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The Philippines is located in a geographic region that experiences frequent typhoons, with over a dozen on average hitting the country each year. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, made landfall as one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. With sustained winds of 195 mph, the typhoon caused widespread devastation leaving more than 6,000 people dead, over 1,000 missing, and displacing more than 6 million people in the Visayas region alone.
The disaster caused an estimated $13 billion in damage to infrastructure, agriculture, and the livelihoods of affected populations. Despite significant international aid, the Philippine government’s response was widely condemned as slow and inadequate. This deepened the humanitarian crisis, compounding the suffering of those who had already lost everything.
Renowned photojournalist Veejay Villafranca has been documenting the effects of extreme weather and displacement in the Philippines since 2009. In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, he focused on the lives of those forced from their homes, exposing the long-term challenges survivors face, including poor living conditions in temporary relocation sites, significant risks to health and security, and the threat of organized crime in evacuation areas.
About Veejay Villafranca
Veejay Villafranca began his career as a staff photographer for the Philippines Graphic magazine, covering sociopolitical events in the country. In 2006, he started working independently with international news agencies, reporting on news and feature stories throughout Southeast Asia.
In 2008, Veejay received the Ian Parry Scholarship and completed a residency at Visa Pour l’Image in Perpignan, France, where he developed a project on the lives of former gang members in Manila. In 2013, he joined the Joop Swart Masterclass of the World Press Photo Foundation, where he worked on a project about public health and Filipino spirituality.
His first photobook, SIGNOS, co-published with MAPA Books, won the 2018 Invisible Photographer Asia’s first photobook award. In 2024, Veejay’s work was featured in the Philippine Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale.
Veejay teaches visual language and documentary photography at the Asian Center for Journalism and the College of Saint Benilde. He is an alumnus of the 2005 Angkor Photo Festival Documentary Workshop and served as a regional jury member in 2022, and later as the regional jury head in 2023, for the World Press Photo Contest.
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