BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF MiHANDs INTERVENTION WITH THE INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDPs) SINCE NOVEMBER 2013 TO MAY 2015 IN ORMOC CITY AND THE PROVINCE OF LEYTE

Overview:

The Mindanao Humanitarian Action Network against Disasters (MiHANDs) is a nationwide non-government institution established by Mindanao-based organizations specifically in the cities of Iligan, Cotabato and Pagadian including provinces of Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Maguindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula and Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Member organizations of MiHANDs were composed of the Tri-people of Mindanao such as the Bangsamoro (Muslim), Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and Migrant Settlers (Christian) which are united to express its solidarity through collective response for and with the people affected by both natural and human-made disasters.

When Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) ravaged the Visayas Region in the Philippines, the MiHANDs extended its services thru full participation and support of its member organizations. Competencies of its members have been proven thru several disaster interventions in the past decades both manmade and natural such as Typhoon Washi (sendong) that devastated northern Mindanao in 2011. Such experiences generated eagerness of the member organizations to respond to the needs of the disaster survivors in the Island of Leyte.

Considering its resources, MiHANDs have identified four (4) communities only as recipient of the relief operation namely Brgy. Bangkal, Villaba, Leyte; Brgy. Curva, Ormoc City; Brgy. Lat-osan, Palompon, Leyte; and Brgy. Tambulilid, Ormoc City. The components of the relief operation were provision of food packs, hygiene kits and medical and psychosocial services that were simultaneously done by the MiHANDs team that was composed of 30 individual volunteers from November 27 to December 3, 2014.

During the evaluation and assessment for the conducted relief operation of MiHANDs, it came out that further intervention on early recovery and rehabilitation for the affected families is greatly needed because plenty of assistance coming from the different local and international donors was inequitably distributed due to poor governance and management of the local bodies. In such case, MiHANDs has conducted deeper study thru gathering of relevant information that corresponds to the resource capacity.

 Early Recovery & Rehabilitation Intervention

On February 2014, early recovery intervention of MiHANDs has identified four communities as pilot areas such as Brgy. Bangkal, Villaba, Leyte; Brgy. Don Potenciano Larrazabal, Ormoc City; Brgy. Lat-osan, Palompon, Leyte; and Brgy. Tambulilid, Ormoc City. These communities were among the less served communities where economic conditions of most of families were already in difficult condition even before the disaster. They belong to the below poverty threshold in the Philippine context of standard of living.

Series of courtesy visits to community leaders were conducted by the MiHANDs team and community consultations followed to verify the acquired community data in order to have basic profiles about the communities and its needs. The common issues and concerns raised was on economic aspects because of severe destruction of their main source of living which was farming, farm works, fishing and other small-scale livelihood activities. Damages of shelters/houses, social services such as water system, schools, and public facilities were also identified.

As part of the capability enhancement, series of seminars on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) in the context of being community-managed had also been conducted. It was participated by all basic sectors in the communities such as farmers, fisherfolks, women, youth and Barangay Officials. The activities have generated an initial plan to improve coping mechanisms of individuals and families against disasters but, it need further activities particularly in team building and comprehensive planning to substantiate the community-managed DRRM. Sectoral formation has facilitated and organized nine (9) different groups such as farmers, women and fisherfolks. Initial activities for the created People’s Organizations (POs) were also initiated to gradually motivate the members and enhance the leadership capability of the officers. Meetings were regularly conducted and documentary requirements for registration to legitimate government line agency were formulated parallel with continuing enhancement of community profiles.

On August 2014, MiHANDs officially implemented the “Early Recovery and Rehabilitation Program for the Four (4) Typhoon-Stricken Communities of North-Western Leyte and the City of Ormoc,” a project in partnership with the Entraide & Fraternite with support from Haiyan 21-21 and Haiyan 11.11.11. Such project focused in the rehabilitation of livelihood related to agriculture, fishery, off-farm and non-farm including shelter repair for the totally damaged houses.

 Partner Communities & Sector

Currently, MiHANDs had served four communities in Leyte with brief description as follows;

a) Brgy. Bangkal, Villaba, Leyte

A rural-coastal community in the municipality of Villaba, North-Western part of Leyte with a total land area of about 150.3 sq. km. The community was divided into three sub-villages with 110 household or 132 families. The main source of living of most of the families are fishing and farming as primary while driving and carpentry are secondary. Distance of Brgy. Bangkal from the City of Ormoc was 83.2 kilometers.

MiHANDs facilitated the organization of the Barangay Bangkal Fishermen Association (BBFA) with 27 members, Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Bangkal (NMB) with 36 members and Bangkal Women’s Association (BaWA) with 36 members.

b) Brgy. Don Potenciano Larrazabal (DPL), Ormoc City

Brgy. DPL is rural-farming community of Ormoc City with a distance of about 24 kilometers from the City Proper. The 321.288 hectares land area was divided into 7 sub-villages resided by 205 families of 176 household.

Most of the residents were farm workers (hacienda workers) while the secondary source of living was farming for both tenants and owners. Other income generating activities were motor driving, carpentry and fish/food vending.

MiHANDs facilitated the organization of the Bangon Mag-uuma Association (BAMAS) with 39 members and Nagkahiusang Kababayen-an Tuboran sa Kalamboan (NATUKA) with 42 members.

c) Brgy. Lat-osan, Palompon, Leyte; and

A rural-farming community of Palompon, North-Western Leyte with a land area of about 215.433 hectares which was divided into 8 sub-villages resided by 404 families of 285 household. Distance from the City of Ormoc is about 55 kilometers.

The primary source of income of the majority of the residents was mainly on farm related activities while the secondary were fishing, micro-enterprise, driving and food vending.

MiHANDs facilitated the organizing of the Lat-osan Fisherfolks Association (LFA) with 22 members, Lat-osan Farmers Organization (LFO) with 30 regular members and Uswag Kababaehan Association (UKA) with 94 members.

d) Brgy. Tambulilid, Ormoc City

Brgy. Tambulilid was among the highly urbanized areas in the City of Ormoc. It has been divided into 13 sub-villages and serves as relocation sites in the past years even before the typhoon Yolanda. It has a distance of about 4 kilometers away from the city proper.

Majority of the residents depends on non-farm livelihood initiatives as primary source of living. MiHANDs facilitated the formation of the women’s association with 62 members.

 Levels of Current Intervention

The full – blown implementation of activities related to the above-named project started in the month of August 2014. Prior of which, levelling-off of project mechanics and formation of the Project Monitoring Teams (PMT) have been finalized in order to have safety-measures of the project and harmonious implementation. Revalidates the community profiles and finalized the household–based livelihoods assessment and planning results. Hazard maps were also formulated and ready for adaption by the Barangay Local Government Units (BLGUs) per community.

Livelihood planning results were made in both organizational-manage and household-manage types but due to the limited resources, the funds entrusted to the POs served as its revolving funds for livelihood related activities. The capacity of resources is enough only for organizational-manage project with main purpose usually aims to provide easy access to basic social services. Some of individual income generation activities have been assisted also such as food and fish vending because it requires minimal amount only but the mechanics is on revolving manner in order to maintain and sustain the seed funds of the organization. These components give priority to women POs as the direct recipients in the four (4) communities.

For the farming sector, the organized farmers have been provided with support such as working animals, sets of basic farm tools and equipment like plows and harrows, vegetable production materials and funds for the backyard livestock support to be used as revolving funds manage by the organization. Women POs have been provided also with seed capitalization for their Off-Farm and Non-Farm livelihood initiatives and currently operational. Sets of small fishing gears and equipment have been initially provided also to fishermen POs in two (2) coastal communities such as fishing boat, fish nets and other paraphernalia in small-scale fishing. A mangroves nursery of Brgy Bangkal, Villaba, Leyte have been established and on the stage of nurturing the mangrove seedlings. It was managed by the fishermen’s PO of the community in preparation for the incoming mangrove rehabilitation activities. These all-tangible project components have its corresponding policies in terms of implementation, management and sustainability mechanisms duly verified and concurred by the created Project Monitoring Committee (PMT) of each community.

Activities related to Psychosocial Services (PSS) and alternative health care have been conducted that resulted to the creation of community-based PSS First-Aiders and Community Health Teams (CHTs). The PSS First-Aiders are tasked to involve primarily in psychosocial services and serves as the Adult Support Group (ASG) to promote the institutionalization of the Barangay Child Protection Committee (BCPC) as mandated by the existing national law on the protection of children or the Republic Act (RA) 7610.

CHTs on the other hand shall serve as support groups advocating the traditional modalities of healing and work closely with the existing Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) of the local government by virtue of the legal instrument on Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA) in the Philippines or the Republic Act (RA) 8423.

On shelter repair component, out of the 105 totally damaged target units, 70% of which have been evaluated already and ready for final billing and costing of repair materials. The fund allocation of this component by the project was very minimal in fact, no labor cost was included especially for those skilled workers who do the highly technical works. The prices of construction materials in the region is still expensive due to high demands plus the hauling expenses and communities or even the Local Government Units (LGU) were incapacitated in terms of counter-parting even only for hauling cost because of severe damage of the localities.

 Gaps and Needs

The current project intervention of MiHANDs was not enough to meet the minimum target based on plans and it needs further support from potential partners/donors. Components which mainly needed further support are a) household-based livelihood assistance; b) household-based agricultural production support; c) individual fishing gears and equipment for organized fishermen; d) additional shelter repair kits; e) repair of potable water system facilities and f) Repair kits for Schools including learning materials and equipment;

1) Household-based Livelihood Assistance; (4 communities)

• Provide additional seed funds to people’s organizations to be used as revolving amount for the individual types of income generating activities of members – existing primary or secondary source of income of a family before disaster such as food processing and vending, basic tools/equipment for technically-based income generation, etc.;

• Owned and manage by organization protected by the existing policies of types of livelihood project;

2) Agricultural Production Support; (3 communities)

• Provide individual support for the crops and livestock production to rightful members of POs engaged already before disaster as primary or secondary source of income;

• Owned and manage by the organization and implemented thru the existing mechanics and policies of the project;

3) Fishing Gears & Equipment with Mangroves Enrichment; (2 communities)

• Provide additional support for the small fishing gears and equipment to members (household-based/rightful individual) of POs engaged already before disaster as primary or secondary source of income;

• Provide support for mangrove enrichment support and protection program which includes formation and enhancement of community-based fish warden (bantay dagat);

• Owned and manage by the organization and implemented thru the existing mechanics and policies of the project;

4) Repair Kits for Potable Water System Facilities; (3 communities)

• Provide repair kits for water system facilities based on bills of materials identified by technical persons;

• Provide support for cash for work for technical person and food for work for assisting workers;

• Implemented thru collaboration efforts between POs and Barangay Officials with corresponding Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) – preferably establish a community water system manage with appropriate operational policies

• Generate minimal service maintenance charge to be used for repairs and maintenance activities of the system

5) Shelter Repair Kits; (3 communities)

• Provide additional repair kits to target recipients (2 communities) especially those who were not included in the government criteria but rightful for such support;

• Provide support for cash for work for technical person, hauling cost and food for work for assisting workers;

6) School Repair Kits and Learning Equipment; 3 communities

• Provide repair kits for Day Care Centers and Elementary Schools including learning materials and equipment;

• Provide support for cash for work for technical person, hauling cost and food for work for assisting workers;

Mindanao Humanitarian Action Network Against Disasters (MiHANDs)
Door 2 Dela Cerna Apartment, Toog Street Doña Felisa Mejia, Ormoc City

---