Press Release
November 7, 2017

ANGARA WANTS NOV 8 AS "YOLANDA COMMEMORATION DAY"

In the lead up to the fourth year anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda, Senator Sonny Angara has filed a bill seeking to declare November 8 as a day of commemoration when catastrophic Typhoon Yolanda struck the Eastern Visayas Region.

Senate Bill 1596 seeks to declare November 8 as a special non-working public holiday in Eastern Visayas to be known as "Yolanda Commemoration Day."

If approved, there shall be no classes and work in Tacloban City and the provinces of Leyte, Biliran, Southern Leyte, Northern Samar, Western Samar, and Eastern Samar on November 8 of every year to remember the victims of the disaster and to honor those who worked in the recovery and rehabilitation efforts.

"It is very important that we, as a country, honor the memory of the dead and as well as the selflessness of those who worked tirelessly and contributed resources to help Eastern Visayas. Those who perished are not statistics and those who worked in the recovery and rehabilitation efforts are true heroes who should never be forgotten," Angara said, while adding:

"We also carry a duty to remember this part of our history that killed, injured and displaced thousands of Filipinos. This is so that we will never forget how far we have come from the chaos and hardship of that fateful day due to Filipino resilience and the spirit of bayanihan."

The senator, who was one of the very first who went to the area four years ago to lend help, stressed that such "commemoration day" would allow us to continually reflect on improving our infrastructure and disaster response capability.

"Hundreds of thousands of homes were damaged, thousands of families displaced by Yolanda. Many of these families are, to this day, still trying to find suitable homes. The typhoon also left a catastrophic impact in the local economy and livelihood of the region. The work goes on," he added.

Tacloban City and the provinces of Leyte, Biliran, Southern Leyte, Northern Samar, Western Samar, and Eastern Samar have been observing an annual commemoration of Typhoon Yolanda since 2014 through a local executive order.

Angara, who is the current chairman of the Senate committee on local government, said "it would be fitting if this commemoration is institutionalized through a law."

On November 8, 2013, Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), one of the strongest tropical cyclones to make landfall in world history, swept through the Philippines, severely affecting the Eastern Visayas area.

With sustained winds of 315 kilometers per hour (kph), gusts as strong as 380 kph, and storm surges of over four meters, the typhoon caused more than 6,000 deaths, injured some 27,022, left around 1,779 persons missing, and affected almost 12.2 million people. The total damage from the calamity was estimated at around P571.1 billion (US$12.9 billion).

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