Coconut, the tree of life, becomes a source of hope for families in Iligan City wracked last year by Typhoon Sendong (international codename: Washi).

To help last year’s victims of Sendong get back on their feet, former rep. Cynthia Villar of Las Piñas, through the Villar Foundation vowed to donate a coconut factory that can be used by affected residents in Iligan and that can provide them with sustainable livelihood.

Coconet weaving is among the livelihood enterprises of the foundation. It is cheaper alternative to cement for riprap, are weaved using the fiber produced by decorticating machine from waste coconut husks.

“The coconets to be produced by the Iligan City-based families will be used as ripraps or slope protection for roads and highways that will be developed in northern Mindanao. It can provide these families with sustainable income,” said Villar.

At the same time the foundation also donated P1 million to the city government to help build a ‘memorial’ to honor the memory of those who died and went missing when Sendong ravaged the city on December 17, 2012.

“We will build this memorial not to prolong sadness for losing our loved ones or prolong our hardships for losing our homes and livelihood rather, we will build this memorial so that we—and the future generations—will always remember them and those who risked their lives to help others survive,” Villar said in her speech during a simple ground breaking ceremony in the city.

Sendong was one of the worst natural calamities that ever hit Mindanao and one of the deadliest cyclones to hit the Philippines in the last 12 years.

It claimed the lives of over 1,200 people and affected 150,000 people.

This is the second Sendong memorial that the foundation will help to be built for Sendong’s victims and their family members.

The first Sendong memorial stands at Golden Haven in Bulua, Cagayan de Oro. It was inaugurated on October 25.