ANOTHER book detailing the remarkable survival and recovery of the people of Tanauan, Leyte, was launched and made available on Monday, December 14.
The coastal town Tanauan is an old colonial town founded in 1710 and was dubbed as “cradle of the intellectuals” during Spanish time. It is located 18 kilometers south of Leyte’s capital Tacloban City.
Tanauan Mayor Pel Tecson, author of the photo book entitled “Stronger than the Storm,” said the book is "a saga of their stubborn resilience and will to live; of a leadership that stood out in amazing display of tenacity and gut; of survival and remarkable journey towards eventual recovery, or rather, speedy recovery."
“It is a compelling tale about the people of Tanauan caught right in the middle of the killer disaster -- who, while almost crushed in defeat and loss, have refused to allow their situation to define and determined their lives and futures,” Tecson said during the book launching held at the Peninsula-Manila Hotel in Makati City.
Tecson said the book is a documentation project co-authored by Paul Cinco, Dr. Rosky Mazo and Leyte journalist Roy Moraleta.
“The book is more on a graphic tale about the recent cataclysmic disaster that swirled viciously over the wide and long stretch of inhabited coastlines in central Philippines, affecting particularly the regions of eastern, central and west areas of the Visayas,” the mayor said.
The book launching was attended by Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, UNHCR Senior Representative in the Philippines Bernard Kerbalt, INJAP Group of Companies President Ferdinand Sia, Anne Petilla (wife of former Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Icot Petilla), and Sharon Petilla (wife of Leyte Governor Dominic Petilla), among others.
Also present was former Tanauan mayor Charlie Avila.
Two years ago, Tanauan town, also called the “skim boarding capital of the Philippines,” suffered the second most number of casualties and devastation when Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit central Philippines in November 2013. (Sunnex)