MY ADVOCACIES

The activities that I have participated and organized that are in line with my advocacies...

TRAININGS I'VE ATTENDED

The trainings, summits, conferences and other activities that I have attended...;

MY ADVENTURES

The places that I have been to, foods that I have tasted and things that I have discovered ...

MEETING PEOPLE

Very important people that I have met in conferences, summits, and other activities that I have joined in ...

Archive for 2013

Tunga and Barugo, Leyte: in the aftermath of Hurricane Haiyan



Tunga and Barugo, Leyte were very serene and lively towns to stay at – people were very accommodating, place so laid back, food so abundant – until Hurricane Haiyan (Super Typhoon Yolanda) plagued the place.

We were not aware of my relatives’ whereabouts after the super typhoon – there was no way to communicate with them since all cell sites and power lines are down – until one of my relatives was interviewed on TV last Nov 10. He was crying and asking for help because they had nothing to eat for three days already.

Then and there, my father contacted all our relatives in Manila and Cebu and asked for help, either financial or in kind. They did send money which we used to buy relief goods at SM. 

To our dismay, most of the relief goods at SM were sold out already including noodles and brown sugar. We opted to buy other alternatives instead.

My father decided that he will be the one to bring the goods and money to Leyte ALONE but since there are rumors of people waiting for passengers to dock at the port armed with knives, I decided to come along. (Acting brave? No, I just can’t stand the idea of my father traveling alone, with that rumor spreading).  My brothers who are policemen were on red alert also that week so no one can go with him except me.

Tickets sold out, buses full

On the eve of Nov 11, Cebu port was swarmed with people wanting to go to Leyte to come to their relatives’ aid, volunteers of NGOs who offered their time and resources to help and foreign reporters who came all the way to the Philippines to cover the aftermath of the Hurricane. At the ticketing outlets, there were very long queues and tickets were sold out.

We arrived at Ormoc Port at 4:30am on Nov. 12. Rumors are not true; there were no armed people waiting at the port except for security personnel. 

We had to travel 3 hours by bus to get to our place in Tunga. There were motorists offering “pakyaw” for 250 each person but we opted to travel by bus since it was more cost effective (P70 per person from Ormoc to Tunga). All buses have reached their sitting capacity, so we had to stand for 3 hours with our goods and bags in hand. We also had to make a few stops because there were cable wires blocking the way. 

We hadn’t had breakfast until we got to Tunga at around 8am. From there, we had to travel by foot for 30 minutes to get to our relatives’ houses (which was in the interior baranggays).

Below are pictures I have taken using my phone.
Fallen coconut trees block the way which made travel even slower

Men who were deployed to clear the road for easy access

majority of houses are either damaged or totally wiped out by the storm

vegetation destroyed

Trees are uprooted, cut or bent

Tunga Municipal Hall after the Typhoon

Cable wires used as clothesline

Logs, roofs, electric posts, coconut or banana trees block the roads
Tarps for roofs

When we arrived, the place was almost deserted. Roofs and logs are where houses once stood.  My uncle’s family was staying in their neighbor’s house which was also damaged. They just had to cover the dilapidated house with tarp so they won’t be soaked when it rains.


They had tarps for roofs
 
Concrete wall dilapidated




They had to rebuild their house

Their things are everywhere including the medals my cousins Searned which were once posted on their wall.

Medals my cousins earned, which are now neglected

Recovery in 3months, the least

I had spoken with the newly-elected baranggay captain Josephine Piǹaranda. She does not know how and where to start. Out of 178 houses, she said, only 36 are standing (their house included) but are still damaged.  The captain was kind enough to let me sleep at their house during our two-day stay. 
only 36 out of 178 houses left standing

My other aunt's house, totally damaged


Pagpanggot or getting wine out of coconut trees are their primary source of income in the baranggay but about 60% of the coconut trees were uprooted. Banana trees too. Most of the people who had rice fields were not able to harvest before the storm. In addition, relief goods have not reached the area. She estimates that in one or two months, if relief will not have reached the baranggay by then, they will be famished. Hindi naman namatay sa bagyo, mamamatay naman sa gutom.

There’s food shortage already.  May pera nga, wala namang mabibili,” uttered Baranggay Captain Piǹaranda.

Few families were able to harvest before the typhoon

Electricity will be back in 3 months, the least

Electricity will be back in 3 months, the least. She is not sure whether classes will resume in December or January because even their schools were dilapidated.

Can-isak Elementary School before and after the typhoon


Can-isak Day Care Center

The river at Tunga before and after the typhoon
60% of coconut trees were either cut, or uprooted.




She said there will be exodus; people will have no choice but to go to Cebu and Manila to look for jobs as house maids “kay mao rama’y madali”. 

NPA scare

On Nov 13, while we were at my other aunt’s place in the neighboring town in Barugo, back in Tunga there were rumors that the NPA has reached the place and was killing lots of people. They were really scared to death; they hurriedly ran off to the town’s social hall to seek refuge. When we came back, their faces are full of fear and shock. My aunt narrated the story to us, shaking. Bumagyo nalang ulit, wag lang NPA, she said covering her face full of tears.

Price hikes

When we got to Tunga at around 8am on Nov 12, price of gasoline was still at PHP100 per liter. At noon, it went up to PHP150 per liter; and at around 4 or 5pm, it went up to PHP200. Bus transportation fees too, went up from PHP70 pesos (Tunga to Ormoc and vice versa) to PHP200. We had no choice but to pay PHP400 for me and my dad otherwise we can’t go home.

At Ormoc Port Terminal

In the morning of Nov. 14, we arrived at the port of Ormoc. Again, tickets were already sold out. What we fell in line for were not the tickets, but priority numbers for the next day’s trips. Under the scorching heat of the sun, we fell in very long queues just to get priority numbers. It rained suddenly, we were soaked; the rain stopped and it was so hot again. But people were still; we did not care. Rain or shine, we had to get priority numbers so we could go home the next day.

Rain or shine, we had to get tickets

I started falling in line at 9:30am for Weesam Shipping Lines. At 11, they stopped giving priority numbers so those who fell in line for Weesam went to Supercat instead. I was given priority numbers at 1pm. My number was 2243 and 2242 but Supercat also stopped releasing tickets at priority number 520. So we had to wait again the next day for our priority number to be called. Imagine the struggle. 

We had to spend the night at the terminal so we could fall in line early. We went on shifts, in sleeping and even sitting because we only had one spot in one of the benches in the terminal (the Supercat terminal; we stayed on the catwalk).
The next day, unfortunately, priority numbers were not honored at some shipping lines. Tickets were released on a first come first serve basis. Lucky for us, we fell in line at 2:00 IN THE MORNING. We waited 8 hours and were able to secure tickets at 10am. Again, we were lucky because we were one of the first 20 people in the line who were given tickets. Others were given priority numbers for the next day’s trip yet again since tickets were all sold out for that day– some of the first ten people in the line purchased 30-50 tickets for their entire family so the shipping line ran out of tickets easily. Most of them are from Tacloban who were desperate to get to Cebu and start anew.

Words are not enough

Right now, the media and the government are focused on Tacloban. But I call on the government and other NGOs to reach out even further. There are interior towns and baranggays that have not sought relief including Tunga and Barugo. 

I am really hoping that government authorities will have reached the isolated and rural areas by tomorrow or today, if possible. Because, really, it means nothing to keep saying relief is coming if it is not arriving.


Hopefully, light will shine in Leyte and all other areas affected by Hurrican Haiyan

When you left



Vernie Naraja, November 8, 2012


Like being awoken from a deep slumber by a thunder;
Like a vase being smashed into shards;
Like a glass window being stricken with a baseball bat, its broken pieces flying everywhere;
Like a candle lit out with one blow, making darkness fill the room;
Like a car that has come to a sudden halt
Or a gadget whose battery has run out;
Like a rubber band that has reached its elastic limit and breaks;
Like being pricked by a needle for the very first time
Or accidentally scraping your knee;
Like how a kid feels when she unintentionally drops her candy;
Or how it feels when a bully tears your first masterpiece;
Or when your castle of sand is blown by the wind;
Like walking in stiletto heels for long hours;
Like flunking in a major exam and getting grounded for weeks
Or listening to music you really hate;
Like being humiliated in front of the public;
Like exerting so much effort and getting nothing in return;
Like an alarm clock pulling you away from fantasy and back to reality;
Like being tortured for falling in love;
When you innocently thought it was not a crime
That, just so you know, is how I felt when you left.

First Day


You wake up to the sound of a bell. Not your alarm clock, but a bell in your neighborhood that rings at exactly seven in the morning every day. It’s too cold – that cold that makes you too lazy to do anything.

You’ve got to prepare for the first day of class or at least continue reading the novel you have read during the break just to dawdle away the remaining hours you got before your class starts. You look up at the clock on the wall. 7:05. It’s seven still. 

Too groggy to sit up, you cocooned in bed and covered yourself with the thick blanket. You doze off.


The cold makes sleep come easily. You dream of someone. All the thoughts of him are on replay in your mind. It is a damn nice dream that you wish so bad it was real… that that time would freeze… that you can live in that place, in that moment, forever.

You wake up at yet another sound. This time, it’s your alarm clock deafening your ears, waking you up from fantasy.

8:00. You don the dress that you bought the other week just for this day. Not that it is special but you said to yourself you’d somehow increase your self-esteem in every way you can – and dressing up is one way. A little blush to bring color to your cheeks and eyeliner is also good – less is more. Operation Self Esteem – Day one. 

You arrive at school. Maybe you’re too early because you can find three students in your classroom. Surely, there’s more to come. For no reason at all, you choose to sit in the corner. You put your mp3 on and let the music take you away from the world again.

At a sudden, you hear someone call your name. You find it weird. It’s the first day of school and someone knows you already? Wait. Oh right, maybe it’s your classmate last semester.

You slowly open your sleepy eyes and find solace in those two beautiful eyes staring back at you. That mesmerizing, tantalizing, alluring, heart-warming gaze of the man of your dreams makes you wonder why such creature exists. 

“Hey, class will start in a while,” he says as he takes the seat next to you. You melt.

How the hell can you possibly focus for the rest of the semester with a distraction like that?




You can’t ‘coz you won’t

By: Vernie Naraja
Written: March 17, 2012

Heart’s broken, soul’s crushed
You keep reminiscing
What both of you had.

What to do now? Where to go now?
You keep asking
What made you fall for him

You just…





*
Believed in lies
Fell for his smiles
Drowned in the depths of his pretty eyes

Lived his kind of life
Forgetting what it’s like
To be the one you used to be

Gave everything he wanted
Just to make him glad
Pleased him in every way you can

But in return, what did he do?
He cheated on you
And made you feel blue

You’ve been wondering
Always have been
Despite all the pain, can you let go of him?

#
I bet you can’t
I bet you won’t
He’s a part of you
The one you care the most

I bet you can’t
I bet you won’t
You love him so much
A love he can’t return

I bet you can’t
I bet you won’t
I know it without a doubt,
He’s the one you can’t live without.

--
Sleepless nights, fading lights
Your keep crying
yourself to sleep

Life’s empty, heart’s weary
You keep wishing
You didn’t fall for him


But you still…

REPEAT (*, #)

The things we do for love

By: Vernie Naraja
Written: 8/4/11

I.
Love can make a fool of any man
‘tmakes you do the things you can’t
‘tmakes you chase the moon or catch the stars
or burn under the scorching heat of the summer sun.

II.
Love can make a fool of any man.
‘tmakes you do things you’ve never done
‘tmakes you run for her, your only one
despite the unbearable chills of the cold winter air.

III.
Love can make a fool of any man.
it’s what makes you walk miles for
it’s what makes you cross oceans for
‘tmakes you do what you think are impossible

IV.
Love can make a fool of any man.
You cannot undo the things you’ve done.
‘tcould take away your sanity, break you to pieces
and turn your life into a complete mess

V.
Doofuses of love we may be
But we can’t be blamed for
travails d’amour mes amis.




Hallways

by: Vernie Naraja
written: August 8, 2011


If by chance we meet
In the hallways,
I wonder what you think of
The moment you see me

Do you see a good old friend?
Or a past you have forgotten?
Do you see someone who’s been a part of your life?
Or a complete stranger, a nobody?

Do you have second thoughts of saying hello?
Or at least putting up a smile before you go?
Or you’re really busy to say anything
And just walk past me, ignoring me completely?

I really am wondering,
because I think of a lot of things
the moment I see you
if by chance we meet in the hallways.

I think of the busy days we’ve spent together;
all the errands we had to do just to meet deadlines;
the laughters we’ve shared despite all the left-handed compliments we’ve received;
the silly jokes and all the teasing.

I think of the soda I spilled in your notebook;
your very long to-do list;
your poignant words, your inspiring actions;
your accomplishments, your greatness.

I’d have second thoughts of saying hello
‘coz maybe you’ll ignore me if I do
I get preoccupied and think for minutes
but it’d only take seconds and you’re gone already.

what do you really think of
the moment you see me
if by chance we meet
in the hallways?


I need an answer.
I need you to answer.
I am really wondering.
It’s perturbing.

Just because years have long rested between us
Doesn’t mean we have to ignore each other.
And just so you know,
I miss you too.