RIYADH/JEDDAH, 3 December 2004 — Three major organizations in the Kingdom have kicked off campaigns to raise funds, solicit relief goods and collect used clothes for victims of the most recent typhoons in the Philippines.

The three groups are the Order of the Knights of Rizal (OKOR) and Calabarzon, both of which have chapters in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. A third, the Bag-ong Bicol Saro nin Jeddah (BBSJ) also teamed up with the Guhit Pinoy Foundation to launch their own campaign.

Another group, the Kapihan sa Riyadh, will meet next Friday to also discuss raising funds for the victims.

“I was terrified as I watched on The Filipino Channel (TFC) footage of communities wiped out by flashfloods and landslides in Nueva Ecija and Quezon,” said Dr. Mohammed Ali Carlito L. Astillero, area commander of the Order of the Knights of Rizal (OKOR) for the Middle East and Africa Council.

More than 600 people have been confirmed dead in the three tropical storms that hit the country in just two weeks, including 479 this week when Winnie slammed into the provinces of Quezon, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Rizal and parts of Metro Manila.

Some 560 more were reported missing and the tragedy is feared to be aggravated as the more powerful super Typhoon Yoyong (international code name: Nanmadol) hit the Bicol region last night.

The provinces of Bicol, the Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon are all still reeling from “Violeta” and “Unding” and “Winnie,” which came in succession.

Astillero said that he immediately called OKOR members and discussed what their group could do to help in the campaign being conducted by various groups, including the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) and media outfits such as the ABS-CBN in Manila.

“Expectedly, OKOR members, including the Lady Knights of Rizal in Riyadh and in the Eastern Province, agreed that we launch a campaign to raise funds and collect used clothes,” said Astillero, a recipient of the Banaag at Sikat Award in 1996.

Astillero said initial donations have been received by OKOR from Filipino workers and friends from the Al Mishari Hospital, where he is the medical director for laboratory services.

OKOR said it is seeking support from the humanitarian project not just from Filipinos but other nationals.

Astillero said that he will meet with Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla during the OKOR meeting at the Philippine Embassy today to discuss to whom or which Philippine agency OKOR should send the clothes and relief goods it could collect and solicit and cash it could raise.

In the past, various community organizations throughout the Kingdom, including Filipino schools, have channeled donations through the PNRC.

The PNRC is favored by many organizations because of its extensive network from the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes to the southernmost island group of Tawi-Tawi. It also has a strict accounting procedure to prevent pilferage of donations.

Astillero said that the Kapihan sa Riyadh, whose members include Filipino businessmen and community leaders, will meet next Friday to also discuss what it can do to help. Astillero is adviser of Kapihan sa Riyadh.

On the other hand, Benny M. Quiambao, Calabarzon president, told Arab News yesterday that his group has also started a campaign to raise funds, collect used clothes and solicit relief goods for the victims. Jojie Umali, sectoral president for Quezon, has been designated project chairman of the drive.

Calabarzon stands for the neighboring provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.

Quiambao added that Dan Paredes, a Calabarzon head and cultural officer in the Eastern Province, and the Jeddah chapter of Calabarzon have also started a campaign.

“It’s inspiring to note that compatriots in Riyadh have been willing to support the drive. Some have given SR20 or SR50; others with more in life have given more. The amount, however, does not matter. What matters is their willingness to help,” Quiambao said.

In Jeddah, Bicol Saro president Nonoy Sarmiento called on all Bicolanos and friends to rally behind their campaign and share what they have to calamity victims in their region.

"That's why we have called a meeting of BBSJ officers today to discuss how we will implement this campaign," Sarmiento told Arab News.

Red Cross Appeals

Yesterday, the PNRC appealed to the rest of the world for help as the country braced for yet another battering by Typhoon Yoyong.

The PNRC said it would need an initial 56 million pesos to provide relief to more than a million people affected by the three weather disturbances that slammed into the country in the past two weeks. And with the coming of Yoyong, the cost could run up to P100 million, it said.

“We have prepared P6 million just for relief, and that’s really putting a strain on our resources,” Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the volunteer organization, said in a press conference at the Red Cross headquarters in Manila.

The PNRC has fielded volunteers and distributed relief goods to families displaced by the recent storms. But with the sheer number of people in need, it is now seeking foreign aid. “The International Red Cross community will listen when we say we are announcing an international request for assistance,” Gordon said.

Spain was among the first to heed the PNRC’s call. It donated P4.2 million worth of relief goods, which would soon be distributed to families in Central and Southern Luzon and the Bicol region.

Gordon said the International Federation of the Red Cross had given P2.2 million worth of relief assistance, and private companies a pledge of P2.5 million in cash.

Reorientation

Gordon said the hard-hit towns in Quezon province were still inaccessible.

He also called for a “reorientation” in the way the government was handling disasters. While saying that he was not finger-pointing, he said the government could do better than just providing assistance every time a calamity hit.

“We have always been reactive. Now let us be proactive. Government should initiate programs to tell us, based on the geology of certain areas that have been logged over: are these places safe, can we move these people out, or if we cannot move them, can we have a protocol on how to tell them that when it rains, we have to move out?”

Crisis Management

An ad hoc crisis management task force has been put up in Manila to assist the displaced families, the United Nations said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) and the UN Children’s Fund have pledged emergency funds, while the UN Development Program has requested a further grant of $100,000.

“Many people have been stranded on rooftops, and Ocha reported that rubber boats, tents, food and drinking water were urgently needed,” the UN said in a statement.

The US Embassy announced that it would grant the PNRC $100,000 to address the immediate needs of the victims.

The funds, provided by the US Agency for International Development on the embassy’s request, will be immediately turned over to the PNRC. These will be used to procure and distribute relief goods to the victims.

On top of the grant, she said, the embassy’s Joint US Military Assistance Group had begun coordinating with the defense department’s Office of Civil Defense and the Armed Forces to assess and determine US military resources that could be provided to further support the disaster assistance efforts.

The Japanese Embassy said its government would provide 28 million yen worth of emergency aid for the rescue and relief operations in at least eight provinces.

The aid, consisting of generators, cables, plastic containers, water purification units, water tanks and tents, would be delivered to the National Disaster Coordinating Council, the embassy said.

Aurora, Bulacan, Cagayan, Camarines Sur, Oriental Mindoro, Quezon, Nueva Ecija and Palawan have been identified as the worst-hit provinces.

The embassy also expressed sympathy and condolences to the typhoon victims on behalf of the government and people of Japan.