Town gets boats for livelihood and disaster preparedness

LAWAAN, Eastern Samar, Philippines - – When Super Typhoon Yolanda flattened their village last year, 13-year-old John Ray Alcaraz’s simple dream of finishing his studies and becoming a policeman vanished into the ocean with the big waves that battered their seaside community.

Almost a year after the harrowing experience that devastated his already impoverished family, John Ray stood by himself at the local fishermen’s port here the other day, watching 50 motorboats sailing one after the other out towards the coastal waters from the safety of their homeport by the mouth of the river.

John Ray told The STAR he wanted to see how his father Narsing, a coconut farmer and fisherman, would maneuver their new fishing boat into the open sea.

“I did not expect this to happen. We now have a fishing boat of our own. This is a big help for us as a family and for me in particular to again study and become a policeman,” John Ray said in Visayan.

Asked why he wanted to be a policeman, John Ray shrugged, saying that it’s his dream to become a policeman someday.

His mother died when he was five-years-old, leaving him and the rest of his siblings under the care of their father. Poverty did not deter him from pursuing his dream, even if he had to walk a long way from their place at Barangay Taguite to the poblacion to attend classes.

“I used to have P20 for my daily baon (food allowance) but after Yolanda, life became so harsh for all us. But still I kept on attending school even if I had to walk a long way,” John Ray said.

But he was never sure that he could finish even elementary, much more proceed to college, with his father only working part-time in building fishing boats that the Philippine Army (PA) and its civilian partner Metrobank Foundation would give to qualified beneficiaries in Eastern Samar.

By a stroke of fate, John Ray’s father Narciso, originally not listed as a beneficiary of the project “Bangka ng Buhay, Bunga ng Bayanihan,” became one of the recipients of the fishing boats he helped built.

“One of the supposed recipient did not show up, so we awarded the boat to Mang Narciso. As a rule, the recipients of the motorboats have to be physically present,” said Maj. Lemuel Baduya, operations officer of the 801st Brigade.

Brig. Gen Wilson Leyva, 801st commander, and Brig. Gen. Romeo Gan, Civil Relations Service (CRS) commander, led the handing over of the 50 new motorized boats to the beneficiaries, who lost their main source of livelihood during the onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda last year.

According to Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, commander of the 7th CRS, a total of 150 boats will be equally distributed to the Eastern Samar towns of Guiuan, Balangiga and Lawaan, all coastal towns that suffered numerous casualties brought about by Yolanda’s storm surge and extremely powerful winds.

Gan, for his part, said that the project is a solid example of the bayanihan spirit that is customary among Filipinos. “In bayanihan, no one is left behind. Our soldiers are always ready to help in any way we can to ease the suffering of the typhoon victims who lost their incomes and loved ones.”

Baduya said that the beneficiaries of the fishing boats will be organized to serve their community during natural disasters.

“As part of their payback scheme, the Army will train the fishermen on disaster preparedness and response operations so that they can help their own community in the event of typhoons that normally happen here every year. The CRS-AFP will help facilitate this training after the completion of the boat project,” said Baduya.