CDRC IN 2005

2005 is another meaningful year for CDRC. The year started with the CDRC staff continuing with the Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation work in the affected provinces in Bicol, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Eastern Rizal and cities/barangays in the National Capital Region (NCR). Alongside with this, CDRC also had to squeeze in to its very tight schedule, time to formulate a plan that would guide the whole organization for the entire year.

The year 2005 ended with the organization monitoring the continuous heavy rains induced by Typhoon Quedan in many parts of Luzon and certain portions of the Visayas and, given the already depleted funds, provided limited relief assistance to some affected communities in the province of Mindoro Oriental. During the last week of December 2005, the whole CDRC organization sat down for two days to assess and reflect on what it has accomplished for the whole year.

On the whole, CDRC was able to accomplish more than 85% of the tasks and activities mapped out for 2005. In certain aspects of work, the output exceeds the target. The good performance rating was primarily attributed to the perseverance and dedication of all the CDRC staff and the hands-on leadership style of the Management Committee.

In terms of disaster response, besides the regular typhoons and flooding, CDRC became immersed in the increased number of internal displacements caused by armed conflict. This year, internal displacements were not only limited in the Mindanao areas but also in many parts of Luzon and Visayas.

For 2005, CDRC was able to provide immediate food and non-food relief assistance to 30,388 families and livelihood rehabilitation assistance to 7,978 families.

Another highlight of the year is the development of new training modules and their pilot testing particularly in Mindanao project areas. The response of the community members as regards the usefulness for instance of the Community-based Monitoring Training is encouraging. A total of 165 trainings on Disaster Management Orientation, PRA Training, Community-based Monitoring, First Aid and First Responders’ Training, Sustainable Agriculture, Basic Health Skills and Community Teachers’ Training were conducted throughout the year. A total of 5,273 participants attended these trainings.

With the above mentioned highlights for the year, the whole CDRC organization is pleased to share with you our accomplishments and learning from implementing the Center’s program and activities for 2005.

Field Operations Department

The twelve-member Field Operations Department (FOD) takes the lead in implementing disaster response activities, ranging from organization of grassroots disaster preparedness committees, preparedness and mitigation, emergency food and non-food relief provision, to rehabilitation support in the form of livelihood enhancement activities.

Formation of grassroots disaster preparedness committees

Besides helping in the consolidation of the ten existing Disaster Preparedness Committees (DPCs) CDRC through the FOD also assisted in the formation of new DPCs in Barangays Sitio Payong, Holy Spirit and Kitanlad in Quezon City. The NCR Field Officer also met with partner people’s organizations (POs) in Brgy. Anonas in Sta. Mesa, Manila and Barangays San Roque, Daang Hari in Navotas City, Barangay Manggahan in Pasig City, Barangay Tatalon in Quezon City and Barangay Putatan in Muntinlupa. The POs in these communities sought the help of CDRC in community preparedness during disasters, specifically in forming DPCs.

In Mindanao, a total of 10 DPCs were formed (5 DPCs in Surigao Del Sur and 5 in Agusan del Norte) in 2005, exceeding the target of eight DPCs set for the year. These DPCs have started implementing the activities they have formulated in their community counter-disaster plans. Another breakthrough for the year is the formation of municipal-wide Disaster Preparedness Committees in the three towns of Las Nieves and Buenavista in Surigao del Sur province and in Malaybalay town in Bukidnon province.

As 2005 ends, CDRC has helped in establishing 13 new DPCs in Metro Manila and Mindanao and started the process of pre-DPC formation in six more barangays in Metro Manila.

Conduct of education and training at the community level

Participants to the Disaster Preparedness training held in Kintalad, Quezon City, working on a hazard map.

In the first quarter of 2005, CDRC started to reactivate its training competency by designating a Training Officer within the Field Operations Department (FOD). At the end of 2005, a two-member training team was formed beefing up the FOD. The CDRC Training Desk and the Mindanao Field Office training team contributed significantly in meeting up with the many requests from communities that were received by the FOD. Five training modules related to Community-Based Disaster Management (CBDM) were reviewed, developed and finalized for the year and a significant number of trainings were conducted.

Community-Based Disaster Management Ladderized Training and Community-BasedMonitoring (CBM)

A Training Module Review Committee composed of the Training Officer, the FOD Coordinator and the Office of the Executive Director was formed to study and improve on the existing training modules and materials of CDRC. All the comments and improvements suggested by the Review Committee were noted and incorporated in the four-part CBDM modules (Disaster Management Orientation, Disaster Preparedness Training, Community Counter-disaster Plan, and Community Evacuation Drill). Training hand-outs and visual aids were also improved and reproduced.

For the whole year, six batches of Disaster Management Orientation (DMO) were conducted in four schools (UP Manila, San Beda, STI College and ABE College) where more than 1,500 students were provided inputs about the country’s disaster situation and the community-based disaster management approach as an alternative approach to disaster response. On the other hand, three batches of DMO were held in three communities in Tatalon, Quezon City; Pulilan, Bulacan and in Infanta, Quezon. A total of 115 community participants attended these DMO batches.

In addition to the CBDM ladderized training, the training module for the Community-based Monitoring (CBM) was developed and finalized in April 2005. By December 2005, 62 batches Community-based Monitoring Training were conducted in 62 barangays in the four regions of Mindanao where a total of 1,556 community participants attended. The CBM training modules were written in English, Filipino and Cebuano.

Training Modules on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)

The training modules on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA ) for child facilitators were also reviewed and finalized in 2005. CDRC came out with a more child-focused and child-specific PRA tools and Damage, Needs and Capacities Assessment (DNCA) form. The improved PRA training modules were used in the PRA training conducted in Camarines Sur areas on March 25 to 30, 2005.

First Aid and First Responders’ Training Modules

Families fall in line during an emergency response in one of the sitios in Jolo, Sulu that were affected by the rene-wed war in the island. Photo taken in March 2005.

In consultation with two non-governmental health organizations, CDRC was also able to develop a training module on First Aid and First Responders’ Training. This skills training is intended for disaster management workers and focuses on providing first aid and first responders’ skills during disaster situation and other emergency situations. The First Aid and First Responders’ Training was piloted last April 6-9, 2005 where 52 participants from 3 schools, five NGOs and five POs in partner communities in Metro Manila attended.

Functional Literacy and Numeracy Training Modules

The training modules on Functional Literacy and Numeracy was also finalized and pilot-tested for community teachers in the three regions of Mindanao – Northern Mindanao, Western Mindanao and Southern Mindanao. Eight teacher and community teacher trainings were held during the year. A total of 103 participants attended the two-month Training-Integration Program (TIP) for would-be Functional Literacy teachers and community teachers. Seventy-three (73) trainee-teachers from Bukidnon, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao were able to complete the two-month Training-Integration Program.

Emergency relief provision and rehabilitation assistance

CDRC has maintained its swift monitoring of disaster events and correspondingly was able to formulate reports and draft proposals to effectively respond to the needs of the affected population. For the whole year, CDRC was able to provide emergency food and non-food relief assistance and rehabilitation assistance to 30,388 familes.

The emergency relief and rehabilitation assistance given was in response to the disaster emergencies brought about by the four strong typhoons that greatly damaged Luzon in December 2004, the massive flooding in September 2005, fires in Metro Manila throughout the year and internal displacements due to armed conflict in Samar and Mindanao.

CDRC was able to provide emergency relief assistance within one week of the disaster emergency. However, the availability of readily disposable funds and resources still greatly affected CDRC’s timely and effective response to disaster emergencies. Concretely, out of the more than 25 requests for assistance from Metro Manila communities, CDRC was only able to provide food and non-food support to 14 communities.

In all the emergency relief delivery operations, CDRC ensured the active participation of local people’s organizations and the community members. The PO and the community members are the ones doing most of the preparations in the relief delivery – from the identification of the most needy members of the community up to ensuring the technical details for the conduct of the relief delivery operations (RDO). CDRC also coordinated with the Local Government Units and invited DSWD representatives in the RDOs.

The rehabilitation assistance, on the other hand, mainly consisted of agricultural support package to most affected families. A total of 7,978 families received improved traditional variety of rice, corn and vegetable seeds and sets of farm tools in the seed dispersal activities that were conducted during the year in the Luzon project areas and in Mindanao project communities.

Almost all the beneficiary families in Central Luzon, Bicol, Southern Tagalog and Cagayan Valley have harvested their crops, which have helped greatly in augmenting their food requirements. A part of the produce were given back by the beneficiaries to the people’s organization for the community Seed Bank Project.

Seed Bank Projects have been initiated and set up in project areas in Cagayan Valley, Bicol, and Central Luzon. Preparations for the Seed Bank Project involved series of consultation meetings with peasant organizations to discuss about the seed dispersal project, the “payback” mechanism that will pave the way for seed banking project, the procedures and policies that will guide the members in running the operation of the Seed Bank. Another positive result of the seed dispersal project is the effort of farmers’ organizations in Cagayan Valley in developing an organic farm for the propagation of traditional rice and vegetable seed varieties.

The community Seed Bank Project is more of the harvest-sharing or payback scheme model given the financial limitation of farmers’ organizations to set up physical warehouse for the Seed Bank. Family beneficiaries give back a certain volume of their harvest to the People’s Organization (the amount of share returned varies according to the policies formulated by the members of the POs). The multiplier effect of this “payback scheme” is encouraging because other community members/members of the POs also benefited from the livelihood assistance.

In addition to seed disperal activities, 1,050 fruit tree seedlings (mango, durian, guava, jackfruit, rambutan) were provided to eighteen project communities in Mindanao.

During the last quarter of the year, massive flooding induced by monsoon rains affected the provinces of Pampanga, Ilocos Sur and Quezon. Livelihood assistance in the form of seed dispersal was also provided to 1,500 families whose crops were damaged by floods.

Local Partnersthip and Networking

CDRC continues to broaden its reach to individuals, organizations and institutions. Through its Local Partnership Development Department (LPD), CDRC has established new contacts with fifteen (15) more schools in Metro Manila namely, Ateneo de Manila University, Dela Salle University – Greenhills, College of the Holy Spirit, Espiritu Santo Parochial School, La Consolacion College, Malate Catholic School, National Teachers’ College, Our Lady of Lourdes College, Quezon City Academy, Centro Escolar University, Our Lady of Fatima School, Philippine Christian University, Philippine Women’s University – Taft, La Concordia College, and Holy Redeemer School of Caloocan. On the other hand, ties with ABE-Taft, AMA University, Assumption College, Miriam College, Philippine Science High School, PWU-JASMS, San Beda College, STI College-Cubao, St. Joseph’s College, St. Mary’s College, St. Paul’s College-Parañaque, St. Scholastica’s College, St. Theresa’s College, Teacher Honey Learning Center, UP-Diliman, and UP-Manila were maintained and strengthened. Old ties were renewed with the Dela Salle University, Manila.

CDRC reached out to these schools and institutions not only for its resource generation drive but most importantly in engaging them to support and promote the community-based disaster management as an alternative approach in reducing disaster vulnerabilities. The officials of some of these schools sought the services and expertise of CDRC in exposing their students to social work by bringing them to at-risk communities. Two batches of Disaster Management Orientation (DMO) were conducted for the new set of student volunteers from ABE-Taft and UP-Manila. Fifty (50) students were given orientation on disaster management and on what they can do to help the vulnerable communites. Three forums on Philippine Disaster Situaton and Community-based Disaster Management approach were held in ABE-Taft, San Beda College and STI-Cubao. More than 500 students attended these forums.

A participants student to the Summer Integration Programin Silang, Cavite, together with her poster aprent,had a good time picking coffee beans right from the coffee tree.

Two four-day training integration programs participated in by 16 students from San Beda College, UP-Manila and STI-Cubao were held from April 15 to 17, 2005 in Silang, Cavite and in Pulilan, Bulacan from October 26 to 28. The students spent time with the foster families in Silang whose homes were in danger of being demolished to pave way for a development project. They joined their foster families in harvesting coffee beans and pineapple, as well as in household chores. In Pulilan, their foster peasant families involved them in their day to day work in the farm and in the home.

CDRC continued to facilitate the National Service Training Program (NSTP) of students from San Beda College, UP-Manila and UP-Diliman campuses and the Community Service Program of Dela Salle University-Taft campus. CDRC received a plaque of appreciation from UP-Manila because the students whom we exposed to at-risk communities gave the best reflection papers and shared the best experience from among the hundreds of UP-Manila students who took the NSTP. The STI-Cubao also gave a certificate of appreciation to CDRC with regard to its contribution in raising the social responsibility of students. Throughout the year, CDRC has facilitated the NSTP of 65 students from the four schools.

CDRC continued to serve as the secretariat or the coordinating center of the Citizens’ Disaster Response Network (CDRN). Regular updates and publications were sent out to all the fourteen Network members. The Field Operations Department and the Office of the Executive Director were able to meet and consult at least four times with INPEACE and co-network members in Mindanao (BREAD, DIRECT, HALAD-WEST and MISFI), four times with Alay-Bayan in Central Luzon, and twice with CRRS-CV and TABI in the first semester.

In the second half of the year, a round of consultation meetings were done with co-network members in the Visayas (CRREED, LCDE, CRRC and CPRS). Two rounds of meetings were again done with the Mindanao network partners, Alay-Bayan and the Ilocos Region Development Center (IRDC).

Through CDRC’s efforts, three more NGOs – the EGDRC in North-Central Mindanao, the Center for Environmental and Developmental Studies (CEDS) in Bulacan and the Camarines Sur People’s Organization (CSPO) in Bicol – which has disaster management component in their work have expressed interest in joining the CDRN. Related to this, the Southern Tagalog People’s Resource Center (STPRC) has shared its intention of reactivating its membership to the Network. The membership of these NGOs will be decided and formalized in the next General Assembly of CDRN in 2006.

The Friends of CDRC (FCDRC) continues to grow. It now has a total membership of 92 individuals from schools and institutions. The officers and members of the Friends of CDRC (FCDRC) remained supportive of CDRC’s activities. The FCDRC took active part in the resource generation drive for the displaced families of Samar and Surigao del Sur, as well as for the disaster-affected families in Metro Manila.

CDRC continued to lead the relief delivery and resource generation efforts of the Task Force Kalinga (Task Force: Care). Task Force: Kalinga is a tactical formation of NGOs and institutions that bind together to combine efforts and resources to respond better and effectively to the disaster emergencies that happened during the latter part of 2004. Up until March 2005, the TF: Kalinga members continued their fund and resource generation campaign to help the families and communities badly devastated by the four strong typhoons in December.

Task Force: Kalinga assessed its disaster response activities it had conducted from November 2004 to March 2005. In April 2005, members of the Task Force: Kalinga folded up its relief generation and delivery efforts but all the members signified their willingness and vowed to reconvene should there be another disaster emergency.

Task Force: Kalinga reconvened in the last week of November in the light of the continuing internal displacements in the towns of Tiaong, Sariaya and Candelaria in Quezon province. Representatives of the health NGOs, the emergency desk of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and CDRC met once more to coordinate emergency response efforts to the more than 2,000 families that were dislocated due to clashes between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the New People’s Army (NPA). A relief delivery and medical mission activity was conducted in two communities in Tiaong from December 3 to 4, 2005 where some 766 families were given relief and medical assistance.

International Linkage Work and Partnership

Twelve more partners were added to the list of 74 international partners of CDRC. The new partners bring to 86 CDRC’s international network that is being maintained through regular communications and sending out of updates and publications. This international network provides varying level of assistance to CDRC’s programs and services. Diakonisches Werk (DW) continues to provide institutional assistance to the Core Program of CDRC. DW, Caritas-Switzerland, European Commission (Philippine Delegation) and UNICEF consistently support CDRC in implementing emergency relief and rehabilitation projects in the country.

The Active Learning Network for Accountability and Professionalism in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP), Coordinating Council for International Volunteer Service (CCIVS), Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), UNICEF, and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) continuously provided learning-resource-experiences sharing with CDRC through the conduct of international conferences and seminars.

CDRC attended seven international conference and meetings in 2005. CDRC’s Executive Director and the Local Partnership Development Coordinator officially represented the institution to the World Disaster Reduction Conference in Kobe, Japan on January 18-23, 2005. The Executive Director was also once again invited to attend the first day of the ALNAP 17th and 18th Bi-Annual Meeting in The Hague, Netherlands last June 9, 2005 and in Brussels, Belgium on December 9, 2005.

Likewise, CDRC’s Executive Director represented the organization in the UNCHR Workshop on Action for the Rights of Children held in Bangkok, Thailand from August 28 to September 1.

CDRC and the Center for Relief and Rehabilitation, Education and Economic Development (CREED) served as resource persons in a seminar on “Creating a Culture of Disaster Preparedness and Prevention” sponsored by the Munich Re: Foundation. CDRC’s Executive Director and Armie Almero, Officer-in-Charge of CREED presented a paper about the CDRN’s experiences in implementing the community-based disaster management approach. The seminar was held in Munich, Germany from November 16-18, 2005.

On November 19, 2005, through the kind invitation of German Watch, CDRC’s Executive Director also presented a paper on “Philippine Climate Change Reality: Its Effects on People’s Vulnerability and its Challenges in Reducing Poverty” in Bonn, Germany.

CDRC through its Office of the Executive Director (OED) also maintained active communication and partnerships with four Filipino support groups abroad, namely, the Philippine Charities Foundation based in Florida, USA, the Filipiniana group (based in Munich, Germany), the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON, also based in USA) and the Ugnayang Pinoy, (based in Copenhagen, Denmark). These Filipino groups abroad have donated finance and resources to the vulnerable families in the recent disaster emergencies.

Advocacy and Public Information

The Research and Public Information Department (RPID) took the lead in instituting a sustained and effective disaster monitoring system for CDRC. The RPID staff are on 24-hour watch for any disaster event. They actively seek out information and updates from partner Regional Centers (RCs) affected by disasters and request updates from government agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Disaster Coordinating Council – Office of Civil Defense (NDCC-OCD). The RPID members are also on-hand providing support to the Field Operations Department in conducting Damage, Needs and Capacities Assessment (DNCA) in affected communities.

The photo bank and video documentation files were also more updated. The acquisition of new Pentium-4 computer and video camera helped in the systematization of photo and video files.

A growing number of end-users are making use of the data and photo-documentation of CDRC. Like-minded NGO’s and some government agencies requested CDRC for photographs and statistics on the devastation that happened in most part of Luzon Island last December.

In the first half of the year, RPID through the professional help of Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU) has finally completed the installation and operationalization of CDRC’s new database system. The new database system has made easier the encoding, recording and access of disaster statistics. Regular news clippings, data request from government agencies and other sources are religiously done. Databank encoding is also more up to date.

CDRC came out with its 2004 Disaster Statistical Report in April 2005. Its website, which has been unattended in the last two years, has been updated. The Website Development Training attended by CDRC’s Information & Documentation Officer sponsored by I-Manila was a great help in improving the set up and contents of the CDRC website.

CDRC was able to publish thirteen issues of Disaster Alert. Fire, flooding, devastation caused by strong typhoons and internal displacements caused by armed conflict and development aggression topped the disasters that headlined the issues of Disaster Alert.

The CDRC Annual Report came out in May 2005 and the 2006 Disaster Preparedness calendar came out in the first week of December. Other publications and public information materials done were the power point presentation of the CDRC history and Disaster Management Orientation and CDRC promotional materials on its project in Mindanao.

Special reports about the fact-finding missions on the killings and internal displacements in Sulu, Mindanao and Calbiga, Samar conducted and attended by CDRC were also developed and printed.

Alarmed with the increasing number of internal displacements due to armed conflict and development aggression, CDRC launched a special peace campaign in November, 2005 to bring to the public’s consciousness the situation in the affected areas of the country. The officers and members of the Friends of CDRC (FCDRC) held meetings to discuss the alarming increase in the cases of forced evacuation of communities and offered to help in the campaign.

In line with the special campaign, CDRC also attended an international fact-finding mission report on the peace situation in the country and distributed during the activity CDRC’s statement calling for a stop to forced evacuations and supporting the call for peace initiatives.

2006: Another year of helping people to help themselves

2005 ended with Typhoon Quedan damaging many areas in the provinces of Cagayan Valley, Mindoro and Aklan – typically signaling how we are going to start 2006 in terms of providing disaster response to affected communities.

The whole CDRC organization – more beefed up and reinvigorated; and the hundreds of its consistent partners and friends are ready to continue in their commitment of serving the most needy and vulnerable sector by helping people to help themselves in the coming year.

As we welcome 2006, CDRC would like to thank all the people and organizations who have shared their time and resources for the vulnerable sectors.

2005 YEAR OF ATROCITIES

The year 2005 opened with a loud bang when forces of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) clashed with government troops during the first quarter and had a fiery culmination when armed conflict ensued in Quezon province and again in Sulu in November, coupled by literal fire engulfing a number of areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) after Christmas.

Disasters occurred some 384 times in the year 2005, 12.7% lower than last year’s 440. However, it is important to note that while the overall figures of disaster frequencies and of affected population decreased, internal displacement due to armed conflict drastically increased compared with that of 2004 data.

Disaster-battered islands

Disaster occurrences and the number of affected population hit all 3 major islands of the Philippines in varying intensities. Luzon listed 404,333 families or 2,003,697 affected persons. Visayas had a share of 65,246 affected families or 339,129 affected persons while Mindanao registered 58,572 affected families or 269,242 affected persons.
Topping the list of the five major disasters in terms of frequency is fire with 254 recorded incidents. This is followed by flood at 28; epidemic/outbreak at 24; armed conflict at 23; and landslide with 15 monitored occurrences.

In terms of affected population, tropical cyclone affected the most number of population at 210,011 families or 1,019,646 individuals. Next comes flood with 193,053 affected families or 964,927 individuals; armed conflict with 38,591 affected families or 180,503 individuals; development aggression with 23,696 affected families or 131,313 individuals; and landslide with 23,254 affected families or 116,747 individuals.

Top disaster events

Internal displacement due to armed conflict continued to be in the top five disaster list for the past ten years in terms of affected population and the frequency of occurrence. In 2005, the number of individuals displaced by armed conflict almost tripled compared with 2004. Mindanao topped the list with 122,300 affected individuals mostly from Sulu, followed by 50,805 individuals from Luzon, where most of the affected were from Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog. Visayas came third with 7,398 persons affected by armed conflict, majority of which were from Western Samar.

Development aggression added an additional 131,313 internally displaced persons (IDPs), increasing the number of IDPs to 311,816, some 386% increase from last year’s available data.

Internal displacement’s effects were felt nationwide, as atrocities, namely armed conflict and development aggression, swept throughout the country, beginning in February up to the year’s end.

internal Displacement affected children the most,more than anybody else. Picture taken in an evacuation center in Surigao Del Sur. May 2005

Tropical cyclones and destructive floods were more rampant in the months of September and December. Seventeen (17) typhoons entered the Philippine area of responsibility this year. Of these, six (6) were classified as destructive. Continuous downpour caused by tropical depressions and cyclones brought floods in Regions I (Ilocos Region), II (Cagayan Valley), III (Central Luzon), IV (Southern Tagalog), V (Bicol Region), Region VI, VIII (Eastern Visayas), National Capital Region (NCR), and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). The agricultural sector lost an estimated PhP 138 million worth of produce while damages to infrastructures were pegged at PhP 178 million. The number of individuals affected by tropical cyclones and the accompanying flooding account for 76% of the total number of population affected by disasters this year.

Fire occurred 254 times and gutted down homes and property of 20,902 families or 97,349 persons. Total damage is placed at more than PhP 437 million.

The worst fire this year left 2,000 families homeless in Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City in October. The three hour blaze ravaged the cramped area where once stood thousands of shanties, which were mostly made of highly flammable materials.

Common causes of major fires in Metro Manila included candles or unattended kerosene lamps.

Epidemic or outbreak of diseases severely hit Luzon with 90,000 affected individuals, while Visayas and Mindanao recorded 1,100 and 144 cases respectively. Most were cases of water-borne bacteria that cause gastroenteritis and cholera. The nation was also alarmed of the outbreak of dengue (aedes aegypti) in the provinces and even in the NCR.

Braving ten years of disasters

Within the last decade, from 1996 to 2005, an average of 9.1 million Filipinos were affected by disasters each year.

Having a tropical climate, our country braved weather extremes over the past decade. Scores of tropical cyclones and flash floods battered the country and has affected 56,287,616 persons. Meanwhile, drought brought by El Niño affected 26,041,101 persons and has mainly devastated the agricultural sector, worsening the living conditions of many poor farmers and farm workers.

Over the last ten years, there were some 2,511,969 (IDPs) due to armed conflict, while some 1,023,624 individuals were displaced due to development aggression, making the total number of recorded IDP’s at 3,535,593. In 2001, the Philippines experienced the peak of these mass evacuations as soon as the government declared a State of Lawlessness in the island of Basilan, followed by the declaration of an “all-out-war” against “terrorist groups” in the area. In 2005, there was a total of 180,503 persons that was affected by armed hostilities, almost three times higher than last year’s figure of 63,036 affected individuals.

These disasters further worsened the already remorseful condition of the poor marginalized communities, weakening even more the capacities of these poor communities to withstand the effects of disasters.

Government Assistance to Disaster Affected Population

The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) annual report state that it was able to extend a total of PhP 77,122,687.98 of assistance to those affected by disasters. This amount was pooled from the Local Government Units’ (LGU) and DSWD’s resources. Some 233,377 families or 1,191,155 persons were served inside and outside the evacuation centers. Other Non-Government Organizations (NGO) and government offices extended some PhP 20,688,509.57 amount of assistance to the affected persons. The NCR received the largest amount of assistance at PhP 32,582,728.49 or 33.31% of the total amount of assistance. Receiving the next largest amount is Region IV-B (comprised of Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan) at PhP 11,287,633.05, while the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) received PhP 10,294,494. All the other disaster-stricken regions received not higher than PhP 8 million, with Region X receiving the least amount at PhP 20,000.

Looking closely, the total amount that the government has rendered to the affected population could be broken down to PhP 64.75 per individual. This is for the 1,191,155 persons it was able to serve this year.

CDRC and CDRN response

Even rain non stop CDRC from delivering emergency response to disaster-affected communities. Photo taken during a relief delivery operation in Navotas.

For the entire year, CDRC was able to serve 5,357 families who were affected by destructive typhoons and fire in NCR. In Luzon, 13,918 families were served after typhoons, floods, and internal displacement due to armed conflict affected many municipalities here. In Visayas, 1,697 families were served. In Mindanao, it was 2,579 families. All in all, CDRC was able to extend food and non-food emergency assistance to 30,388 families or 131,886 individuals for the year 2005.

In response to the damages caused by typhoons Unding, Violeta, Winnie, and Yoyong in 2004, rehabilitation efforts were continued until this year. Livelihood assistance through seed disperal activities were implemented in affected communities in Central Luzon, Bicol, Southern Tagalog and Cagayan Valley. Seeds were also distributed in selected communities affected by the raging armed conflict in Mindanao.

Vegetable, palay, and corn seeds were distributed among 7,978 families in selected municipalities in Quezon and Aurora Provinces, Bicol Region, Cagayan Valley, Nueva Ecija, Mindoro, and Southern and Central Mindanao. Livelihood assistance in the form of seed dispersal was also provided to 1,500 families whose crops were damaged by floods induced by monsoon rains in the provinces of Pampanga, Ilocos Sur, and Quezon during the last quarter of the year.

The success of these emergency relief assistance and rehabilitation efforts was attained through the assistance of CDRC’s regional partners, specifically Southern Tagalog People’s Response (STPRC), Center for Relief and Rehabilitation Services – Cagayan Valley (CRRS-CV), Tabang Para sa mga Biktima sa Bikol (TABI), Alay Bayan, Inc (ABI), Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation, Inc (MISFI), Disaster Response Center (DIRECT), Leyte Center for Development (LCDE), and Bread for Emergency Assistance and Development (BREAD).
References:
1. CDRC. Annual Reports 1996-2004
2. CDRC. Assessment Report 2005
3. CDRC. Disaster Alerts, 2005
4. Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC-DSWD) 2005 Annual Disaster Occurances Statistical Consolidation
5. National Disaster Coordinating Council – Office of Civil Defense (NDCC-OCD.) Summary of Man-made and Natural Incidents, January-December 2005
6. News clippings from the following broadsheets: Philippine Star, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Standard Today

REBUILDING LIVES AFTER UNDING, VIOLETA, WINNIE & YOYONG

What was once rich and fertile rice fields looked like the sea. The storm “Winnie” and typhoon “Yoyong” lashed provinces in Luzon causing flashfloods and landslides that reportedly killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more, especially in the provinces of Quezon, Aurora and Nueva Ecija. Typhoon Yoyong was the fourth typhoon to strike in a period of one week since Nov. 14, 2004. A few days earlier, typhoon Unding battered the provinces of Camarines Sur and Mindoro Oriental, where several people were also killed. Unding was followed by typhoon Violeta, and then by Winnie which hit Aurora province, also on the eastern coastline of Luzon. By December 2, 2004, the worst had passed but the ravages of the destructive typhoons have left their scar.

According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), the four weather disturbances damaged eight regions (Regions I, II, III, IV, V, VIII, NCR and CAR). These weather disturbances affected a total of 712,981 families or 3,629,193 persons from 3,186 barangays of 342 municipalities and 31 cities in 35 provinces. Regions III, IV and V were severely affected by “Unding”, “Violeta” and “Winnie”, with the latter incurring the most number of casualties, missing and injured persons. Typhoon “Yoyong” was widespread throughout the entire Luzon but there was less casualty. It aggravated the already devastating effects of Winnie in Regions III and IV.

The reported casualties caused by the four (4) cyclones are: 1,060 dead, 1,023 injured and 566 missing. Most of the casualties was caused by Typhoon “Winnie”: 893 dead (84%), 648 injured (63%) and 443 missing (78%), coming from the Municipalities of Gen Nakar, Real and Infanta, all in Quezon Province.

Houses totally destroyed were 38,358 while 133,161 were partially damaged. The total estimated cost of damage to crops, infrastructure, fisheries, school and health facilities, and transmission lines was placed at PhP5,148.421.

The huge floods that carried logs and slammed into the towns of Real and General Nakar in Quezon province have been blamed on illegal logging activities.

Help is on the way

At the height of the destruction of the four typhoons, CDRC and its partner regional centers namely the Camarines Sur People’s Organizations (CSPO), Center for Relief and Rehabilitation Services - Cagayan Valley (CRRS-CV), Kalipunan ng mga Damayang Mahihirap - National Capital Region (KADAMAY-NCR), an alliance of urban poor organizations, and the Moro-Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA) in Montalban sent letters of appeal requesting for emergency assistance to the affected communities.

As soon as the roads and bridges buried by mud became passable, CDRC sent a team to conduct ocular visits and Damage, Needs and Capacities Assessment (DNCA). There was no doubt that there were serious needs for emergency response and rehabilitation assistance to thousands of affected families and individuals.

CDRC raised its call for donations through its volunteers and friends. It was very heartwarming that CDRC volunteers (students who have since graduated and have been employed) encouraged co-employees and even their corporations to contribute to the efforts of helping the affected families. Internationally, Caritas-Switzerland and Diakonisches Werk in Germany approved a project for relief delivery operations of food and non-food items, as well as economic and livelihood assistance to affected communities.

Volunteers: Key for faster and systematic emergency relief work

Emergency relief operations were simultaneously conducted. Many hearts, hands and minds that poured into the emergency relief work made the latter faster and more systematic.

In Metro Manila, CDRC called on volunteers from various partner organizations to re-pack emergency food and non-food aid. Most of them came from KADAMAY-NCR, students from the University of the Philippines and from San Beda College. Busy hands repacked the standard relief pack which consisted of 6 kilos of rice, half a kilo of dried fish, 1 pint of cooking oil, 3 tin cans of sardines, half a kilo of sugar, half a kilo of mongo beans and 2 pieces of laundry soap. Blankets and sleeping mats were also packed.

In the areas affected by the typhoons, CDRC conducted consultation meetings with partner organizations to discuss emergency relief operations. In the case of CRRS-CV, it ensured that people’s organizations and the community leaders and members in the affected localities actively participated. They formed relief delivery teams and assigned people to help haul and repack relief goods. The teams identified and finalized the list of beneficiaries of food and non-food relief goods based on the existing process and criteria of selection. The officers and members of the people’s organizations and some staff of CRRS-CV and CSPO made courtesy calls to the officials of local government units and discussed the relief delivery operations. As a result, the local government officials were mobilized to provide some resources like vehicles and storage space for the relief goods.

Volunteers joined the local relief delivery teams on a foot trek along the mud-filled routes to bring food and non-food supplies to affected families. From December 2004 to January 2005, 1,010 families from Barangay Maly in San Mateo, Rizal; San Jose in Montalban; and the Manggahan Floodway in Pasig City received food relief. Some 500 families from these areas received non-food relief. From January up to February 2005, 4,012 families from 46 barangays in 7 towns of the Bicol Region received food relief while 2,000 families received non-food aid. These were the seven towns of Calabanga, Tinambac, Caramoan, Garchitorena, Presentacion, Lagonoy and Goa. For the Cagayan Valley Region, relief delivery operations were conducted from January 20 to 29, 2005. Food relief was distributed to 1,060 families in eight barangays in the two towns of Jones and San Mariano. Non-food aid was distributed to 500 families.

Affected families of the four destructive typhoons of 2004 line up during an emergency response early in 2005

Relief delivery operations were without any skirmish. The relief delivery committees issued relief stubs that were distributed to beneficiaries a day before the actual relief distribution. Four to five distribution tables were set up so that the lines were not too crowded and long. An entry-exit system was mapped out. With this in place, the average time consumed for the relief delivery operations was less than two hours.

The relief delivery operation activities were opportunities for the project staff to explain to the community members the nature of disasters, their vulnerability to disasters and how communities can build their capacities toward disaster preparedness and resiliency.

Efforts towards community resource building

Economic and livelihood assistance was the top priority in the aftermath of the typhoons.

Supporting the idea of the farmers, CSPO and CRRS-CV encouraged their farmer-members to start the propagation and seed banking of traditional rice, corn and vegetable seeds. Farmers explained that they were very much burdened with costly expenses from the production of hybrid varieties that require the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. They also lamented the lack of capital for production, prohibitive costs of farm inputs and hybrid seeds while getting low market prices for their agricultural produce. The difficulty has made them heavily burdened by debt to local usurers.

The shift from planting hybrid varieties to traditional rice, corn and vegetable seeds gained active participation among farmers. In preparation, three orientation meetings on Propagation and Seed Banking of traditional seeds were conducted. A four-part training on sustainable agriculture and compost-making was also done. These activities upgraded the skills of the farmers. These also became venues to instill into the consciousness of communities the importance of environmental protection and conservation. The tragedy brought about by the typhoons could be avoided: Stop commercial and massive tree cutting. Nationwide reforestation should be done to avert dangerous flooding triggered by massive tree cutting.

CSPO and CRRS-CV also “planted” the concept of disaster management and disaster preparedness to the beneficiary communities to make them fully aware on ways towards disaster preparedness and community resiliency.

Palay, corn and vegetable seeds (mongo, pechay, eggplant, okra, squash and string beans) were distributed to 2,055 families in 48 barangays of seven towns in Bicol and to 3,677 families in eight barangays of two towns in Cagayan Valley, serving a total of 5,732 families.

The seed dispersal project has borne fruit. The palay, corn and vegetable seeds distributed that have been planted were harvested. The seed dispersal project enabled the families to have food for their consumption. Some vegetable producers gained extra income from the sale of their vegetable produce. In compliance with the policy of seed distribution, palay farmer beneficiaries returned one-third of the volume of seeds they received, or 15 kilograms, to the people ’s organization. Vegetable seed planters also contributed seeds to the people’s organization. Contributing seeds served several purposes: One, it enabled the beneficiaries to store them in the seed bank of the people’s organization for use in the next planting season; Two, it also provided them with seeds to give the next set of qualified farmer-beneficiaries; Three, it also helped them build funds for the organization by commercially selling the seeds.

Farmers receiving from the assistance of CDRC and its partner organizations shared the benefits they received to fellow farmers within their organization. They also took interest in setting up projects of their peasant organization like seed banking and cultivating communal vegetable farms.

The seeds have been planted

A year after, families still quiver when the rains start. Again, stories of families who have lost their loved ones and witnessed how their houses and fields disappear beneath the flood waters are re-told as people re-live their collective memory of typhoon Unding, Violeta, Winnie and Yoyong. These stories are as alive to CDRC because the stories have brought CDRC to these places.

CDRC has walked the path along with its partner organizations in its disaster relief and economic assistance. It has taken one step at a time doing relief delivery operations, then implementing economic and livelihood assistance through seed dispersal programs and undertaking disaster preparedness orientations. The seeds for disaster preparedness and community resiliency have been planted.

UPROOTED PEOPLE START START TAKING ROOTS AGAIN

The one year implementation of the project, “Taking Roots Again: A Vulnerability Reduction Program for the Internally Displaced Peoples of Mindanao” under the Aid to the Uprooted People Program (AUPP) provided opportunities for the “uprooted people” to start “taking roots” – again.

Being displaced by armed conflicts in the past, most of these people became very vulnerable to more hardships in life when they left their communities and livelihood without definite means to meet their basic necessities for survival.

As they seek refuge in different evacuation sites to avoid being caught in the crossfire between warring armed parties, they became more prone to different diseases and other vulnerabilities because of inadequate food while staying in temporary shelters.

Their children were also forced to stop schooling and many of them got sick and some eventually lost their lives during their stay in evacuation centers, as recounted by some of the project beneficiaries during the conduct of Community-Based Monitoring Training.

Aiming to reduce the vulnerabilities and conversely increase the capacities of the internally displaced peoples of Mindanao, the Program designed four major components, namely: food production and livelihood enhancement, health and nutrition improvement, functional literacy and numeracy program, and peace building.

Production and livelihood enhancement component include distribution of working animals, farm machineries, seeds and domestic animals.

Under the improvement of health and nutrition component, the Program shall install potable water system, conduct feeding program in some provinces and hold skills training of community health workers among others.

Functional literacy and numeracy program component include the development of teaching modules, training of community teachers, and the establishment of community schools.

Peace building on the other hand includes expansion and strengthening of partnership for peace-building initiatives and the conduct of community meetings and education-seminars on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and other related United Nation instruments.

These program activities are to be implemented within the span of two years (January 2005 – December 2006) in the pre-identified 63 barangays within 12 provinces and four regions (Western, Northern, Southern, and Far-South) of Mindanao.

The young and the old alike learn the #Rs through the Functional Literacy and Numeracy Program

Amidst the recurring armed skirmishes in various parts of Mindanao, with some hitting the 13 AUPP areas – specifically the Surigao del Sur province in May last year among others – the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) and its partner Regional Centers (RCs) managed to accomplish 85 percent of the planned project activities for 2005.

These accomplishments, particularly in food and livelihood component, redound to more food on the table and additional income for project beneficiaries. An officer of the People’s Organization (PO) in North Cotabato province even declared that they now have adequate fund for some of their organizational activities as they allocate certain percentage derived from the income of their farm machinery project.

Hundreds of community health workers, who are now providing simple basic health services to their respective communities and helped in the propagation and promotion of herbal gardens and medicines, were products of the Health and Nutrition Improvement component.

In addition, this component provided potable water system to several communities and notably improved the nutrition level of children monitored in six communities (Han-ayan, Km 16, Km 15, Km 14, Upper Oregon, and Simowao) of Surigao del Sur.

Likewise, the functional and literacy program component has produced and developed hundreds of “community teachers” who have helped create “learned” communities.

“The literacy program is a big help to our children and we wish that it would continue,” Shakira Abdulnasser, an active parent said in her speech during the Graduation Rites of the Interfaith Early Childhood Care and Development Program in Barangay Layog, Pagalungan, Maguindanao.

Barangay Layog is a recipient of Literacy-Numeracy Program of Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation, Inc. (MISFI), a regional partner-NGO of CDRC in the implementation of AUPP in Maguindanao and Compostela Valley provinces based in Davao City.

Peace-building component, on the other hand, made the community members more aware of their rights and learned to apply this awareness in protecting their civil and political rights.

Indeed, the once “uprooted people” started “taking roots” as they continue “growing” to become better-prepared and disaster-resilient communities through the help of AUPP activities.

Hopefully, these communities would one day become as resilient as the bamboo tree – though bending in the face of strong winds brought by storm, remains standing and could never be uprooted because of its roots strongly holding to the ground.

(AUPP is supported by the European Union, specifically the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines. CDRC implemented the program with the following regional non-government organizations (NGOs) as partners: Humanitarian Alliance Against Disasters – Western Mindanao, Bread for Emergency Assistance and Development – Northern Mindanao, Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation, Inc. – Southern Mindanao, and Disaster Response Center – Far-South Mindanao.)

MANAGING CDRC's MOST IMPORTANT RESOURCES

Year 2005 saw the influx of new faces in almost all departments of the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC), as well as its Mindanao Field Office (MFO).

Early in the year, the Research and Public Information Department (RPID) saw the coming of Glenn Latoza as Information and Documentation Officer, Aunario Lucero, Jr. as Advocacy Officer, and Rey K. Palacio as Coordinator. At about the same time, Elenita Montecillo and Richard Magbitang proved to be essential additions to the Finance Department and the Administrative Department, respectively.

A long time Friends of CDRC (FCDRC) member, Martha Parreñas, joined the staff in midyear as Local Partnership Development (LPD) Officer, while Bruce Dig and Loida Longcop beefed up the Field Operations Department (FOD).

Later in the year, Katharina Anne Berza came in as the new Advocacy Officer in place of Mr. Lucero, who was transferred to FOD as Training Officer I.

CDRC’s Mindanao Field Office was likewise boosted up with the coming of Marieta Malaki, Allen Terencio, Edgardo Naguio, Maria Cristina Cuyno, and Duane Bastasa. Lovey Aton and Daisy Benitez later moved in in place of Ms. Cuyno and Mr. Bastasa, who decided to make a career change.

Glenn latoza of Research and Public Information Department (RPID) gets a good wrap from Administrative Department's Louie Sabugo and People's Organization (PO) representative during the First Aid/ First Responder's Training held in April 2005.

In the face of this inflow of sixteen new faces, enhancement of the competence and capacity of its staff, especially the newly hired ones, could be CDRC’s most important undertaking, among many others, during the year 2005. CDRC believes that no organizational effort would prove successful if its members lack the necessary knowledge, skills, and proper attitude to function as they should. One of CDRC’s answers to this is its skills development seminars/trainings, being an integral part of its human resource development plan, to raise its organizational capacity for the efficient sustenance of its operations.

Disaster Preparedness Training (DPT) comprised the first set of trainings not only for the newcomers, but for the DM veterans, as well. The new staff took the Disaster Management Orientation (DMO) training during their community integrations, thereby completing their Community-Based Disaster Management (CBDM) training.

Together with representatives from various people’s organizations, non-governmental organizations, and schools in the National Capital Region (NCR), the CDRC staff underwent the three-day First Aid / First Responder’s Training from April 6 to 9 at the CDRC office. The training focused on the basics of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), wound dressing, management of fractures, and other first aid essentials. A Philippine disaster situationer with focused discussion on earthquake, given by Jun Saturay of the National Institute of Geological Sciences, provided the context and served effective launching pad for the skills training.

Administrative Department staff Richard Magbitang pins metacards while Julie Passi, Training Desk coordinator looks on during the Disaster Preparedness Training given to CDRC staff.

Likewise, CDRC ensured the active participation of its concerned staffer/s to special skills trainings/seminars given by other professional organizations. These include the Website Development Training from 3 to 7 April and the Computer Trainer’s Training from 5 to 15 December, both given by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). This was a big help to CDRC’s new Information and Documentation Officer, Mr. Latoza, specifically in updating CDRC’s website, as well as in as data banking and documentation work.

The Symposium on Science and Technology on Disaster Preparedness, which was attended by three of CDRC’s staff, Ms. Passi, Mr. Lucero,and Mr. Palacio on 15 July, showcased science and technology’s part in disaster preparedness.

Through the Philippine Disaster Management Forum Advocacy Planning Workshop, held on 26 August, the CDRC took an active part in the formulation of action plans on DM advocacy. It was attended by CDRC’s Executive Director and RPID Coordinator.

The Getting Media and Civil Society Organizations to Work Together Seminar, held on October 28, proved helpful to CDRC’s new Advocacy Officer, Ms. Berza, whose work involves that of dealing with the media. Also in October 2005, Jun Lucero and Mayet Malaki attended the three-day Advance Training of Trainers organized by the Center for Disaster Preparedness.

A big help to CDRC’s Finance Department were the European Union’s training, The Audit of External Operations, An Introduction, held in November and attended by Ms. Nenita Berones and Ms. Elpidia Baylosis; and the seminar on The Implications of the New Accounting Standards to NGOs, held on 2 December and attended by Ms. Montecillo, Ms. Baylosis, and Ms. Berones.

True to its commitment to capacitate the people, CDRC never misses any opportunity to capacitate its own – aiming to serve others better.

LIVING WITH ATROCITIES

A special year end report on internal displacements due to armed conflict and developmental aggression (2005)

Each year, an average of 9 million Filipinos is affected by both natural and human-made disasters. Of these, 3% are affected by a human-made disaster caused by armed conflict and developmental aggression.

Armed conflict is a condition of armed hostilities between nations or population groups, such as the military operations against the New People’s Army (NPA), the Abu Sayyaf Group, or the supposed Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) breakaway group. Developmental aggression, on the other hand, involves massive environmental destruction, gross violation of human rights, and the physical displacement and/or economic dislocation of affected communities to give way to government or government-backed projects, which in most cases employ the military or armed goons to counter the people’s oppositions to said undertakings. Indeed, in many rural communities, military operation is the government’s response to insurgency and to people’s oppositions to developmental projects.

The effects of these human-made disasters to affected communities range from material to physical, as well as from emotional to psychosocial. The deployment of military personnel to flush out insurgents or to push developmental projects usually results in the displacement of people in affected communities. There are times when whole communities are displaced. Even mere military presence is sometimes a cause for alarm among community members.

War in the Philippine countryside

War has been going on in the Philippine countryside for some 36 years now: There is the government’s war against the New People’s Army (NPA) since 1969. There is also one against the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) since the early 70’s. To this day, those wars, together with new ones, such as those waged by the government against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group, remain and continue to displace thousands upon thousands of people each year.

From 1972 to the first quarter of 1984, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) placed the number of evacuees caused by armed conflict in the Philippines at 5,704,913 persons or 1,040,206 families.

Since the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) started documenting armed conflict related displacement cases in 1986, it has recorded a total of 3,029,847 individuals or some 541,045 families displaced from 1986 through 2005, more than one-third of which was incurred during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term alone.

From 1986 to 2005, the year 2000 saw the highest number of internally displaced persons due to armed conflict (743,035 IDPs). It is immediately followed by year 2003, yielding 585,107 IDPs. Indeed, from 2000 to 2005, armed conflict remained in the list of top 5 disasters in terms of number of persons affected as documented by CDRC.

Developmental Aggression

Similarly, developmental aggression is one hazard that has raised much concern due to the massive displacements that it has wrought in favor of developmental projects, such as logging and mining. From 1991 up to 2005, the number of individuals displaced to give way to developmental projects nationwide is placed at more than 925,795 or some 165,320 families.

As of May 2005, a total of 220 mining permit holders have been recorded by the Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines (CEC). These permits cover more than 467,938 hectares approved for mining operations.

Also last year, as of February, the CEC documented a total of 3,414 forest tenurial agreements covering some 3.4 million hectares of forest lands.

These are areas of much concern, not only environment wise, but also because these forest lands are homes to 22 million Filipinos, as well as the ancestral domain of 12 million indigenous peoples in the country. These only mean that millions of Filipinos are to be affected (read: displaced) by the implementation of these mining and logging projects, as well as other so called developmental projects, not only in the countryside, but also in urban areas.
We have prepared this special report to look closer into the issue of internal displacements due to armed conflict and developmental aggression in the year 2005. This report focuses on humanitarian concerns, specifically on internal displacements of persons and communities.

2005: A year of massive internal displacements

Internal displacement profoundly marked the year 2005 due to the massive evacuations, as well as economic dislocations, that the year brought forth throughout the country. From a total of 64,201 IDPs due to both armed conflict and developmental aggression in 2004, it quintupled in 2005 at 311,816 IDPs.

It began with the war in Sulu, Mindanao in February and ended with the military offensives in Quezon Province. In between were various other atrocity-related displacements, either economically dislocating or physically dislocating (or both) thousands of families.

Internal displacements due to armed conflict usually resulted from the military’s operations against supposed insurgents in the countryside. Attacks, however, were usually carried out even directly against the civilian populace. Human rights violations were widespread and unchecked. Military operations were staged in civilian communities, seriously affecting the safety and security of the people and their normal way of life.

Of the total twenty-three (23) documented cases of armed conflict that affected some 200 barangays in 2005, there are fifteen documented cases of indiscriminate firing and bombing that affected 23,191 individuals in 36 communities. Fifty-three houses have been totally destroyed, while four were partially damaged. Deaths and injuries yielded thirty-four individuals each.
The eleven documented cases of developmental aggressions on the other hand either physically or economically dislocated a total of 131,313 individuals, either through use of goons and/or military elements. Just like in armed conflict, violations of human rights were freely perpetrated against the affected communities.

In both armed conflict and developmental aggression, there are at least 23 documented instances where public places, such as schools and places of worship, were used for military purposes, endangering more than 2,700 civilians in at least thirteen communities.

Meanwhile, government assistance to those affected by both atrocities was a little less than PhP9.7 million, which is barely equivalent to PhP31.00 per affected individual. Consider, too, that the amount covered other costs, such as medical assistance, burial, and repair of damaged public utilities among many others.

The instances cited below were chosen and prepared to give the reader a good view of what actually went on in 2005 as far as internal displacement due to atrocities, namely, armed conflict and developmental aggression, is concern.

The renewed wars in Sulu

On 6 February 2005, a major war once again blew up in Sulu and spread like wildfire to seven municipalities of Panamao, Patikul, Panglima Estino, Indanan, Talipao, Luuk, and Maimbong.

According to the Moro Christian Peoples Alliance (MCPA), prior to February 6, military operations have long been going on in the municipalities of Panamao, Indanan, and Maimbong, supposedly in pursuit of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) elements. This resulted in the February 1 massacre of a family in Maimbong by the military.

Still according to MCPA, the Moro people’s long pent up resentment over the continued violation by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the 1996 Peace Accord has reached its breaking point when the massacre happened. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) retaliated on 6 February.

In answer to this, the Southern Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) vowed to a “fight to the finish”. Malacañang further issued a no ceasefire order.

In no time, no less than 100,000 individuals or some 20,000 families were displaced seeking shelter in evacuation centers and in relatives’ homes away from the conflict. Of these, at least 59 families, comprising of 317 individuals, were forcibly evacuated.

In the months that followed, the war that began in February 6 somewhat eased up.

Nine months later, on November 11, 2005, a combined government forces launched renewed attacks in Indanan. The fighting reached Panamao on November 13 and then Panglima Estino. War-weary Sulu was plunged into war once more. Structures left standing after the February war were totally destroyed this time, according to MCPA.

More than 1,273 families or some 7,700 individuals, children and women mostly, fled their homes for safer places as fighting grew fiercer. After an Air Force plane dropped flyers warning the residents of full scale military operations on November 16, the number of displaced families grew to almost 2,000 families or some 10,000 individuals. According to Malacañang, the operations were to mark a high point in the government’s anti-terrorism campaign.

Humanitarian concerns

It is estimated that the Sulu wars have displaced some 22,000 families or roughly 130,000 individuals, comprising mostly of children and women. The evacuees either fled to evacuation centers or shared the roofs of relatives in some safer areas.

In evacuation centers, the evacuees were cramped in inhumane conditions, making do with little food and water. During the February war, the Provincial Civil Defense Office of Sulu reported that the local National Food Authority (NFA) has ran out of rice stocks. The continued fighting added more injury by hampering the transport of relief goods from available stocks in Zamboanga City.

Medical findings of the Sulu Mercy Mission (SMM) team in March 2005 documented the following illnesses common to patients they have checked-up and treated: cough, lung problems, fever, colds, ulcer, gastritis, musculo-skeletal pains, headaches, hypertension, infected wounds, nutria deficiency, goiter, stress, tension, and diarrhea among children. According to the team’s medical report, these illnesses are war related.
Trauma has also been observed among community members, specifically the children. Nine of the children, with age ranging from 7 to 15 years old, assessed by SMM’s psychosocial team deployed to Sulu in March were very afraid even at the mere sight of military men or a helicopter. They could not even sleep whenever they hear helicopters flying around.

Lack of access to medical services and the lack of medicine supplies aggravated the health conditions of the evacuees. Because of the war, medical and related services could not reach the affected areas.

These recent conflicts also disrupted the already insufficient basic services in Sulu. Classes had to be suspended as some schools were used as evacuation centers. SMM even documented the use of public schools, namely, Hadji Panglima Tingkahan Elementary School, Kahuy-Sinah Elementary School, and Indanan National High School for military purposes during the Sulu war in February.

A medical and relief delivery mission to Sulu in March was also interrupted by military operations in affected areas. The Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) representatives to the mission recounted having to wait until the bombings stop in an area in Patikul before the team could proceed with the delivery of goods and medical services.

Many public and private structures were either damaged or totally destroyed. The SMM team in March was also able to document the bombing of a water installation in the Municipality of Parang, which cut the water supply even of nearby areas.

Far from their source of living, evacuees resorted to what they termed as “guerilla farming”, which means going back to their farms in secret to harvest their crops. One Tausug family of eight in Tacut-tacut, Jolo accepted five other relative families who fled their homes in the affected areas. They would tell that their males would walk not less than six hours through rugged detours just to get to their farms in secret and harvest whatever was ready for harvesting. The danger of getting caught by the military, however, meant death, according to them.

Still in Jolo, another Tausug family hosted 20 other families of kin. They had to cramp themselves in a shanty not large enough even for the host family. Worst, coming by their daily subsistence was almost always by way of a miracle, as only the female host is earning measly as a fish vendor.

At the height of the February war in Sulu, bombs not less than 10 times per day were dropped in many civilian populated communities for nine consecutive days, according to SMM. At least 32 families were directly affected by these aerial bombings.

Some public facilities, such as schools and even mosques, were turned into military camps and detachments. Many dwelling places, which were left by their owners for some safer places were also used for military purposes.

In every instance of Displacement, it is the children and the women who comprise the majority, usually bearing the most pain and anguish.

Going back home did not mean safety and security. It could mean the worst, especially to those who were forcibly displaced. Even going back home, should the war end, would not mean life would be back to normal. Returnees know that starting all over again is a painful process, especially with the sight of what was formerly home in utter ruin and spattered with the blood of loved ones.

The children

In these 2 recent wars in Sulu, it is the children who suffered the most. Stories that they told the SMM are stories of fear and terror, which might burden them for long.

Eleven-year old Nomic Abdula recounted seeing a bomb dropped from a helicopter while he and his friends were playing one February afternoon. He spoke of trucks full of soldiers coming into their community; helicopters dropping bombs and hitting houses; and other scampering children being shot by soldiers. He vividly recounted how his father and grandfather were shot – and luckily, missed – by the military as their family fled for safety.

During a therapy session where children were asked to draw or write an experience which they could not forget, a boy named Julah drew a helicopter dropping bombs in their community while he was flying kite.

Some children even recounted seeing their houses burned to the ground by soldiers. They were afraid whenever they see guns, mortars, canons, helicopters, and jeeps and trucks of the military.

About 70 children who have undergone psychosocial assessment conducted by the SMM have all been observed to be fearful, have low self esteem, shy, wallow in self-pity, lack sleep, and have deep seated anger against the military.

Lack of medicine and sanitary food and water added to the children’s vulnerability to illness. Cramped in evacuation centers or even in relatives’ small shanties, the children were easy prey to all sorts of illness.

The children could not go to school, too. Their schools have either been used as evacuation centers or as military camps and quarters. Safety and security of school children, as well as the teachers, is another reason for this interruption in the children’s schooling.

Displacements in Northern Leyte

As war rages in Sulu in Mindanao, the first of a series of mass evacuations in Northern Leyte in the Visayas has just began on 15 March 2005. Seventy families in highly militarized areas in Barangay San Antonio, municipality of Hilongos were ordered by the military to evacuate.

On July 4, news of a farmer killed by military elements triggered a series of evacuation in Ormoc.Thirty-five families from Barangay Boroc fled for safety. This was followed by twenty-two families from nearby communities. Of these 57 families who evacuated in Ormoc, about 500 are children.

“We fear being caught up in the military’s operations,” said the evacuees.

What the people feared were the rising incidence of human rights violations (HRV) perpetrated against non-combatants. Physical assaults, illegal arrests, violations of domiciles, and other forms of HRVs, presumably used to intimidate the local populace, were rampant.

Meanwhile thirty-nine families from two peasant communities in the municipality of Mahaplag were also ordered by the military to leave. According to witnesses who maintained anonymity for security reasons, the military demolished fifteen houses in one of the communities and threatened to kill the evacuating residents if they returned. One farmer went back to reconstruct his house and was killed.

In the municipality of Baybay, residents in the interior villages also had to flee due to intensive military operations.

By August 2005, Leyte Center for Development (LCDE) reported that the series of evacuations from the remote communities in Ormoc, Mahaplag, Hilongos, and Baybay yielded a total of 257 displaced families, who were either staying in the barangay proper or town center of their respective communities.

Another round of massive displacement in Western Samar

In Western Samar, the government’s counter insurgency campaign was similarly intensified. By May that same year, 247 families or some 1,380 individuals from at least seven mountain barrios of Calbiga were displaced. By June, LCDE reported that an additional 377 families or some 2,000 individuals from the rugged barrios of Paranas were also displaced.

In stepping up their offensives against the New People’s Army (NPA), elements of the 8th Infantry Division (ID), under the command of Major General Jovito Palparan, have based themselves in the communities.

Villagers’ movements were heavily monitored. Log books were placed in many barrios for residents to log-in and –out.

Humanitarian concerns

As the economic activities of the villagers, who are mostly poor peasants, were seriously affected, many were forced to eat only twice each day. They usually content themselves with root crops in the morning and rice and salt in the evening. Vegetables and fish were hard to acquire, as the villagers’ movements were heavily guarded and limited. They were allowed only two hours to attend to their farms, after which they had to log-in back to their communities.

Violations of human rights were rampant. According to the mission statement of the Interfaith Solidarity Mission (IFSM) in Western Samar in June 2005, it is approximated that some 76 cases of human rights violations (HRVs) in the area occurred every month from February to May that year, equivalent to more than two cases per day.

An unsolicited speech before a crowd of farmers in Paranas, Western Samar, during a relief delivery operation and medical mission for the families affected by counter insurgency operationin the area.

The IFSM team has also documented an additional 77 HRV cases from eight barangays in Paranas and from Catbalogan. These include harassment, physical assault, violations of domicile, illegal arrest, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, summary execution, forcible evacuation, and internal displacement among others.

Even local government officials were not spared from the terror. According to the IFSM report, at least three mayors were accused of being NPA supporters; a vice mayor was picked up for questioning; and a barangay official was murdered in front of his wife by suspected military elements.

In an interview, one barangay chairman told of an incident in which he and other barangay officials were ordered by military elements to “surrender” because of their supposed involvement in NPA activities. The barangay chairman’s house was also repeatedly used by the military to interrogate and torture suspected NPA supporters.

A young farmer from Paranas, who requested anonymity for security reason, was forced to have his tattoo on upper arm erased by military elements through the use of a corrosive fluid. The palm-size burn that the fluid caused was so severe that the area was all red flesh splattered with pus.

This situation was more than enough to place the affected areas in extreme fear and tension. Even mere casual conversation with the people revealed they were constantly in fear. There was no respect for civilian authority anymore. “We fear even the knocks on our doors”, said one peasant.

This situation has caused many to leave their homes and livelihood behind, even just for safety and security’s sake. Those who have fled, however, were awaited by unemployment and abject poverty. Those who suffered the most were the children and the women.

Another displacement in Surigao del Sur

In Surigao del Sur in CARAGA Region, the months of April and May 2005 have brought similar disaster to a total of 856 families or 5,097 individuals, 250 of which are children aged 0-6.

On April 28, military men in 11 six by six trucks and a Chemite cannon entered Barangay Diatagon of the municipality of Lianga in a supposed operation to purge the community of NPA rebels. At once, three civilians were physically assaulted and interrogated as to the whereabouts of the rebels.

By May 1, more elements of the Philippine Army arrived in Mahaba, Municipality of Marihatag, and immediately converted the barangay’s multi-purpose hall and many residents’ houses into military barracks.

The days that followed saw gun fires coming from all sides. Two helicopters were firing their 50 caliber machine guns at forested areas known to be populated by lumads. Farmlands around the evacuation center in Diatagon, which was already occupied by evacuees, were also strafed and bombarded destroying precious crops. Houses were burned and fired at indiscriminately. Schools and other public places were used for military purposes endangering civilians even more.

In evacuation,women and children are exposed to more violations of their already deprived rights.

Eleven communities, comprising of 1,188 individuals were forcibly evacuated, while five other communities of 628 individuals were placed in forcible re-concentration and under food and economic blockades.

There was at least one documented report where medical treatment was denied by the military to an injured civilian. One family man was shot while evacuating with his family. He died later for lack of imme diate medical attention.

Humanitarian concerns

The four long days of indiscriminate bombings and strafing have practically placed the affected areas in utter disarray and forced the residents to seek safer grounds. The majority were in evacuation centers. Some took shelter in relatives’ homes elsewhere.
In evacuation centers, evacuees were cramped in inhumane conditions. Food, sanitary water, and medicine were lacking. Worries for the future haunted the young and the old alike. They did not have much provision to survive them for long, should the military operations continue. Even if they could go back to their communities, rebuilding would be difficult, especially for those who have lost homes and livelihood to the military operation.

Many children got sick with fever, cough, and colds. The trauma also appeared in their faces, the fear in their eyes. School time was suspended for a period of time no one knew how long. Playtime was over, too, somehow. What’s worst, the agonies of war would be difficult to remove from their hearts.

Obando, Bulacan: for dump’s sake

In April of 2005, fisher folks from Barangays Binuangan and Salambao in Obando, Bulacan, gathered to celebrate the Earth Day and to finally resolve the almost 4 year old problem that has seriously affected their economic activities and even their health – the 11 hectare Navotas dumpsite, which is situated in the river system of Obando, Navotas, and Malabon.

Since the dumpsite began operation in 2001, the people of Tanza in Navotas and of Obando have been clamoring for its closure and rehabilitation as it directly affected their health and livelihood.

“We’ve called the attention of the Navotas Mayor, PHILECO (referring to the Philippine Ecology System’s Corporation, the dump’s contractor), the DENR, even President Arroyo, just to have the Navotas dumpsite closed and rehabilitated,” said Ka Boy, leader of a fishers’ organization in Obando. “We could not take the terrible smell of the garbage coming from the passing barges and from the dumpsite itself. Worst, the fishermen could not catch a good harvest anymore. The river is polluted.”

This situation pushed the people of the two directly affected barangays in Obando, Salambao and Binuangan, to finally take the step of peacefully barricading the river of Binuangan in April 2005 to block the passage of barges carrying tons of garbage from Pier 18 in Manila to the Navotas dump.

In spite of various harassments from dump authorities, for some eight months, the people’s barricade stood undeterred. By November, however, some twenty military elements were deployed right in the small island community of Barangay Binuangan. The barangay’s hall and day care school were immediately converted to barracks.

Humanitarian concerns

The arrival of the military elements to their area means they could no longer continue with their barricade. It means they should start to live with the ill effects of the 11 hectare dump situated right in their source of food and livelihood.

At one time, while the people persisted in blocking a barge’s entry, a military pointed his automatic weapon at one of the barricader, and then fired a series of shots at the water, presumably to create terror and prevent the people from blocking the barge’s entry.

The operation of the dump, which was heavily backed by the Navotas municipality and even the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and the deployment of military elements in the area to suppress the people’s opposition to the dump, have caused added economic burden and posed safety, security, and health threats to 6,634 individuals in Binuangan and 1,083 individuals in Salambao. The dump also pollutes the river system that serves as the source of living of thousands of fisher folks and feeds tens of thousands all over the National Capital Region (NCR) and even the provinces.

The fisher folks, especially the poor ones, had to content themselves with whatever is available from the river for their daily subsistence. Though they knew the dangers, they had no choice.

Meanwhile, the children continued to bathe in the Binuangan River as they were fond of doing, unaware of various illnesses that the river offers.

Armed conflict and developmental aggression in Porac, Pampanga

In Porac, Pampanga, what was supposed to be a counter insurgency operation in Kamias Resettlement Area in October 2005, the civilians became the apparent targets.

For days before the military operation in the area in October, elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been roaming the area, which is home to more than 200 Aeta families, relocated there after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

On October 25, the military came to conduct what they called as counter insurgency operations. At once Kamias’ Barangay officials, firearms pointed at them, were held for questioning as to their involvement in NPA activities. The military even accused them of being NPAs themselves.

At one time, in response to the people’s plea for food the military snarled at them with the words “we don’t care about you, because you give protection to NPAs.”
One Tisoy, a known military asset, was heard to have said “kapag nabawasan ng limang lider ang Kamias, lalabas na siguro ang NPA.” (If Kamias would be rid of five leaders, perhaps the NPAs would show up.)

Toys for these Aeta children draw a smile in their faces, even if temporary.

The barangay’s chairman was found shot dead on September 16, one week after men in uniform spoke to him in threatening words “mukhang ikaw ang protektor ng NPA, nasa utak mo ang underground. Bakit di ka makipag-isa sa gobyerno?” (It seems you are the NPAs’ protector. “Underground” is right there in your brains. Why don’t you cooperate with the government?)

The Aetas also fear three other threats to their habitation of the area: The Dizon Mining Corporation, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project (SCTEP), and three individuals claiming ownership of big portions of the land. In fact, in 2004, the Aetas dwellings almost got demolished if not for their protests. It is also easy to think that the presence of the military in the area could have something to do with these as well.

Humanitarian concerns

Kamias has long been known to be an impoverished area. According to Violeta Abuque, the barangay’s health worker, “There are 56 malnourished children in the area.” Medicine is lacking, as Kamias is far from the town center.
Because of utter poverty, children, together with their parents, are forced to do farm works. The PTA chairman of the barangay’s elementary school, said that absenteeism was frequent prior to the coming of the military. But when the military came, the situation worsened, as even those who were persistent in attending classes never went to school anymore. During the intense military operation in the area, classes were suspended for three days.

Because they knew that the military was just around them, the Aetas could no longer roam to find food, affecting their livelihood even more. When the military intensified their operation, the aetas hardly had anything to eat.

Military offensives in Quezon Province

In November 2005, military offensives against the NPAs were staged in various municipalities in Quezon Province. Immediately, some 1,647 families or some 9,000 individuals from the municipalities of Dolores, Candelaria, and Tiaong abandoned their homes to avoid the crossfire.

“We were playing in the field,” said a 6 year old boy from Candelaria. “We shouted when we saw low flying helicopters. Then there were explosions. Then we all fled crying.”

Humanitarian concerns

The military operations had classes in all levels in both public and private schools suspended. Even government transactions at the municipal hall of Dolores had to be deferred. Farmers could no longer tend their farms. The people had no choice but to leave their homes and livelihood behind.

Even though two-thirds of the reported number of evacuees chose to stay in relatives’ homes, evacuation centers were cramped. Food shortage and the safety of their belongings, which they left behind, forced almost half of evacuees to return to their homes after a brief stay in evacuation centers.

In spite of the danger, the evacuees had relatively good reasons for returning home: lootings were reported in areas deserted by evacuees. Homes were broken into and robbed. Livestock were also stolen. One local NGO reported having caught a Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) member pillaging a deserted house.

One local social welfare officer stated that trauma among the children is one biggest concern among others.

The real issue

The above-discussed cases are just some of the highlights of internal displacements of people caused by atrocities, namely, armed conflict and developmental aggression in 2005. The year yielded a documented total of 311,816 internally displaced persons (IDPs) as an inevitable result of atrocities.

The cases give a clearer picture of how those who are affected by atrocities, many times repeatedly, are usually affected in the following ways:

Firstly, their access to basic services, such as health and education, are further worsened. Before the atrocity, these people are already suffering from lack of basic services. During and even after the atrocity, this lack worsens, sometimes to agonizing extent, which is at times fatal. In Mindanao, in 2005, at least three children displaced due to fighting have died from diarrhea caused by inadequate food and unsanitary water in evacuation centers. 
 
Secondly, there is an increased incapacity on the affected to address their food security and economic livelihood. Their daily subsistence comes directly from their sweat and the little land that they own, which is part of what they call “home”. When atrocity comes, they usually have to leave their homes behind, to at least save their lives and/or limbs. Even though some desire to remain, they are forced to evacuate upon order from the military or armed goons. Those who manage to remain could not move about as freely as they do before, so that they could no longer attend to their economic activities as much as required.

And lastly, their rights are seriously violated. In all instances cited in this report, we see every sort of human rights violations committed against the affected communities. Many times, even supposed counter insurgency operations have non-combatants as targets of attacks: Their communities are strafed and bombed. Their houses are pillaged and burned to ashes. Those who try to run for their lives are shot to death.

In all instances of atrocities the issue of the increased vulnerability of the vulnerable affected masses becomes all the more prominent.

Wherever atrocity is committed, it is always the poor and neglected many – the peasants, the fisher folks, the masses – who fall prey to it. Their lack of capacity to withstand the atrocity makes them an easy prey. Atrocities aimed at these people feed on their vulnerability and increase the same, incapacitating them all the more, creating an unending cycle.

Instead of seeing progress, as promised by those who push for supposed counter insurgency efforts and developmental projects, the affected get more and more downtrodden and subject to endless exploitation by the moneyed, powerful few, who are usually people in authority. The instances cited in this report are testimonies to this.

The real solution

Internal displacements of people are the result of the latter’s vulnerability. The people’s lack of capacity to confront or withstand the onslaught of armed conflict and developmental aggression leads to their displacement.

The people’s vulnerability, on the other hand, is the result of their poverty, which was born through a long history of social and political decadence. Poverty, in essence, does not only mean economic impoverishment. It digs deeper and touches the people’s lack of access to basic services, violations of rights, prejudices and other injustices.
We have seen how many years of war, usually veiled under the cloak of counter-insurgency, have not solved what they intend to solve. In fact, the efforts to counter insurgency through military offensives and other operations apparently fuel insurgency even more. Insurgency remains. The reason? Poverty.

This is true as well with developmental projects, which come packed with beautiful promises of improved lives for the communities where such projects are undertaken. In the end, however, we see the affected communities robbed of their land and livelihood. They are flushed out of their own homes just to give way to projects, of which only the moneyed powerful few would benefit. The result? More poverty.

Every disaster, in this case armed conflict and developmental aggression and the resulting displacement of communities, is a question of vulnerability and its root causes. The Filipino people’s vulnerability and incapacity is usually rooted in poverty, which is the inevitable consequence of a decadent social and political structure – a rotten system, as many wish to call it.

The people’s vulnerability, which is rooted in poverty, must be addressed, if we are to eliminate or at least mitigate disaster. A simple detailed equation to show what we might call as “poverty-disaster-poverty…” paradigm would be something like this: As atrocity increases, poverty increases: As poverty increases, capacity decreases: As capacity decreases, vulnerability increases: And as vulnerability increases, disaster increases.

Responding to disaster, therefore, should not only focus on increasing the people’s technical capacities against disaster, as this would only scratch the surface. Disaster response is a matter of taking active part in the people’s overall effort to bring about a just, humane, and democratic society – a society that is free from atrocities – a society in just peace.

References:

Alay Bayan, Inc. report, 2005
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Southern Tagalog (BAYAN-ST), fact-finding mission to Quezon Province Report, November 2005
Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP). Citizenry-Based & Development-Oriented Disaster Response. Quezon City: Final Proof Printing, Inc, 2001
Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines. Saving our Future: A Situationer on Philippine Environment and Struggles. Troika Press. 2005
Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC). Annual Repor. Quezon City, 1995 to 2004
Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC). Disaster Alert No.1. 8 March 2005
Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC). Disaster Alert No.3. 16 May 2005
Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC). Disaster Alert No.8. 16 November 2005
Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC). Disaster Alert No.9. 25 November 2005
Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC). Mga Batayang Konsepto sa Disaster at Pamamahala sa Disaster (A Primer), Oct 2003
Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC). Disasters : The Philippine Experience. Parañaque City: PT Martin Publishing Services, 1992
Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) file photos & video clips
Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) field reports
Department of Social Welfare & Development – Disaster Response Operations Monitoring & Information Center (DSWD-DROMIC). Comprehensive Disaster Report, 2005
Ibon Foundation. Ibon Philippines Profile. Manila, 2002
Interfaith Solidarity Mission to Western Samar report, 2005
Kalinaw Mindanao. Sulu Mercy Mission Report. March 2005
KARAPATAN. Human Rights Violations Report, September 2005
KARAPATAN - Eastern Visayas report, 2005
KARAPATAN – Surigao Sur report, May 2005
Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid ng Timog Katagalugan (KASAMA-TK) report, December 2005
Leyte Center for Development (LCDE) reports, 2005
Moro-Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA). Unveiling the truth behind the war in Mindanao. Quezon City, 2005
Office of Civil Defense – National Disaster Coordinating Council (OCD-NDCC) . 2005 Disaster Report, 2005
Serve the People Corps Report, December 2005

CDRC SHARES COMMUNITY-BASED DISASTER MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCES IN GERMANY

In January 2005, the second World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) took place in Kobe, Japan. More than 3,000 delegates from 120 countries discussed how to optimize disaster management worldwide. The conference was influenced by the tsunami tragedy in the Indian Ocean, which claimed more than 200,000 lives.
Even after the WCDR, however, important questions remained open. Are the current global initiatives for disaster prevention adequate? Is the desire for disaster management and financial security systems such as insurance sufficiently pronounced in the developing countries and is it sustainable at all levels? Some other unanswered questions were: What parts do multilateral banks such as the development banks or World Bank play and what roles do insurance and reinsurance companies have? Are their programs adequately tailored to the countries concerned, especially the developing countries, which often tend to be seriously affected?

And: The tsunami disaster of 26 December 2004-also the outstanding humanitarian catastrophe during the landfall of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in August 2005-demonstrated dramatically that risk awareness and prevention is a key issue in the complex field of risk prevention. If people in the affected areas had known more about tsunamis and the flood risk, thousands of lives would have been saved.
The above-mentioned issues in the area of natural catastrophes were later taken up by the Munich Re Foundation at the major “risk symposium” held in Hohenkammer on 16 and 17 November 2005. One objective of the Munich Re Foundation is to support people in risk situations. Awareness is the key to improving disaster prevention. Indeed, awareness was one of the central issues addressed in this symposium. There was an open dialogue between representatives and experts from the fields of politics, economics and science.

CDRC Executive Director, Rosalinda C. Tablang, and CREED OIC, Armie Almero, share notes before their presentation at the "risk symposium" held in Germany in November 2005.

The Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) and the Center for Relief,
Rehabilitation, Education and Economic Development (CREED) were invited by the Munich Re Foundation to be among the resource persons in the two-day symposium held at the Akademie Schloss Hohenkammer, Munich Germany from November 16 to 17, 2005. CDRC’s Executive Director, Rosalinda C. Tablang and Center for Relief and Rehabilitation Education and Economic Development’s (CRREED) Officer-in-Charge, Armie Almero presented the paper “Creating a Culture of Disaster Preparedness and Prevention: The Community-Based Disaster Management (CDBM) Way” in the first thematic slot that focused on The Needs – Tailor-made solutions for International Disaster Prevention, Awareness and Preparedness in the Developing World. Mr. Victor Orindi of African Center for Technology Studies-Kenya and Eunice Mucache of Mozambique Red Cross also shared their country experiences in the plenary discussion. Mr. Christopher Bals of German Watch chaired the panel discussion.

CDRC and CRREED shared with the more than 100 international delegates Philippine disaster realities and how vulnerable communities in the country prepare for, cope with and recover from disasters using the CBDM approach.CDRC and CRREED shared with the more than 100 international delegates Philippine disaster realities and how vulnerable communities in the country prepare for, cope with and recover from disasters using the CBDM approach.
Ms. Tablang and Ms. Almero shared with the co-delegates how the different trainings and capability-building activities were able to save limbs and lives during major disaster events like the Mt. Pinatubo eruption and the consequent lahar flow in Pampanga in the 1990’s and how the residents of flood-prone communities in Malanday, Marikina were ableto prepare earlier and better whenever the rainy season sets in.
“As an alternative approach, CBDM aims to reduce the people’s vulnerability and increase their capacity to prepare for, cope with and mitigate the adverse effects of disasters. CDRC perceives disaster primarily as a question of vulnerability — a disaster occurs as a result of a hazard that strikes a vulnerable community whose inherent capacity is not enough to withstand or cope with the adverse effects and impacts of disasters. With this, CDRC views its disaster response as a process building the capacities of communities not only in upgrading their technical skills but more importantly in building their economic and organizational strength to better prepare for and recover from the effects of disasters.
While CDRC cannot take pride in totally eradicating the roots of people’s vulnerabilities, it, nevertheless, can say that its disaster mitigation programs and services have somehow increased the economic capacities of the people and consequently reduced disaster risks through the different projects like diversification of crops according to different planting season, diversification of livelihood sources, propagation of disaster-resistant crops, seed banks and nurseries, provision of post-harvest facilities and many other programs”, shared Ms. Almero during the symposium.
The symposium participants appreciated the CBDM idea and practice of linking the vulnerable sectors with the less vulnerable sectors. They also appreciated the advocacy and lobbying efforts of CDRC, CRREED and the members of the Citizens’ Disast