Disaster survivors to PNoy: Go to Tacloban

MANILA, Philippines - Survivors of the various calamities that hit the country on Thursday dared President Benigno Aquino III to come to Tacloban City during the "national survivors conference" to commemorate the first year of super typhoon Yolanda landfall in Eastern Visayas.

 

The People Surge Alliance for Yolanda Survivors made the challenge after President Aquino reportedly chose to hold a memorial for Yolanda victims in Eastern Samar on November 8.

 

"President Aquino, face the music and face the people whom you have ignored, forsaken, and insulted here in Yolanda Ground Zero. Prove that we are indeed your ‘Boss’, and hold yourself accountable to the unified, national demands of victims of your criminal neglect,” People Surge chairperson Dr. Efleda Bautista said. 

 

Various groups and organizations will commemorate the Yolanda anniversary with massive demonstrations and protest actions across the world this week as part of a ‘Global Surge’ to demand justice for the victims of disasters. 

 

The center of this surge is here at Tacloban City, where groups from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao have converged for a week-long series of activities including the National Disaster Survivors’ Conference on Thursday at the Cawacsi Retreat House.

 

Capping this week’s activities is a mass demonstration in Tacloban, where an estimated 20,000 survivors and advocates will gather and occupy the city’s capital to demand Aquino’s ouster from the presidency, after "his government and leadership failed the people in all aspects of recovery and rehabilitation."