Biliran town braces for relief ‘lean days’

BILIRAN, BILIRAN, Philippines —The fifth class town of Biliran suffered the least number of casualties, among four Urduja-hit towns of Biliran province, but its loss in agriculture and properties was “incomprehensible due to massive flooding and landslide.”

This was the statement of Mayor Grace Casil, who said that, while acknowledging that the relief goods from various donors had “greatly ease the pain of her constituents,” she is worried that it would not last long.

“I am preparing for the slowdown of relief goods come February, then March and onwards,” Casil told The Freeman, as she stressed the need to put up alternative livelihood for the mostly farming- and fishing-dependent population.

The Freeman personally saw the damaged irrigation canals, impassable farm-to-market roads and unrecognizable rice fields now covered with boulders, mud as thick as one meter, and other landslide debris left behind by Urduja.

Casil said she had already commissioned the services of an urban planner to draft a recovery program for her town.

In an official report from Biliran province, the town of Biliran was not included in the list of recipients of relief goods because it has already requested for the items in advance, with the DSWD directly extending the food packs to this local government unit.

The mayor said she has been constantly appealing to higher government officials, selected friends and the private sector for assistance. “I have to be ready kay makalolo-oy an mga tawo (because I pity the people).”

Urduja claimed two deaths in Biliran town, with 30,224 affected families, and damaged a total of 2,292 houses.