“The 145 boxes, whose contents were estimated to cost SR150,000, were loaded in two big trucks and brought to the warehouse in Suleimania district pending shipment to the Philippines,” Arsenio G. Ramirez, consultant and IT head of that Al-Haram Center that made the donation, told Arab News on Wednesday.
Ramirez said the donations were made thanks to the collaboration between the Order of the Knights of Rizal-Riyadh Chapter (OKOR-Riyadh Chapter) of which he is the deputy chapter commander and Triskelion Alumni Organization—Riyadh Council (TAO-RC).
He said the donated items were Al-Haram’s old stock. “Many of the donated products were defective but could still be used. It's for this reason that the estimated value of the products was SR150,000 instead of SR300,000,” said Ramirez, who comes from Lobo, south of Manila.
He said he knew the company owner had a soft spot for Filipinos so he asked him to donate the old stock to those who needed them, such as the victims of the typhoon that hit the southern Philippines on Dec. 16. An estimated 1,500 people were reported dead and 1,000 others missing in the aftermath of the typhoon.
Christopher Reyes, the tournament chairman of TAO-RC's volleyball league, said part of the donations would also go to civic organizations engaged in charity work such as Sa Tahanan ni Maria (To the House of Maria), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Aetas who are an ethnic minority.
He said it was during the volleyball league that TAO-RC started collecting cash and used clothes for the benefit of less-fortunate Filipinos back home.
“On behalf of TAO-RC in Riyadh headed by Willie Plumos, I'd like to thank Arsenio Ramirez and Al-Haram Center for the donation. It will go a long way in helping our less-fortunate compatriots in the Philippines,” Reyes said.
Originally founded in the Philippines in October 1968, TAO has chapters all over the world.
