To address the impacts of Super Typhoon Odette, local and national government agencies and the civil society organizations (CSOs) pooled their resources to help Dinagat Islands, which was struck by hunger and diseases after the tropical cyclone cut it off from the mainland in December 2021. The Gawad Kalinga was among the CSOs that brought hope to the residents in Purok 9 and help their president, Cerela Selim, rebuild their community in Barangay Rita Glenda, Basilisa town. Jerese Joy Santos, area team leader of Gawad Kalinga in Basilisa, said that among the interventions done in Purok 9 was the repair of the water system. 'We helped to establish a Level I water system in the area by constructing a water tank, provision of water pump and hose to bring back the water services,' Santos said of the water system that cost at least PHP200,000. 'Water is important for the health of the people in communities. In Caraga Region, of the 157 communities engaged by Gawad Kalinga, 26 have expressed concerns about their access to clean water,' Santos said. To provide more livelihood opportunities to the local population, Selim said they also ventured into lemon grass production since a water source is already available in their community. 'But we are also looking into the safety of our water source as we plan to market our lemon grass juice,' Selim said. The Department of Trade and Industry has already made an intervention in the organization earlier this year through training on lemon grass production and product registration. During the Dagyaw open town hall meeting on Thursday, Selim managed to inquire directly from the Department of Health (DOH) on the process of determining the safety of the source of their water. Mark Lynde Gascon, DOH-13 medical technologist, assured Selim of assistance, noting that the agency is tasked to implement the Philippine Drinking Water Standards for potable water. 'We have the rural sanitary inspectors based in the Rural Health Units (RHU) in the area who can directly visit the community to conduct an assessment,' Gascon said. On the other hand, Department of Social Welfare and Development-Caraga (DSWD-13), through the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), is tasked to address the potable water needs of communities. Esterlita Villamor, deputy regional program manager of Kalahi-CIDSS-13, said a water system Level II, with a linear system of 1,245 meters, was already established in Basilisa town. Since 2014, Villamor said 208 Level II water system subprojects were already completed through the Kalahi-CIDSS in the region with a total amount of PHP232,358,661. Of the total water projects completed, 82 were implemented in Dinagat Islands and 26 were in Siargao Island. As of June this year, six more level II water system projects are still ongoing in the province of Surigao del Norte. Garden for island farmers Nilda Grumacon, village chief of Barangay Suyangan, General Luna in Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte, narrated their challenges during the pandemic and post-Odette and how they cope. Suyangan, an island barangay in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is the farthest village from General Luna town. 'Traveling by boat from our barangay to mainland Siargao in General Luna is more than an hour if the sea is calm. But in times of strong winds and turbulent waters, the travel would take longer,' Grumacon told the Philippine News Agency in an interview. Aside from serving as village captain, she is also active in the Suyangan Farmers Association, a group of island farmers and fisherfolk with 34 members. 'To help augment our income and sustain our food needs, we established a communal vegetable farm of about one hectare. This farm helped us a lot, especially during the pandemic,' Grumacon said. She said the Office of the Municipal Agriculturist of General Luna provided the seedlings for their communal farm. Unfortunately, the communal farm was destroyed in December 2021 when Odette struck. 'It was a great loss for the organization,' Grumacon said, adding that the foremost effect of the typhoon on their community was the limited supply of food. Fortunately, she said the local government unit and line agencies initially provided them with support to sustain their needs. Eventually, CSOs, particularly Gawad Kalinga, reached out to their community. Alnie Espiel, Gawad Kalinga coordinator in Siargao Island, said their interventions in Suyangan started in April 2022 with the provision of roofing materials to repair the damaged houses of farmers and fisherfolk. 'The support to repair their houses was a packaged project worth more than PHP200,000 for five different communities in the island barangay,' Espiel said. After the repair of the houses, Gawad Kalinga helped the communities organize and assessed their other needs to help them rebuild their lives after the typhoon. The Gawad Kalinga managed to solicit support from its groups in the United States to fund the seeds, seedlings, and fertilizer needs of the farmers. By the middle of 2022, the communal food farm of the farmers on the island was finally revived to ensure the supply of food needs of the families. During the Dagyaw, Grumacon asked for assistance on agricultural training from Jessie Beldia, officer-in-charge center director of Agricultural Training Institute (ATI)-13, and Johnny Concon, the Regulatory Chief of Department of Agriculture (DA)-13. "ATI is the capability-builder of the DA. We can provide support through various sets of training, including vegetable production,' Beldia assured. DTI-13 and the DA-13 will also help in sourcing more supplies of vegetable seeds for the farmers of Barangay Suyangan, he added. Grumacon lauded the Dagyaw for being an effective venue for dialogue among the people, government, and CSOs.
Source: Philippines News Agency
