The Emergency Shelter Assistance doesn't served its purpose anymore

Families living at Anibong District, Tacloban City were still unable to rebuild their homes due to the lack of resources.

“Wala pa, hindi namin alam kung kelan darating ang ESA”. Most of the Yolanda survivors in Eastern Visayas who were entitled for the so-called Emergency Shelter Assistance of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, were still waiting for it almost two years after the deadly storm hit the region.

“Hindi na Emergency tawag jan, sa tagal ba naman niyan, ICU na yan.”

The DSWD, through their Department Secretary Dinky Soliman, formulated/created guidelines for the implementation of the program intended to help the survivors of the disasters. These guidelines earned negative feedbacks as it was claimed to be so strict that seemed not intended for helping the people.

Under the guidelines, those survivors whose house were totally damaged will receive an amount of 30,000 pesos as long as he will be able to present receipts for the materials used in reconstructing one’s house. However, those whose houses were just partially damage, they will receive 10,000 pesos with the same condition as to the former.

Not all survivors who got the green card from the DSWD will receive this kind of help from the government. Those who were living in the danger zones, who have receive housing materials from any NGOs or INGOs, those who are working in the government which monthly salary ranges from 15,000 and above, those who are capable of having housing loans, and those who were entitled to a permanent shelter will not be able to receive this financial assistance.

A lot of exceptions were laid down by the DSWD. These strict guidelines were construed by many survivors as this was not intended to help them instead it is intended to create anger and dismay over the distribution of the shelter assistance.

Most of the people I have interviewed said that it seems that the disaster chooses on who will be affected and will be homeless. There was no exemption when Yolanda wiped out the whole City. 

Everyone suffered being homeless for months. The good thing is that, there were NGOs who penetrated the brgys and other far-flung areas, and they were able to attend their needs. These people are blessings from above behind the ineptness of the government.

After how many months, I can’t still believe that majority of the survivors who were entitled to the support of the government were still waiting it to happen. Not all survivors were able to rebuild their houses. Not all of them were entitled to the permanent shelters or even belongs to the working class. Most of them are farmers whose livelihoods were taken away by the typhoon.

I was disappointed when one of my friends told me that it’s not a problem of the government anymore, it’s for the people to make it on their own. And this happened one time when I have openly questioned the slow process of the distribution of the ESA. I answered him with sincerity stressing the point that it was the responsibility of the government to help its people especially during the times of their suffering brought by the disaster.

The families of farmers most of whom I have talked to admitted that in one week they could hardly eat thrice a day because of their poor situation. So this is the main reason why they weren’t still able to reconstruct their houses because of the lack of resources. The situations of the poor farmers were just vehemently neglected by the government.

It is the insensitivity that the government shows to its people and in the face of the foreign governments who donated a big amounts of money just to help rebuild the lives of the survivors. They let them suffer for a long time as if they have been used in earning multi-billion donations by the government. It’s just so insensitive and heartless when they allow the process to make it complicated and long just to attain their so called ability to spend the money right for the victims of the disaster.

The municipal mayors in whose towns were beneficiaries of the ESA were also caught off-guard because of the restrictions imposed by the agency. They’ve delisted all those who were listed that are not entitled to the assistance based on the guidelines issued by the DSWD national office. It took time and efforts in assuring that the lists were all set for the submission to the DSWD regional office which will be subject for re-checking.

This kind of long process made the principle of helping the needy, useless. It’s useless, unwarranted and insincere. If the guidelines were made out of concern and sympathy, without of course disregarding the rules on how the money will be spent, this situation will be avoided. I guess the creation for the guidelines was made out of evil thoughts that render it to be an ineffective tool in attaining the end of helping the people.

Truly, if there were no NGOs that helped us in times of our needs, I guess we were still all living under the tents distributed by the first responders. Without them, I guess we were still unable to repair our roofs, walls and floor especially our lives.

It’s the NGOs and INGOs, not the government who helped us stand again in our own feet. Some of the survivors lost hope over the arrival of the assistance. But most of them still clung to the small ray of hope that the Emergency Shelter Assistance will soon be distributed for them to rebuild their ruined houses.

In Ormoc City, I met the father of one of the children who were working in the sugarcane plantations. His son worked for their family as he wasn’t able to do so because of his old age. I noticed their roofless home. An old tarpaulin temporarily covers a portion of their bedroom.

Their house was totally destroyed by the storm, but they can hardly get help from an INGO or from the government. His family wasn’t able to buy materials for the reconstruction of their house because of their income was not enough to cover the expenses that will be incurred.

They knew about that ESA but, like other families in their brgy, chooses to wait even waiting means torture to them. This situation made me ask why the government is so insensitive to delay the process. TANG-INA! Shet talaga and sistema!!!!