PALO, Leyte, Dec. 30 (PNA) -– Celebrating the New
Year will never be the same again for Pete Lacandazo, 60, who lost 22 of his
family members when super typhoon Yolanda pummeled their coastal village three
years ago.
Lacandazo, a village council member of San Joaquin
in this town, has been celebrating the holiday season in the past three years
with John Paul, his only grandchild who survived Yolanda’s wrath.
“I may look happy, but deep inside I don't feel the
same level of happiness as before when my family was still complete. I think
Christmas and New Year are just normal days for me,” the grandfather shared.
Three years on, the memory of losing his wife,
children and grandchildren keeps coming back.
Storm surges swept away their
house and all 22 members of his family died. He and John Paul managed to cling
onto something, saving their lives.
“I will miss them more this coming New Year because
it was really a big celebration when they’re still alive. My wife prepared the
best food and all my grandchildren gathered together,” Lacandazo recalled.
The magnitude of Yolanda's destruction had changed
the lives of thousands of survivors, forcing them to live out of their comfort
zones in the past three years.
Although Pete held back the tears in his eyes, the
words he said seemed like a thousand cries.
"Yes, I still have hope. Because maybe at the
end of the day, I am still blessed," he said.
A few kilometers away fom Lacandazo’s house is
where couple Ferdinand and Doris Quieta live.
The monster typhoon took the
lives of their four children, including their one-year-old toddler.
Ferdinand’s name rings a bell among children in
Calogcog village in Tanauan town since after Yolanda.
“Children in our neighborhood have been coming to
our house every weekend or any day they want to play with toys. We treat them
as our own children,” he told PNA.
The idea of allowing children into their home
popped up on Doris’ mind as a way of helping children traumatized by the Nov.
8, 2013 catastrophe.
Last December 28, he gathered all children in their
community for a Christmas Party.
“Only my four children left, but look at us now,
God has given us more children. Their laughter brings hope to us for a better
New Year in 2017,” Ferdinand, 45, shared.
Sadly, the couple had no more capacity to bear a
child after Doris underwent tubal ligation shortly before the super typhoon. (PNA)
LAP/SQM/Diane Derio/Robert S. Bona (OJT)
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