JEDDAH, 22 December 2004 — Filipinos and their friends in the Kingdom have sent over the weekend at least 13.5 tons of assorted relief goods for victims of recent storms in the northern Philippines.

And that shipment include only those collected by various individuals and organizations for the “Sagip Kapamilya” relief program of ABS-CBN and carried out by The Filipino Channel’s offices in the Kingdom.

The assorted goods, mostly clothing, blankets, kitchen utensils and toys, were loaded in a 40-foot container van and shipped to the Philippines last weekend by Sky Freight Forwarders.

Danny Abenes, Sky Freight’s financial controller, said there are still more than 200 boxes in the TFC office in Jeddah alone and an undetermined number of boxes more at the Sunrise International School and Al-Hekma International School.

“We will send all these goods in our next shipment on Dec. 23 because the 40-foot container we had couldn’t accommodate all the donations. The first container was packed to its maximum capacity,” he said.

The deadline for sending relief goods for “Sagip Kapamilya” through Sky Freight is on Dec. 25.

Apart from the relief goods, TFC also received a total of SR46,000 in cash donations (SR25,600 from Jeddah and SR20,800 from Riyadh). The amount does not include the SR7,000 sent directly to Manila during the ABS-CBN telethon.

The overwhelming support of Pinoys in the Kingdom caught the attention of Consul General Pendosina Lomondot, who was witness to the loading of the relief goods at the Sky Freight warehouse in Jeddah.

“What you are seeing is the donation of our kababayans here in Saudi Arabia from different organizations,” said Lomondot, who noted that a bulk of the goods were from the Western Region.

Meanwhile, Raffy Jison, managing director of the TFC in the Middle East, urged those who intend to donate to the flood victims to consider sending medicines and foodstuff, which flood victims in the hardest-hit towns of Quezon and Aurora badly need.

Donations of medicines and foodstuff (those that are not easily perishable like canned goods and noodles) will be given priority and will be sent by air by Sky Freight to Manila, said Emy De Guzman, general manager of the biggest Filipino-owned forwarding company in the Middle East.

“Sky Freight is always ready to share what it can afford to our countrymen in need of help,” said de Guzman, who had been active in relief activities for the past two decades.

Embassy Donation

In Riyadh, the officials and staff of the Philippine Embassy donated some 40,000 pesos to the storm victims

Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla said his staff passed the hat around and raised the amount, which the embassy remitted to the account of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).

The NDCC is in charge of all relief operations in the Philippines.

At the same time, members of the Filipino community in the capital turned over some 80 boxes of relief goods for the calamity stricken areas two days ago at the Riyadh International School (RIS), the embassy said in a press statement.

The goods will be immediately shipped to the Philippines, courtesy of WRJ Cargo Forwarders and GP Cargo, said the statement.

Representing the ambassador at the turnover ceremony held at RIS was Labor Attaché Alberto S. Abalayan.

The United Overseas Filipino Workers headed by Frank Naval initiated the Alay sa Kapwa relief project.

Naval also informed Ambassador Guinomla that his group’s cash donations will be coursed through ABS-CBN Foundation.

Guinomla expressed his appreciation and gratitude to all those who contributed to the fund and relief goods drives.