Residents in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental, have been through extreme challenges in the last year. This area was among those worst hit by Super Typhoon Odette. A few months later, several communities underwent forcible evacuation due to military operations. They had barely recovered when Severe Tropical Storm Paeng caused widespread destruction in farming and fishing communities.

TYF is providing P626,100 worth of livelihood rehab support through the Diocese of Kabankalan Social Action Center. This includes distribution of piglets to nine families in the upland barangay of Camingawan, Kabankalan. Families expect to raise the pigs for five months before bringing these to market.

Like other parishes in Bohol, the Blessed Trinity Cathedral Parish in Talibon banks on its extensive experience of volunteer-powered construction from the Balay sa Kabus (Homes for the Poor) project. Its 92nd house is funded by TYF's Odette Rehab project.

Volunteers have already finetuned their activities. The core team arrived in Guindacpan Island on Friday, March 10, and immediately laid down the concrete foundation and the house structure. The house is elevated in anticipation of rising water from storm surges. More volunteers arrived the following day. All in all, 30 volunteers constructed the house and prepared meals. By Saturday afternoon, the house was completed and blessed by Fr Dominador Amoncio, to the delight of the family of Uldarico and Constancia Panares.

Next Friday, March 17, the Talibon volunteers will set out for another island where they will build another house.

Blessing of 10 fishing boats in Panacboan, Sto. Nino, Talibon, Bohol by Bishop Patrick Daniel Y. Parcon, DD, Bishop of the Diocese of Talibon, Bohol. These are among the 60 fishing boats donated by TYF to parishes in the diocese. Beneficiaries of the 10 fishing boats were chosen from islands covered by the Blessed Trinity Cathedral Parish.

For more than a decade now, many parishes all over the province of Bohol have been raising funds and mobilizing volunteers to implement a project called Balay sa Kabus (House for the Poor). When Tanging Yaman Foundation funded the construction of 30 houses in the Diocese of Talibon as part of the Odette rehab projects, parishes were able to act quickly by utilizing the core designs and workforce of Balay sa Kabus.

On March 3, Fr Tereso Lumacang of the San Vicente Ferrer Parish in Hinlayagan Ilaya, Trinidad led the blessing and turnover of four houses to their beneficiaries. Fr Ters also paid tribute to volunteers from the Love Builders Association (LOBA), the Catholic Women’s League who donated curtains, and the barangay councils of Hinlayagan Ilaya, M. Roxas, Banlasan, and Kauswagan who donated food for the volunteer workers.

TYF is deeply grateful to the Diocesan Social Action Center for coordinating TYF’s rehab projects in the Diocese of Talibon.