Donations for 'Ondoy' victims still pouring in

MANILA, Philippines - International donors continue to pour in much-needed financial assistance for victims of storm “Ondoy,” with total donations now reaching $103.31 million or about P4.80 billion, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

The DFA said a tally showed that a significant portion of the financial contribution came from international organizations amounting to $76.03 million or P3.53 billion.

These include contributions in cash and in kind from the United Nations Development Program, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Food Program, and World Health Organization, among others.

Donations from individual foreign countries or bilateral and multilateral/regional partners followed with $21.70 million or P1 billion and $3.64 million or P169.53 million, respectively.

The DFA said bilateral partners that donated in cash and in kind were Australia, Singapore, the United States, Japan, China, Canada, Italy, South Korea, Thailand, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, Brunei Darussalam, Bahrain, Sweden, Brazil, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom and Great Britain, and the Czech Republic, among others.

Other donors that contributed were foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) with $1.06 million or P49.3 million; oversea Filipinos communities, $395,659 or P18.4 million; individual donations $22,569 or P1.05 million, DFA personnel at foreign posts $18,114 or P842,301, and others, $434,343 or P20.2 million.

The DFA said donations were handed over to agencies authorized to receive these, such as the National Disaster Coordinating Council, Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Philippine National Red Cross.

Not in the DFA’s tally was humanitarian assistance from the government of Malaysia worth $141,491 or P6,821,376 consisting of of rice, canned food, instant noodles, biscuits, milk powder, blankets, and adult and children’s clothing.

The Malaysian embassy in Manila said the humanitarian assistance would be delivered today and tomorrow via four planes.

The first two will arrive today at the Villamor Air Base, with the first batch of relief goods to be handed over by Madam Vimala Murugan, charges d’ affaires of the Malaysian Embassy, to Defense Secretary and NDCC chairman Gilbert Teodoro.

Mexican boy  donates savings

A Mexican boy with a fascination for the Philippines had recently paid a call on the Philippine ambassador in Mexico to donate his personal savings of 410 Mexican pesos equivalent to P2,451 for the Filipino children victimized by typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng.”

In a report to the DFA, Philippine Ambassador to Mexico Alejandro Ortigas III said fifth grader Alejandro Luna, accompanied by his parents who are both lawyers and his six-month-old brother, visited him at his office last Oct. 9 to express sympathy for the victims of the two typhoons and hand over his personal savings as donation to relief efforts for flood victims.

The donation was said to have come straight out from the boy’s alkansiya (piggy bank).

The Philippine ambassador learned that the boy had developed an interest in the Philippines during a summer class and since then, has started collecting items about the country, including two-peso Philippine bills.

In his letter to Ambassador Ortigas, Luna said he likes reading the history of the Philippines, and one of his favorite tourist destinations in the country is Chocolate Hills in Bohol.  

The envoy said that he intends to ask a friend in the chocolate and cookies business to match a hundred times the donation of Luna, so it can benefit more Filipino children.

Aside from his expression of sympathy and cash donation, Luna presented the Philippine Embassy with a rooster art work in blown glass, a product of the State of Hidalgo, which his father said symbolizes the cockfighting influence of the Philippines to Mexico.

In turn, Ambassador Ortigas gave Luna a Philippine table flag and other mementos.

The young boy said he hopes to visit the Philippines someday.