Boats Donated to the Capiznon fishermen

Yolanda Ploor was shocked by the havoc her namesake brought on an island village in Panay town, Capiz province, when she and a band of volunteers arrived there on Jan. 29. The American was in the Philippines to relinquish eight blue boats to Barangay Butacal, joining a charity network led by a group of Ateneo de Manila University alumni who vowed to help “until it hurts.” Supertyphoon “Yolanda” sent 6-meter storm surges to the island on Nov. 8, 2013, ruining hundreds of fishing boats docked at the shoreline. The seawater also submerged rice fields and killed livestock and crops. The disaster prompted a group of Ateneans, called Grupo 58, to repurpose a relief fund for less fortunate batch mates to help the Visayas. They also tapped donors and volunteers from religious communities, Gawad Kalinga-Capiz and Manila-based Salt and Light Catholic Charismatic Community, among others. Grupo 58 comprises Ateneo’s grade school Batch ’54, high school Batch ’58 and tertiary Batch ’62. “The initiative brought us closer to one another,” Carlos Arnaldo, one of the members, said. People for others Danilo Olivares, who initiated the transition, said the typhoon made the group realize that the “others” in Ateneo’s creed of “men and women for others” was more than themselves. Members sent in money and solicited from third-party groups. “We will not go to Tacloban,” he recalled, referring to the calamity’s ground zero in Leyte province. “There are many relief efforts there already … . I want to go where people cannot go, places they will not think of helping.” Four days after the storm, Olivares was in northern Cebu province, leading volunteers in packing corn grit, rice and noodles. He and grade school classmate Ed Misa held a caravan across the area to deliver more than 3,000 relief packs. On Nov. 21, he and classmate Tony Ortiz moved to far-flung areas in Capiz province to distribute 4,000 packs. When they reached Butacal for the first time on Nov. 23, Olivares said: “It was like Samar. Rice fields were inundated with salt water. I saw fallen coconut and mango trees. Fishing boats were damaged.” “There was no more agriculture, no more fisheries,” he said. The storm surge carried debris 2 kilometers inland, onto rice lands. Eighty percent of the boats were destroyed, the rest damaged. Panay town lost P141 million in agriculture and P189.9 million in fishing, registering the highest losses in those sectors in Capiz. It takes more than an hour by boat to reach Butacal.

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