The church's recovery and rehabilitation programme has become one of its largest and far-reaching natural disaster responses, amounting to about US$50 million.

All the targets for the three-year programme in nine dioceses covering 51 towns and 166 villages in the central Philippines have been reached.

The church's response has brought comparisons with the government-sponsored rehabilitation programmes.

These programmes have been beset with corruption and charges of substandard housing construction.

Of 205,128 housing units that were promised by the government, only 67,754 units, or 33 percent, have been completed.

And only 34.3 percent of those were occupied, a check of records revealed.

Meanwhile, Caritas Philippines reported that it repaired 593 housing units and constructed 768 transitional units, 1,923 progressive core-shelter units, and 1,167 permanent shelter units while providing a host of other services to storm-survivors.

The progressive core shelters have a lifespan of 10 years while "permanent" houses can last a minimum of 20 years, according to Caritas.

While the number of government-built housing units may be significantly more, residents have described them as poorly built and inadequate for family needs.

Jing Rey Henderson, the church group's coordinator, said church officials constantly tell people that the programme belongs to them and is "not one of the Catholic Church's".

She said people need to have a sense of ownership and entitlement and to bounce back and become more "empowered, resilient, and sustainable".

Henderson said Caritas works within the framework of community-managed disaster risk reduction and the principles and strategies of community organising.

Source

• ucanews.com
• americamagazine.org
• Image: crs.org

According to news outlets, human traffickers are trying to take advantage of the desperation after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

One group of traffickers disguised themselves nuns from a foundation and tried to lure girls to Manila.

One of the 14-year-old girls involved - "Lyn" - said a group called "Babalam Kevalam" visited her area on a "relief operation" four months after the typhoon.

"One of the members, who identified herself as a nun, approached us while we were planting in our community garden," said Lyn.

"She asked the five of us who at that time we are 12-13 years old if we wanted to study in Manila. She offered us scholarships. All of us agreed and immediately ‘Babalam Kevalam' went to our parents and asked their permission to bring us to Manila."

Lyn's family, which was struggling to scratch out a living, agreed to let her go.

The recruiters prohibited the girls from bringing their cellphones, but one of the youngsters smuggled one onto the bus.

"When we were at the New Bus Terminal in Tacloban City, a male passenger asked us where we were going. I told him that we were going to Manila with the nuns in orange at the back of the bus," Lyn said.

"The man asked more questions and wondered why the nuns were wearing orange. He left the bus and re-appeared with policemen."

The "nuns" were unable to show a certificate from Department of Social Welfare and Development that they were supposed to have for transporting the girls, so the youngster were taken to the police station and later to a women's shelter.

After staying there and receiving counselling for about a month and a half, they were reunited with their families.

The 2014 US State Department estimates a significant number of the estimated 10 million Filipino men, women, and children who migrate abroad are subsequently subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour.

Sources

• Aleteia
• Image: BBC

Bishop Pedro Arigo of Puerto Princesa said activities during the Pope's visit from January 15 to 19 should be "simple and not extravagant".

"Sometimes people treat occasions like this as if a celebrity is coming. I hope people will instead look at what message Pope Francis is trying to tell us," Bishop Arigo said.

He told Radyo Veritas that Pope Francis was displeased with the extravagant receptions after the canonisations of Sts John Paul II and John XXIII earlier this year.

"We should make [the activities] simple because if we make it too extravagant that will be an insult to the poor," Bishop Arigo said.

Earlier this year, graffiti depicting the Pope as superman appeared in Rome.

Francis rejected the hype surrounding his papacy, saying he is a "normal person" and calling comparisons between himself and Superman "offensive".

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has said that Pope Francis wants his visit to the Philippines "to be pastoral and simple".

"Central to the visit of the Pope is to show solidarity and compassion to victims of calamities," the cardinal said.

He said that Pope Francis wants to have an "encounter" with those who suffered recent calamities, especially in the central Philippines where Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 10,000 people and left millions homeless last November.

The Philippine bishops' conference in a pastoral statement last month said the underlying spirit of the papal visit to the country is "mercy and compassion".

The bishops encouraged the faithful to prepare for the Pope's visit by spending more time in prayer.

Pope Francis will be the third pontiff to visit the country after Pope John Paul II in 1995 and Pope Paul VI in 1970.

Before Pope Francis arrives in the Philippines, he will visit Sri Lanka from January 12-15.

He is scheduled to make a visit to Korea from August 14-18, next week.

Sources

• UCA News
• Vatican Radio
• National Catholic Reporter
• Telegraph
• Image: Time