he was scouting for cables and other materials needed in setting up the alternative station.

“We were at a mall in Manila and we passed by a stall with a karaoke and we said, Yeah! Why not,” Aelbers said.

The former United Nations worker said that the singing contest is very Filipino.

“Singing is part of the Filipino culture; it works here, but it might not work in other countries like Belgium or in Africa,” he said.

He stressed that setting up an emergency radio station in a calamity area is a challenge due to lack of electricity.

However, the station was able to reach residents by distributing solar-powered radio sets to all 60 barangay chairmen in the coastal town.

Th radio station has a mixed AM-FM programing format. They have news and live reports in the morning and afternoon and music by midday.

“We want people to talk more while our anchormen talk less,” he said.

He said that they have been receiving an average of 300 text messages a day, including inquiries on missing relatives and friends as well as updates on relief distribution and other needs of calamity-stricken residents, who relay the information to their friends, neighbors and relatives.

This writer, for example, located an aunt and cousin through Radio Bakdaw.

Power restoration update

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said electricity has been restored the urban centers in Leyte as of yesterday. He said power had been restored in 319 municipalities in Leyte and Samar.

Meanwhile, a rainy Christmas is expected over areas previously battered by Super Typhoon Yolanda, the state weather bureau said yesterday.

No tropical cyclone, however, is expected to affect the country in the next few days, said Robert Sawi, weather division chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Sawi said the eastern section of the country would have cloudy skies with rains, becoming frequent rains over Bicol, Samar and Leyte today.    Gradual improvement of weather, however, is expected over these areas on Thursday, Sawi said.

Northern Luzon, meanwhile, would experience cloudy skies with light rains until tomorrow.

The rest of the country would have good weather condition apart from passing light rains, he said.

All-weather houses

President Aquino has promised victims of calamities that the government remains committed to building all-weather houses as they work together with international and local partners to build a better future for the families of the typhoon victims.

He gave this assurance during his visit to Palo, Leyte last Sunday, where he turned over bunkhouses to storm victims more than a month after Super Typhoon Yolanda devastated Eastern Visayas.

A simple ceremony was held at the Regional Government Center, Candahug in Palo town.

Aquino said the government is accelerating efforts to help the typhoon-ravaged provinces recover from the calamity.

The government is cooperating with international partners to mount an unprecedented humanitarian response to deliver relief assistance to more than four million people displaced by the typhoon.

“It’s been more than a month since we last saw each other here in Palo, and there has been so much positive developments. You just cannot see it in the orderly environment or in the infrastructure, but I can see it in your faces,” he said.

Aquino commended the residents for displaying resilience and strength in the aftermath of Yolanda. “Regardless of how stiff the challenges were, I can see among you the confidence and the excitement of living your normal lives once again.”

He assured the people that the government would not only rebuild calamity-ravaged areas, but also make new structures that are more disaster-resilient.

Aquino said that the complete rehabilitation of provinces devastated by the storm could last until 2017.

The damage in eastern Visayas, which he pegged at $12.9 billion, has been so extensive that the national government through rehabilitation czar former senator Panfilo Lacson will be very busy rebuilding the damaged areas starting next year.

“Larger investments will be spread over multiple years, and will hopefully be completed by 2017, if not earlier,” Aquino told foreign donors during a briefing for development partners at the launch of the Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) earlier this month.

4Ps grants

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said that beneficiaries in the typhoon-ravaged Eastern Visayas, including Leyte and Eastern Samar, would get their cash grants under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said that beneficiaries in Leyte, which includes Tacloban, and other areas devastated by the super typhoon, are recorded under bio-metrics, making their identification easy, and removing the need for presentation of documents that may have been lost in the typhoon.  – With Delon Porcalla, Rainier Allan Ronda, Helen Flores, Iris Gonzales