TACLOBAN CITY – About 500 Yolanda survivors from Basey, Samar converged Friday with the larger group of disaster survivors from Visayas and Mindanao in a fluvial parade to mark the first year after Typhoon Yolanda struck eastern Visayas on November 8.
All victims and and members of militant organizations under Daluyong, the nationwide network of those victimized by man-made and natural disasters, earlier rallied in the afternoon in front of the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) before they proceeded to the provincial capitol of Leyte.
Additional participants from eastern Samar swelled the ranks of protesters.
According to Dr. Eflenda Bautista of People’s Surge, there were 5,000 survivors from Samar who occupied the whole stretch of San Juanico Bridge later in the afternoon after they protested at DSWD VIII.
The DSWD protest was meant to tell the agency that it “keeps on lying” to the victims, up to now.
She said that “the agency is telling that they have already gave relief donations to the victims but the recently arrived survivors can haven’t received any from the agency.”
“The agency bragged about the tent city that no survivors are already occupying the tents, but you can also visit San Jose so you yourself can attest and witness that there are still people living in there,” Bautista added.
Survivors’ group present in the protest Friday from Mindanao are: Barug Katawhan (Davao Oriental), Indug Kautawan (Compostela Valley), Bangon Zamboanga, Agaton Suvivors (Caraga), Survivors of Sendong Collective (of Iligan and Cagayan).
Groups from Visayas are: Peoples Surge, Ayuda or Alliance of Yolanda Survivors for development and Assistance (from fisherfolk sector of Cebu), Bohol Earthquake Survivors.
On the day of 1-year commemoration of typhoon Yolanda, the group will hold a mass vigil in Tacloban and in the afternoon, they will march up to the Paseo.
