VERA Files
Time has not erased from the mind of Nick and Doris “Chai” Quieta what happened on November 8, 2013. Nor has it healed the pain and suffering that typhoon Haiyan brought to their families and that of more than 7, 000 others who perished in that tragedy.
Text and photos by AVIGAIL M. OLARTE TACLOBAN CITY – On the bed is where she could end it, she thought. She’s 16, he’s six months old. Alyssa (not her real name) was sold for sex one night last year. On board a docked ship in Leyte, in a locked room, a Japanese repeatedly raped […]
By JOHNNA VILLAVIRAY GIOLAGON TACLOBAN, Leyte –President Aquino marked the first anniversary of the super typhoon Yolanda (international name, Haiyan) one day earlier in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, where the typhoon made its first landfall early morning of Nov. 8, 2013. It was in Tacloban in Leyte that Yolanda wrought the most damage. Leyte residents […]
By JANE DASAL IF you want to save the earth, build a boat. That’s what a group of environmentalists is saying, especially if you want to save both the forests and fishermen affected by supertyphoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan). “Haiyan sank about 30,000 bancas. Fishermen in hard-hit communities need to get back in the water and on […]
By MITCH MENEZ Photos by LITTLE WING LUNA THERE is an inside joke amongst volunteer workers in Tacloban that one must wear long pants, rub one’s body with Off lotion and sleep inside the mosquito net. If not, you will be flown by those blood-sucking flies in mosquito land. The swarm of mosquitoes in […]
Text and photos by LUIS LIWANAG NATURAL disasters and extreme weather phenomena have become so routine lately that to hear the impending landfall of another supertyphoon failed to whet my appetite for another adrenaline-charged news coverage. Spending time with family and keeping my word on commitments to friends were at the top of my list […]
By JOHNNA VILLAVIRAY GIOLAGON TACLOBAN CITY –Liannie Marie Nunez marches along the dark ground floor corridor or the Eastern Visayas Medical Center with a single-minded determination. As head nurse of the only operating hospital in Tacloban, her own personal losses take a backseat to the responsibilities of her profession. “We’re survivors,” she said with a […]
Text and photos by LUIS LIWANAG TACLOBAN CITY—The city government of Tacloban finally buried the dead in a shallow ditch that officials said was just a temporary resting place for those who perished from the wrath of Typhoon Yolanda. Cadavers wrapped in body bags, blankets, mats and even GI sheets collected from all over the […]
Text and photos by LUIS LIWANAG TACLOBAN, Leyte–Residents of this city and nearby towns joined an exodus toward safety Wednesday, after hearing of reports of an alleged gunfight between soldiers and leftist guerillas, who were supposed to have held hostage food convoys. People scampered away from Alang-alang town where an alleged gunfight involving New People’s […]
Text and photos by LUIS LIWANAG ORMOC City—The city of Ormoc in Leyte was just a speck in the horizon but to 38-year-old Marie Jean Decio, it was a place she could see and smell, a place that would bring her closer to her six children. Marie Jean traveled almost four hours by fast craft […]