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The Change that Hasn't Come

Monday, 10 October 2016 11:38 GMT

Burayan Village in Tacloban City was among those virtually flattened by Typhoon Haiyan on November 8, 2013. Survivors have since rebuilt their homes in this flood-prone 'danger zone', wary of the lack of jobs and regular access to clean water in resettlement areas. (VJ Villafranca/Oxfam)

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* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

After 100 days in office, Philippine President Duterte must deliver the change climate-vulnerable communites need.

 

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which has so far resulted in the recorded deaths of at least 3,000 alleged drug users and dealers according to police estimates, has dominated his first 100 days in office.

To casual observers, the Philippines’ drug problem might appear comparable to the scale of Colombia’s during the peak of its own war on drugs. But for many of the poorest Filipinos, especially those in climate-vulnerable rural areas and cities outside Metro Manila, the country currently grabbing international headlines is feeling less and less like their own.

Over the last four months, as part of my work for Oxfam, I have been visiting Central Mindanao and Eastern Visayas, two of the country’s poorest regions and, owing to their geographical locations, are considered to be among the most vulnerable to extreme weather events like prolonged dry spells and powerful storms. In Eastern Visayas, communities are still recovering from 2013’s super typhoon Haiyan, while those in Central Mindanao are slowly getting back on their feet after the intense droughts caused by the 2015-2016 El Niño Southern Oscillation.

President Duterte, who won the May elections in both regions with his popular slogan “change is coming”, has promised permanent resettlement sites for typhoon survivors, free irrigation and seeds for farmers, and increased rice subsidies for drought-affected families.

After 100 days in office, however, it remains unclear to local communities when and how his administration intends to do this.

 

Life in a 'Danger Zone'

“After the elections, it’s been all about drugs,” said Leila Esperas, 48, a resident of Burayan village in Tacloban City, typhoon Haiyan’s ground zero.

“In the news, they say this is good because crimes like rape have decreased especially in cities like Manila. But for me and most of us here, we’re more worried about the same problems – our husbands can’t find permanent jobs, we still live in temporary shelters, and we still live day by day trying to feed our families,” Ms. Esperas said. 

The location of Burayan makes it particularly vulnerable to floods and tsunami-like storm surges, and it was among those virtually flattened by typhoon Haiyan nearly three years ago on November 8, 2013.

Survivors have since rebuilt their makeshift homes on almost exactly the same spots they occupied before Haiyan, even though the city government has been urging them to move out of this 'danger zone' to permanent resettlement areas in northern Tacloban, some 15 kilometres from Burayan.

However, families like Leila’s have refused after knowing about the lack of regular access to water and livelihood options in those sites. 

The fare alone from the city center to the resettlement site and back costs 66 pesos (1.5 US dollars). In a village where most people, especially women, earn below the daily minimum wage of 260 pesos (5.5 US dollars) doing odd jobs like giving pedicures or gathering and selling halaan (fresh clams), this is a huge amount to spend for a daily commute.

During his campaign, President Duterte, who flew to Tacloban City with emergency assistance days after Haiyan hit, vowed to support families in this region by “fighting poverty” and creating jobs. To date, this has not translated into concrete action, according to residents.

“We're still waiting, and we want to remain hopeful that this administration would help the city government resolve the problems in the resettlement sites” said Saleha Badidles, 51, President of Baruyan’s women’s group.

According to Janis Canta of Tacloban City’s Planning and Development Office, they have submitted a proposal to the People’s Survival Fund, a national climate change adaptation fund, to finance a large-scale project that would provide a stable supply of water to resettlement areas. Their proposal is currently under review.

 

'Hopeful but worried'

In Sultan Kudarat province, central Mindanao, where some of the worst impacts of the El Niño-fuelled drought sparked food riots in April 2016, Jilen Pineda, 52, a vegetable grower from Numo village in Esperanza municipality, shared that she had heard from local government officials that President Duterte’s administration is now working to remove exorbitant irrigation fees and provide subsidies for seeds and farm inputs in the coming year.

This promise has been recently reiterated by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.

“I am hopeful that they will keep their promises, but I am also worried because it seems to be all about drugs nowadays,” said Ms. Pineda.

Ms Pineda's neighbor, Cheryl Dimos, 41, added: "People like us here don't even have enough money for rice. How much more for illegal drugs? Sometimes I watch the news and I wonder, ‘is it really that bad?’"

Indeed, no one would disagree that illegal drugs present a menace to Philippine society. But after going around villages like Burayan and Numo, and reflecting on President Duterte’s first 100 days in office, I wondered if the President has forgotten that we also live in a country where nearly one-third of the labor force, or over 11 million Filipinos, are employed in the agriculture sector; where over one-quarter the total population, most of them in rural areas, live below the poverty line and make do with less than 1 US dollar a day; and where some of the poorest people face the ever-present threat of being pushed into deeper poverty by climate-related disasters.

During President Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address, he stated that his government “genuinely” wants to “reduce vulnerabilities of our people, build resiliency and empower individuals, families and communities.”

While he did not offer clear policy directives to Congress during his Address, he has a chance lay down his planned interventions in his administration’s Philippine Development Plan, which is slated for release before the end of the year. This plan should unequivocally state how he intends to not only uplift the lives of the poorest communities, but should also treat climate change adaptation and mitigation as a cross-cutting development priority. 

Perhaps if President Duterte pursued the fight against poverty and climate change as unyieldingly as he is waging this war on drugs, farmers, fishermen and women could also say that the change they desperately need has finally come.

 

Airah Cadiogan is Climate Change Policy and Campaigns Officer for Oxfam in the Philippines.

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