THE fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya-Pilipinas), People Surge, an alliance of Yolanda survivors based in Tacloban City, and environmental group Center for Environmental Concerns are gearing for a total war against the national government’s ambitious plan to build anti-storm surge wall.
The Tep (also known as the Tide Embankment Project or ‘The Great Wall of Leyte’), which costs P7.9 billion, is a long stretch of seawall from Tacloban to the town of Tanauan, Leyte, touted to protect people from storm surges.
Of the 27.3 kilometers length of the embankment, 20.1 km. are in Tacloban, 4.1 km. will cover Palo and 3.1 km. in Tanauan.
It shall have a height of about 4.5 meters and its center line would stand 30 meters from the seashore.
In Tacloban City alone, 10,000 coastal households face impending eviction to pave way for the project based on the Tacloban North Integrate Development Plan.
Many of the communities directly affected are still waiting for adequate rehabilitation and economic aid three years after the super-typhoon Yolanda struck the country.
In response to the project, hundreds of Yolanda survivors from different province of Visayas held a people’s caravan in Manila from last month to Dec. 10 to protest the government’s slow response on the clamor of typhoon victims and the government projects that exacerbate their sufferings as victims of the natural calamity including the Tep.
