Church leaders in the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar met
with agriculture and livelihood officials in the region to set the agenda for
livelihood rehabilitation in the typhoon Yolanda-ravaged municipalities in the
two provinces.
Bishop Crispin Varquez of the Diocese of Borongan earlier
said that livelihood rehabilitation should already take priority over relief
operations. He also said people should not be too dependent on aid and dole-
outs given by different humanitarian groups. Bishops Varquez is a strong
advocate of local ownership and transparency in the rehabilitation of
Yolanda-devastated areas.
Bishop Varquez and Bishop Isabelo Abarquez of the Diocese of
Calbayog were the convenors of the Samar Island Livelihood Recovery Convergence
Workshop on May 26 in Tacloban City. Other convenors are the Department of
Agriculture (DA), the social action centers of the two dioceses, and civil
society groups Samar Development Agenda Consortium (SDAC) and Eastern Samar
Social Development Organization (ESSDOG).
This workshop was supported by The Asia Foundation as a
follow through of the Yolanda Transparency Forum held last March.
The workshop gathered
officials from the DA, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR),
the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), and municipal agriculture officers
(MAOs) from 12 municipalities in Eastern Samar and six municipalities of Samar.
Participants to this workshop included municipal agriculture
officers from the municipalities of Daram, Villareal, Talalora, Basey, Marabut,
and Sta. Rita in Samar. Participants are also from Guiuan, Mercedes, Salcedo,
Quinapondan, Giporlos, Balangiga, Lawaan, Gen MacArthur, Hernani, Llorente,
Balangkayan, and Maydolong in Eastern Samar.
This workshop aimed to set the direction of livelihood
programs that will be implemented in the southern part of Samar Island where
some of the municipalities hardest-hit by typhoon Yolanda are located.
During the workshop, the municipal agriculture officers
identified top crops in their respective municipalities, and cluster their
municipalities so that assistance will be more focused and gaps in the
livelihood restoration efforts are addressed. The plan is to replicate the
workshop in the province of Leyte as well until a coherent plan for the whole
region is completed.
DA Regional Director Bernadette San Juan said the
convergence workshop is unique because it is locally-initiated and jointly done
by government and civil society.
“The composition of convenors is expected to strengthen
local ownership of livelihood initiatives and make government more accountable
to the people of Samar island,” she said. opt
