CHURCH and aid groups rushed to bring assistance to survivors of Typhoon Tino (international name: Kalmaegi), which devastated Cebu City and other areas in the Eastern Visayas region of the central Philippines on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
Rhoel Ladera, a humanitarian worker in Tacloban, the capital of the Eastern Visayas region, said they are organizing a "fast response drive" to badly hit areas in Silago, Southern Leyte, about 200 kilometers away from the city, after the town mayor himself appealed for help on social media.
Through their automobile group, "Angels on Wheels," Ladera and his group are announcing a donation drive in Tacloban, which they will immediately deliver to affected areas in the southern part of the region.
"Our brothers and sisters in Silago, Southern Leyte, urgently need our help. We are launching a quick response donation drive for families affected by Typhoon Tino, in response to the call for help from Silago Mayor Lemuel Honor," the group said on Tuesday, appealing for water, rice, canned goods, hygiene kits and blankets.
"Every donation, big or small, makes a difference. Let's come together and show the spirit of bayanihan (communal unity and cooperation)," it added.
In Maasin City, Southern Leyte Province, Monsignor Oscar Cadayona, vicar general of the Diocese of Maasin, said churches and rectories that welcomed evacuees gave hot meals on Tuesday morning after the storm's landfall in the province.
Amid a series of earthquakes and three successive storms that hit the central part of the Catholic-majority nation recently, Cadayona urged the public to remain loyal to their faith.
"As one disaster comes after another, it may destroy the structures we have built on earth, but no hardships, difficulties and discomforts we have gone through can destroy our faith and trust in God, the creator of this world," Cadayona told SunStar Philippines.
"May we continue to believe that in times like this, what comes out is stronger, resilient and united people taken care of by a loving and merciful God," he added.
In Cebu, Archbishop Alberto Uy earlier directed all priests to open churches within the archdiocese as shelters for those seeking refuge during the storm.
"However, this does not include churches damaged by the recent earthquake. Please stay safe and keep everyone in your prayers," Uy said.
In the nation's capital, Manila, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. directed government agencies to sustain and hasten government recovery and relief operations in affected regions.
"We continue to monitor the effects of Typhoon Tino, which affected more than 340,000 people in 1,397 barangays across Mimaropa, Bicol, Western and Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Caraga and Negros Island Region," Marcos said in a statement.
Philippine Red Cross (PRC)-Southern Leyte Chapter Administrator Jonas Maco also said they continued to assist victims in the province's 18 towns and one city, despite having only 40 volunteer staff members, providing hot meals to evacuees, launching rescue operations and joining road clearing activities with government rescue workers and other volunteer groups.
"We remain focused, fast, friendly, flexible and forward-looking, with our PRC core values not only in disaster preparedness and response, but also in our way of life, to be always first, always ready and always there, and we are forever grateful to our volunteers because we are always on the side of humanity," Maco said.
In Southern Leyte, preparedness and readiness actions are a must, where staff and volunteers follow directives and safety measures not just for compliance, but with commitment, he added, lauding the volunteers who joined him.
At least two people, both elderly, died in Leyte province, while four others reportedly died in Cebu, and a one-year-old toddler drowned in nearby Bohol province in the central Philippines, as of Tuesday.
Over 250,000 individuals remained in various evacuation centers in the six provinces of the Eastern Visayas region alone.
After Tino, the 20th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, weather agencies alerted the public to an incoming potential super typhoon on November 8, the 12th year commemoration of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which leveled central Philippines, displacing over 16 million people and claiming over 6,000 lives.
On average, at least 20 typhoons hit the Philippines each year due to its location along the Pacific typhoon belt. (Ronald Reyes/SunStar Philippines)