Tacloban City: Silently survived, and bravely booming

The collective will of the people who were devastated physically, emotionally, and economically around ten years ago, prevailed.

The onslaught of Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013 claimed thousands of lives and destroyed millions worth of properties along the coastal areas of the otherwise pristine Tacloban City. The narrative and the mournful exchanges of the bitter experiences when the storm surge was raging on the helpless victims continue until today.

But the sense of courage, and goal of overcoming the devastation is much stronger. And the pride in what the city is right now, vibrant, and progressive, has captured our impression during our recent visit in the city.

Along with my colleagues, we flew in to Tacloban City few days ago. I was expecting a gloomy neighborhood in the midst of a recovering environment where desperation and hopelessness would be the backdrop. But to my pleasant surprise, the city is at par with or better than our country’s other major cities. Its people, as active and cheerful as any other Filipinos are.

Still the center of commerce in Eastern Visayas. The city maintains its strategic role of being the main agricultural and commercial hub of the region. It hosts the regional offices of the national government and major business establishments and institutions such as the University of the Philippines in the Visayas. It also boasts the region’s cultural and religious heritage especially during the tourism magnet known as the Pintado Festival that has been synchronized with the celebration of the Feast of Sto. Niño every month of June. Foreign and local guests flock to the city to view the painted bodies of the warriors who, during the Spanish colonial times, were known to have tattoos to further enhance their martial strength.

The city, in 2020, has been recognized as a first class highly urbanized city of Eastern Visayas. In the same year, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), acknowledged the city as “the most improved city,” ranked as number six. And also, the city was further acknowledged as the most competitive city, ranked as number 20 in the department’s “Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index” (CMCI).

CMCI later on ranked Tacloban City as the 2nd “most improved city” of the Philippines in 2021.

Pioneering programs and projects for community resiliency are continuous. Me and my colleagues have easily seen the engineering solutions that were built to mitigate the impact of typhoons and surges.  Easy to notice, for example, are the sea walls that were put in place to at least weaken the destructive force of violent and high waves during extreme weather disturbances.

These walls, and breakwater structures would hopefully deter the impact of raging waters and floods as recorded during the 2013 calamity. I understand that both the local and national agencies are formulating what else can be done to avoid a similar catastrophe.

For earthquake preparations, I was amazed to closely watch the difficult drills of the new recruits of the local Bureau of Fire and Protection (BFP). Under the leadership of the BFP’s Regional Director, General Adel Bautista, in cooperation with the Regional Chief of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Director Byron Torrecarion, able-bodied responders displayed their unique and specialized skills in conducting rescue operations in a scenario where victims must be relieved from collapsed structures or high-rise buildings that are on fire.

The City, and the Province of Leyte, also supported the establishment of a complete training complex that is intended to prepare responders in the challenging task of saving people during calamities and devastations. Disasters’ first responders mainly from the Visayas will undergo rigid preparations that will be within international standards and expectations.

I was also fortunate to be a guest in the groundbreaking ceremonies of the first integrated regional office of the OCD. This will be the benchmark for the other sixteen regions who must also have their own command centers that would include a huge warehouse for pre-positioned relief goods, communication facilities that would work during calamities, food and water storages and filtration equipment, generators to supply power, logistics center, and a dependable evacuation center.

Tacloban inspires other communities. Our country is prone to being overwhelmed by typhoons, and earthquakes. There’s no way that we will be able to end these. But we can mitigate and lessen their worse effects by building our hard engineering countermeasures and always have a strong common determination that we shall always successfully manage these natural disasters.