Sylvia Yumol, 53 years old, from Brgy. San Miguel in San Simon, Pampanga, was one of the most affected when Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco) ravaged Central Luzon in 2020. Sylvia lives in a town that sits along the Pampanga River basin, the second largest drainage basin on Luzon Island, which often experiences severe flooding when there are typhoons and heavy rains.
As if the torment of the pandemic is not enough, residents of San Simon had to endure another setback. Typhoon Ulysses inundated their houses as well as their livelihoods. Like Sylvia, farmers in San Simon felt the crippling effects of Typhoon Ulysses. The powerful typhoon destroyed vast swathes of rice crops just before harvest time, leaving hundreds of farmers in San Simon hopeless. According to reports, around PHP 126.03 million worth of crops in the province were damaged.

Not only did the farming sector face the whip of the typhoon. The fishing sector in Pampanga was also adversely affected. Small fisher folks in the province were unable to do fishing activities due to severe flooding. Some people in the community looked for alternative sources of income, which was insufficient to support their daily needs.
Weathering the storm through Rice Cooperatives
To ease these challenges and to support the needs of the devastated farmers and fishermen, CDRC and Alay Bayan Luson Inc., launched the “Early Recovery Project for Communities Affected by Typhoon Ulysses”. The early recovery project included the turnover of PHP100,000 worth of rice grains in Brgy. San Juan and Brgy. San Miguel in San Simon, Pampanga. Benefitting 100 individuals, this project intended to provide affordable quality rice to the less-fortunate families in the two project areas.
The rice cooperative provided members sustainable livelihood, empowering the whole community, especially women, by boosting their financial status so they can fund their daily needs. The said cooperatives extended a helping hand, especially in times of need.

Training, Discipline, and Hard work
To make the rice cooperative more successful, a series of trainings was conducted to capacitate members on the knowledge they need in managing and organizing a cooperative. This includes Project Management, Cooperative Training, and Simple Bookkeeping. Remilyn Yambao, also a member of the cooperative, was very thankful for the training she received.
“The training that was given to us was a big help, especially the simple bookkeeping [training], because we were taught more on how to properly register cash in and the money being released. We were also helped on how to manage our rice coop so that is a big thing since we had this rice cooperative that was given to us.”
On the other hand, Sylvia believes that the more organized their cooperative is, the more stable it will be. She believes that this will be the key to the success of their cooperatives and multi-sectoral effort and support are crucial.

As a cooperative member, Sylvia has experienced the benefits they received from the cooperatives, aside from the affordable rice that they can avail of any time, they can also borrow from the cooperatives whenever they are in the dire financial strait. She also vouched that the cooperative gave opportunities to those other members, especially low-income mothers who also want to earn.

Fish Traps and Vegetable Seeds
To support the fishermen, the project also distributed a total of 240 fishing traps to augment their livelihood. In addition to the use of traditional fishnet, the distributed fish traps helped to increase their catch, thereby adding to their income.
Under this project, beneficiaries also received vegetable seeds. Melchor Villanueva, a 53-year-old construction worker has found a glimmer of hope in vegetable seeds. Since the onset of the pandemic, Melchor had been worried about his family’s monthly income. Melchor has been troubled by the instability of commodity prices, especially now that he has no stable job because of the pandemic. But with the vegetable seeds he received under this program and with the learnings he gained from attending the Organic Fertilizer training helped to allay his fears and turned his simple backyard to a vegetable garden.
“The seeds provided were a great help because we don’t need to buy vegetables anymore. We will just need to buy rice. The seeds are a really big help to us because it helped us with our daily needs, especially now that we are in a crisis. Vegetables are also very expensive right now.”

Hope Restored
Sylvia, Melchor and Remilyn are among those who lost their primary means of generating income. Helping them recover by providing necessary resources is crucial. CDRC’s initiatives have given a light of hope to communities of San Simon, Pampanga, empowering them to get back on their feet again after a storm. The CDRC’s livelihood recovery project was made possible through the support provided by Caritas Austria.