CLIMATE CHANGE: PHILIPPINES’ TYPHOON HAIYAN VICTIMS APPEAL FOR PONTIF'S INTERVENTION
Nick Waigwa
The
People Surge Alliance for Yolanda (Haiyan) survivors in the Philippines has
appealed to his Holiness Pope Francis to give a voice to what they referred to
as their “yet to be heard cries for justice and change.”
The
appeal by the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) is contained in a
an open letter to Pope Francis released recently in the form of an online video
documentary that vividly exposes the human face of the humanitarian crisis,
which has been continuously unfolding since typhoon Haiyan made landfall in
November 2013.
A
press release by the People Surge dated 19th January 2015, quotes
the Chairman of the alliance Dr. Efleda Bautista as having invited the Holy
Father to see more of the worsening crises of poverty, homelessness, hunger and
persecution that the survivors continue to face.
Dr.
Bautisa at the same time implored Pope Francis to help the survivors of typhoon
Haiyan to share their plight and spread solidarity to the rest of the world.
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| Pope Francis: Pic Credit, Online Sources |
The
film is produced by Filipino-Canadian filmmaker Sean Devlin in collaboration
with the People Surge, a broad alliance of Typhoon Yolanda or Haiyan survivors,
organizations and individuals joined together in the common goal of helping the
typhoon victims, minimizing and preventing the risk from similar calamities in
the future.
The
compelling 14 minutes video details many key issues reportedly being neglected
by the administration of President Noynoy Aquino, including under-reporting of
the death toll, aid that never reached impacted communities and even the
alleged extrajudicial killing of two survivors whose organizing and services
were exposing these government failures.
Bautisa
has expressed optimism that by taking the social media by storm, the alliance
expects to bridge the distance between the survivors of the typhoon and the
pontiff.
“We
are ardently anticipating the release of his Encyclical on Climate Change and
Human Ecology, and hope our aspirations are reflected in the historic
scripture. We are only beginning to understand and grapple with the realities
of global warming and climate change even as we are already facing its deadly
impacts. May the teachings of the Holy Father help inspire action to our fellow
children of the storm to claim climate justice and ensure the stewardship of
all creation,” Bautista.
The
film has been made available online and has been
screened publicly in a ‘Gathering of the Poor' at the University of the
Philippines Tacloban College on the eve of the Pope’s arrival to Philippines.
Participants
in the gathering learned about Pope Francis through speeches, cultural
performances, multimedia presentations, and symbolic actions.
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