Unicef to help Yolanda survivors reestablish identities

MANILA, Philippines - Around 80,000 people from 20 municipalities hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas will be helped in securing civil records and other legal documents to reestablish their civil identities.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) helps in the long-term resilience efforts of the government through its Access to Benefits and Claims after Disaster Expansion (ABCDE) program that will assist typhoon survivors secure civil records and other legal documents, which were lost or destroyed during the typhoon.

The ABCDE program is being implemented in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and non-government organization Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS, Inc.).

The program would benefit the most vulnerable children in Eastern and Western Samar and Leyte where Yolanda made landfall on Nov. 8 last year.

According to UNICEF, people from the most vulnerable groups will also be provided with legal documentation services, allowing them to access public services such as pension schemes, education, burial, social security, access to employment and other basic social services.

There are about 5.3 million unregistered Filipinos, including 2.6 million children. Though the birth registration rate in the Philippines is high at 90 percent, huge disparities exist between regions and calamities such as Yolanda lead to the destruction of these critical documents.

It is estimated that at least 50 percent of households in Western Samar and Leyte experienced loss or destruction of birth certificates and other basic documentation as a result of the typhoon.

Around 100,000 people have already requested replacement documentation, but many more cannot afford the transportation and other related costs.

Children who do not have birth certificates may be denied health care or education. The lack of official identification documents makes it more difficult to uphold laws to prevent early marriage, child labor or child recruitment in the armed forces.

Universal birth registration is also part of a system of vital statistics essential for sound economic and social planning. Undocumented children become invisible in society and are at greater risk of exclusion from development plans. This adversely impacts government policies and national development as a whole.

In adulthood, birth certificates may be required to obtain social assistance or a job in the formal sector, to buy or prove the right to inherit property, to vote and to obtain a passport.

“Birth registration is therefore not only a fundamental human right, but also a key to ensuring the fulfillment of other rights,” UNICEF said.

Meanwhile, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang yesterday distributed motorized fishing boats to the fishermen in Guiuan, Eastern Samar who lost their livelihood when Yolanda made landfall in the province last year.

A total of 150 motorboats were distributed to storm survivors in Eastern Visayas under the P3-million boat project funded by the Metrobank Foundation and implemented by the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, the AFP and the TOPSOLDIERS. – With Jaime Laude