Milendy Dordas, 58, is a female farmer and one over a thousand survivors of Severe Tropical Storm Paeng in Barangay Cabugao, Panitan, Capiz. Last October 28-29, 2022, STS Paeng left the whole town of Panitan submerged under flood with 14 out of 26 Barangays, including Barangay Cabugao, totally impassable to vehicles until November 2-3.

Milendy was with her grandchildren and asthmatic husband during the onslaught of STS Paeng. “When Paeng came, we were rescued using a bamboo raft. My husband said that he might not make it but thankfully I was able to secure his medicine in my bag and one of our Barangay Officials let us use his generator [for the nebulizer],” Milendy said.

Milendy added that they were able to prepare and secure their things prior to the onslaught of STS Paeng, however, the they did not anticipate the rapid rise of the water level. “When one of my children went back to check our house, all the windows and our door were already open perhaps because of the current of the water,” said Milenda. “Our kitchen utensils, my grandchildren’s school materials, and other things inside our house were all washed out, even our kitchen was also destroyed,” she shared with teary eyes.

Milendy said that as farmers, their biggest problem now is how to start again and recover after their crops were destroyed by STS Paeng. She said that the farmers who weren’t able to harvest their ready-to-be-harvested rice crops and those whose ready-to-be-planted seeds were destroyed, were the most affected. She added that their vegetable crops were also destroyed and that some of their farm animals were also found dead.

“What are we going to plant now since our seeds were all destroyed?”, she asked.

That is why Milendy was very grateful when PCDR came to deliver immediate food relief assistance in their community last November 7. The said distribution was supported by CARE Philippines and Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC), which served a total of 175 families in Barangay Cabugao including the family of Milendy.

“We are very grateful to all of you and to those who donated these [relief goods] to us, wherever you are. What you gave us is a huge blessing so, thank you very much!”, she said.

Milendy also expressed their need for livelihood support especially that their crops were all destroyed by STS Paeng.//