TWO years after Typhoon “Yolanda” flattened large areas of Central and Eastern Visayas, survivors will light 50,000 candles along the roads of Tacloban City to remember the thousands who died because of the storm.
Parish priest Alex Opiniano said churches in Palo, Tanauan, and Tolosa in Tacloban City are set to light the candles to commemorate the second anniversary of the typhoon’s destructive visit on Nov. 8, 2013.
“This is a solemn spiritual expression of the people, continuing what was done last year,” Opiniano said.
Opiniano will lead a committee of representatives from civic and religious organizations in Tacloban City, which was ground zero for Yolanda.
Opiniano said priests from respective parishes will walk through the roads of Palo, Tanauan, and Tolosa, and bless all 50,000 candles, the participants and survivors.
Jude Acidre of Tingog Sinirangan said the event is open to anyone who wants to say prayers in memory of those who perished.
Acidre also said that people can also pray for gratefulness for those individuals who survived the catastrophe regardless of religious affiliations and political persuasions.
Acidre, a former seminarian and known community organizer, said the city’s radio stations will participate in the event by simultaneously broadcasting prayers and reflections, and the musical concert Laudato Si (Praise Be To You), by the Eastern Visayas Choral Association.
Before the lighting of the candles, Palo Archbishop John Forrosuelo Du will officiate a commemorative mass at the Transfiguration of Our Lord Cathedral. An afternoon mass is also set at the seaside Sto. Niño Church in Tacloban.
A private group called One Tacloban spearheaded a similar candle lighting ceremony along the main thoroughfares of Tacloban City during the first year commemoration of the tragedy.
A mass and the blessing of graves were also held at a mass grave yard in northern Barangay Basper in Tacloban.
The towns of Palo, Tanauan and Tolosa had their respective commemorative activities as well.
This year, the respective memorial activities of Yolanda victims are being synchronized and coordinated with the Candlelight Memorial led by Opiniano’s committee.
The government pegged the death toll from the super typhoon at 6,300. Some 1,061 also went missing.
In Congress, a Palace ally sought a congressional investigation into the non-release of calamity funds totaling more than P1 billion.
Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez proposed the investigation after the Commission on Audit exposed the failure of the Office of Civil Defense to spend huge amounts in donations and government money to help thousands of calamity victims since 2008.
The CoA said OCD reportedly disbursed only P81 million out of the P466 million foreign and local donations to assist victims.
The audit agency also revealed that “QRF (Quick Response Fund) which accumulated to P923.15 million was not used as was intended and sat idle.
Benitez, chair of the House committee on housing and urban development, said the incompetence of front-line agencies in charge to to render swift aid to calamity victims “cannot be tolerated and therefore merits an investigation.”
“It is the duty of Congress to oversee the utilization of front-line agencies of donated funds as well as ensure that calamity underspending will not occur in the future,” Benitez said.
“With the severity of the effects of the recent calamities had brought many nations rushing aid to the Philippines, the OCD reacted with temerity by stashing financial aid in its bank,” Benitez said.
For Yolanda alone, Benitez said the National Housing Authority reports that there is still a balance of 112,574 housing units that need to be constructed to fulfill the 205,128 total housing requirements.
Two years after Yolanda, only 16,000 units have been completed, he said.
“NHA also reported that out of the P60 billion funding requirement it sought, only P26.9 billion had been released by the Department of Budget and Management, P4.3 billion of which was released only in September this year,” Benitez noted.
A group of Yolanda survivors, People Surge, is scheduled to mount a protest on Nov. 6 to demand accountability for the government’s failure to address their needs.
Marissa Cabaljao of People Surge singled out Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman for criticism.
“Her deliberate attempt to cover up the Yolanda situation and act as an apoligist of [Liberal Party presidential candidate and former Interior secretary Manuel] Roxas [II] add up to her long list of sins against Yolanda survivors,” Cabaljao said. With Mel Caspe