Marabut is supposed to be part of a vast natural park on Samar, the Filipino island that was first hit by the super typhoon Haiyan almost four years ago, during which a massive storm surge nearly wiped out Tacloban City in neighboring Leyte province and killed more than 6,000 people. Marabut’s poverty-stricken mountain villages are defaced with black patches from charcoal pits, slash-and-burn farming and illegal logging. They may not be uncommon – here and elsewhere in the Philippines – but it brings to the fore the destructive nature of this country and its people.