Leyte 7 months
Everyone knows what happened 7 months ago when the strongest typhoon recorded on land hit Eastern Visayas of the Philippines, almost destroying everything in its path and leaving thousands dead. A few weeks back I attended my cousin’s wedding in Leyte. I took this opportunity to visit the damaged areas, even if it was only for a day. I had wanted to stay longer, but I had work and the wife needs help with the baby at home. Almost the same situation 7 months ago, I thought that would be the moment I could cover a disaster, but my wife was 7 months pregnant at that time, risky. So I stayed home and documented instead the arrival of the survivors in Manila. Leyte means a lot to me, my dad and his family are from here and it’s been a while since I visited. Good thing was that our relatives were all okay.
Philippines is well known for corruption in politics and it was the reason I was hearing all over when I talked to most of the people I met in Tacloban; battle of clans, exchanging foreign relief goods with local cheap products, rice not getting there and so on… despite this, the locals were smiling and life was moving on. The Philippines got billions of money from donations, I really wonder where it went. Infrastructure needs some speeding up, I thought the typhoon had just arrived when I got off the plane and walked around the airport, progress is there, but too long. The Pope will be visiting next year, i’m hoping for some speedy recovery. God Bless the Philippines.
Some snaps from my 2 day trip around Tacloban, Tanuan and Hindang, Leyte. The full set can be viewed here: http://www.markcristino.com/#!leyte/c1sqy
ahlan wasahlan! 