Bantayan's amazing
path to recovery

When you read about Typhoon Yolanda these days, it almost seems inevitable that you mostly read about Tacloban. After all, Tacloban is where most of the journalists were sent before, during and after the typhoon. It seems that all journalists want to have a slice of the action and see what it's like to be in Tacloban at this time -- to see the devastation of the typhoon, the smelly bodies littered on the streets, the massive rehabilitation efforts, and eventually, the sight of a devastated city coming back to life.

I entertained the idea of going to Tacloban myself. I wrote a memo to my bosses outlining my travel plans and the corresponding budget. They approved of my travel but instead sent me to another destination. I was sent to Bantayan Island. By then, I had read the stories about the robbery and looting in Tacloban, so I welcomed the chance to go to Bantayan instead.

Bantayan Island is that island north of Cebu. So I had to travel by land from the southern tip of Cebu (Liloan, Santander) to the northern tip (Hagnaya, Bogo) to catch the roll-on roll-off boat to the island. From the town of Borbon going north, you can see children by the roadside holding up signs asking for aid. As you go farther north of Cebu, you will see more signs of typhoon damage, i.e, flattened houses, houses with twisted roofs, fallen trees or broken power lines.

The port in the town of Sta. Fe,  the island's port of entry from the Cebu side (there's another port in the town of Bantayan which connects to northern Negros Occidental).

Several trucks loaded with humanitarian aid are parked at Hagnaya waiting for the chance to cross to Bantayan.  The crossing takes one hour and 15 minutes.

As Bantayan was also in the path of Typhoon Yolanda, the sights that greet you in there is much the same as you would see in the photos circulating on the internet. There are, however, two major differences between what I saw in Bantayan and in the photos of Tacloban. There were more buildings standing in Bantayan because there was no tidal wave or storm surge. The second difference is that, in Bantayan island, peace and order prevails. There are no children begging on the streets and there are no looters or muggers. Everyone is a typhoon victim but the people of Bantayan do not look as hungry as the people of the other places.

Perhaps another reason why the people of Bantayan are more positive than the victims in Tacloban, for instance, is that the local government unit continued to function even right after the storm. They have cellphone signals which enabled them to contact their family here and abroad, and they can listen to radio stations for news about what's happening around them.

The mayor of Sta. Fe, Jose Esgana, explained that, right after the storm, the people were eating chicken because the typhoon damaged the many poultry farms in the island. The chicken were either given away or sold at giveaway prices.

The bulk of the assistance sent to the island, however, goes to the town of Bantayan which is the next town from Sta. Fe. "People probably think there is only one municipality in the island but there are actually three, the third being Madridejos," Mayor Esgana explained.

Based on what we saw during our visit to Bantayan island, I am optimistic that it will recover faster than the other places that were hit by the typhoon. I credit the positive attitude of the people for my faith in their early recovery.*

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