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 DANIEL ABUNALES NAVAL, Biliran – Every year, residents from Talustusan, a community 20 minutes away from this town, gather on Christmas eve at their community center to welcome the birth of Christ. It was no different even after typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) hit the province over a month ago,
By ATTILA KULCSAR and VINCENT HENSON Photo by PETER CATON of HelpAge International FRANCESCA Genemilo, 78, sits on a bench where her house once stood. She stares pensively at the ruins, clutching her blue umbrella, one of the few treasured possessions that supertyphoon “Yolanda” did not take from her. She lives in Barangay Bulak,
By VERA Files CHURCH bells rang as Filipinos marked the first day of Simbang Gabi on Monday. A time-honored Christmas tradition of the Catholic faithful, the devotees flocked to dawn masses as they do every December. It’s no different for churchgoers in the Visayas, despite having been stricken by two of the country’s worst natural
By JONATHAN P. JURILLA AND HAZEL P. VILLA Photos by JONATHAN JURILLA BAROTAC VIEJO, Iloilo – Before typhoon Yolanda struck, the Aetas were looking forward to the ripening of their alamid coffee beans that they expect the civet cats to eat so that in turn they would gather the cat’s precious feces to be processed
By NORMAN SISON Photos from PILIPINAS 911 WITH wooden office tables for operating tables and flashlights for illumination, a team of American doctors worked feverishly as hundreds of wounded people streamed into a city hall that has been transformed into a makeshift hospital. They were en route to Mexico for a medical mission when
By ELLEN TORDESILLAS TENOR Arthur Espiritu and his wife, Christina, are in Llorente, Eastern Samar to distribute the truckload of goods they have gathered from friends to the victims of typhoon Yolanda. Why Lorente? Llorente is one of the municipalities badly hit by Yolanda but has not been reported as prominently as Tacloban. Christina
By JULIE ANN MAE B. SILVEDERIO and HAZEL P. VILLA Photos by JULIE B. SILVEDERIO AJUY, Northern Iloilo – Overshadowed by the devastation in Tacloban, Leyte, victims of Yolanda in this town complain of meager aid and difficulty in rebuilding their lives. “Sa may kabubut-on nga maghatag materyales sa amun, gapangayo kami tani bulig kay
By JOHNNA VILLAVIRAY GIOLAGON IVY Onida was 3 years old when a flash flood swallowed her home in Ormoc City in 1991. Her father Nilo carried her and 1-year old sister Grace to the safety of a neighbor’s house before the deluge became unnavigable by foot. On Nov. 8, Ivy waited in Cebu for
By ALEX C. DELOS SANTOS Photos from BANGON ANTIQUE FB and JUN TENS ANTIQUE province in the western side of Panay Island is one of the provinces in the Visayas that survived super typhoon site Yolanda/Haiyan. Reported casualties and deaths from this province had been minimal, the reason perhaps that media coverage has not
