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Tag: Nickel Asia Corporation

Manicani: A tough little island

Published by Ellen on November 19, 2014

By Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files

Manicani today hardly bears signs of the havoc wrought by supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) a year ago.

Color is back on this 11.7-square-kilometer island of 3,000 people in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, which was a harrowing picture of destruction only 12 months ago after Yolanda ferociously battered it for straight four hours.

Nemesio and Adela Abucejo in their newly-built house.
Nemesio and Adela Abucejo in their newly-built house.
The roofless or flattened houses, destroyed concrete structures, uprooted trees and toppled posts are almost gone. In their stead are houses painted green, yellow, blue, red and pink, many with vegetable and flower gardens.

The houses were built by the homeowners themselves, courtesy of the cash for work program of the mining company Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC). Berthed on shore near many homes were new fishing boats, which the islanders requested from NAC officials when asked after Yolanda what they wanted aside from a decent shelter.

A 25- to 30-minute boat ride from Guiuan, Manicani during World War II was a United States Navy naval repair facility. It’s primarily a fishing community today.

Continue readingManicani: A tough little island

Guiuan rises with a lot of help from mining firm

Published by Ellen on February 18, 2014


By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

Photos by Mario Ignacio IV

Yolanda survivors Lito G. Abucejo, 47, a carpenter and his wife, Rebecca, 44, marked the 100th day after the super typhoon slammed into Manicani Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, in a newly-built house.

The Abucejos have folded their United Nations-donated tent, which was their shelter the past three months, and are now living in a new structure built where their old house once stood.

The Abucejo’s new house is one of the more than 400 being built by Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC), which owns a non-operating nickel mine in Manicani.

Coco lumber felled by Yolanda are being used for the 30-square meter houses, being built on the property of the survivors. They are expected to last four to five years.

Continue readingGuiuan rises with a lot of help from mining firm