Diaspora Philanthropy and Volunteering: The Case of Housing and Resettlement in Post-Yolanda Tacloban City, Philippines

The transnational Filipino diaspora is known for its invigorated philanthropic efforts in the aftermath disasters and natural calamities in the Philippines. One phenomenal display of such efforts occurred during the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda), which most heavily devastated the Eastern Visayas provinces of Leyte and Samar. Using the case of post-Yolanda disaster relief and recovery contributions of overseas Filipinos supported by the Canadian government and non-government organizations, this paper focuses on housing and community economic development challenges in Tacloban City located in Leyte province. In particular, this case study led by Nora Angeles and Mary Grace Agapito, examines the transnational solidarity networks created within city-based housing and resettlement initiatives during the post-Yolanda period (2013-2017).

How has the (post)disaster context shaped the modalities of Philippine-Canadian philanthropy and volunteering networks in Tacloban’s housing and resettlement programs? What lessons can be learned by Filipino-Canadian philanthropic, volunteering and solidarity networks as well as Canadian (non)government agencies, in light of these existing patterns and challenges in post-disaster resource mobilization? To answer these questions, field work was conducted in Tacloban and outlying municipalities of Palo and Tanawan, using ethnographic methods, interviews, focus groups and primary data collection from the city of Tacloban and various non-government agencies.

Our preliminary findings suggest that while many inroads have been made in Tacloban’s post-disaster recovery in the housing and resettlement sector, thanks in no small part to substantive Filipino diaspora and aid agencies’ contributions using old and new transnational modes of solidarity networks, there remain many untapped opportunities and mechanisms to further leverage diaspora contributions to post-disaster recovery in Tacloban, and elsewhere, due to poor transnational circulation of information and weak institutional and human resource capacities on both the Philippine and Canadian stakeholder sides.