Red Cross’ Run to Save Lives

It’s fun to know the Philippines leads in championing the spirit of volunteerism as a means to save lives. This is evident from the number of persons who have signed up to participate in the second Million Volunteer Run (MVR2) to Save Lives on Feb. 10. The first MVR held in Metro Manila and 78 cities on December 4 last year drew more than 5,000 runners. The run was held in celebration of the UN Declaration of the Year 2011 as the International Year of Volunteers. 

The second fun run is again being held to “further strengthen a network of volunteers down to the barangay level and to raise funds for the PRC’s critical humanitarian services.”

The Philippines being one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, the Red Cross has been aggressively conducting a recruitment drive for its RC 143 program. It recruits and trains at least 44 volunteers in every community (one team leader plus 43 members, or 1+43 per barangay). RC 143 volunteers undergo rigid hands-on training and practice to be able to respond and lead on-ground efforts during emergencies and other challenging situations.

Through MVR2, the public, especially the youth, is encouraged to join the RC 143 corps and become the Red Cross’ humanitarian arms in their respective communities.

PRC chairman Richard Gordon explained, “MVR2 is a salute to all volunteers on whom lives depend in times of disasters and emergencies. Now, more than ever, the Philippines must be vigilant in the face of mass-casualty events that threaten the disaster-prone country every year, by drafting more volunteers and training them on disaster-response skills.”

Gordon, who has spent many years of his life working for the Red Cross, said MVR hopes to make the public more aware of key aspects of volunteerism championed by PRC such as disaster preparedness and response, health and welfare, and voluntary blood donation. “We want to tell the world that the Philippines has millions of volunteers at the community level ready to cope with and mitigate the risk of disasters — and save lives as a nation.”

“We want to eventually convert runners into a dynamic and dedicated network of volunteers who are always first, always ready, always there,” Gordon added. “The Million Volunteer Run is, in itself, a test run and a microcosm of how PRC can mobilize volunteers in times of disaster.”

The run is open to the public. Gordon will lead the main run in Metro Manila featuring 3K and 5K courses. Starting from the Aliw Theater and the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay city at 5 a.m., the runs will finish at the Quirino Grandstand, Manila.

The PRC Quezon City chapter will hold simultaneous 3K and 5K runs starting from the Quezon City Memorial Circle along Elliptical Road towards Commonwealth Avenue and back to the Quezon Memorial Circle.

All proceeds of the event will go to the Red Cross 143 volunteer program and humanitarian services of PRC.

Registration  fee  is  P100  for  students, P200 for non-students, and P500 for business executives. Singlets and bandanas will be sold separately. For more details, log on to www.run.redcross.org.ph, or visit the official MVR Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MillionVolunteerRun.

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Journalist Amada Valino who resides in Davao City, sent by email the message that only four months to go before election time, concerned citizens of Catanduanes Province, led by Larry Que, are looking forward to a quick resolution by the Bureau of Immigration and the COMELEC to the complaints filed against Catanduanes Governor Joseph Chua Cua.

 â€œThe complaints,” according to Que, “are asking for his (Governor Cua’s) deportation and disqualification to run again as governor in the May 2013 elections, (who is allegedly) a Chinese citizen with the real name Joseph Qua but who is representing himself to be a Philippine citizen under the assumed name Joseph Chua Cua.”

According to Larry Que, “The citizens of Catanduanes are concerned because they know that the essential requisite for holding any position by popular election in the Philippines is one must be a natural-born citizen of this country. They hope that the investigation on this case will continue regardless of political affiliations, similar to what President Aquino said when he dismissed talks of politics playing a key role in the investigation of Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia and Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino.

“As emphasized by President Aquino and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, ‘We are blind to party affiliations when it comes to punishing the guilty.’”

My question is, did the concerned Catanduanes residents file a complain about Joseph Chua Cua’s citizenship when he first ran as governor?

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With the passage of RA 10354 (otherwise called the Responsible Parenthood Act) should church prelates continue to lambast legislators who signed the bill? Does their religious belief mandate them to tell their parishioners that legislators who voted yes are evil?

These questions are raised by concerned parishioners of the Diocese of Dumaguete who were shocked to hear Msgr. Gamaliel Tulabing, JCD, PC, administrator of the Diocese of Dumaguete, condemn the Liberal Party candidate for governor of the province of Negros Oriental, Representative Jocelyn Limkaichong for voting for the passage of the reproductive Health bill. In his pastoral letter read in churches in the province, Msgr. Tulabing praised the male congressmen who voted no to the RH bill.

In his letter written in Cebuano, and distributed to churches in his diocese, Tulabing falsely charged Jocelyn “Josie” Limkaichong, representative of the first district of Neg. Oriental, of promoting promiscuity and fornication by allowing unmarried couples and youths to take contraceptives. He said she violated the teaching of the Catholic Church that life begins with the fertilization of the ovum even if it does not merge with the male’s sperm. “ Klaro kaayo nga ang RH anti-church, ug anti-religion.” The monsignor then commanded parishioners not to vote candidates to the Senate and the House of Representatives who voted yes to the bill, whom he called “spiritually blind.”

Atty. Coleta Aranas, a former fiscal of Dumaguete, now a popular trial lawyer, told me that at a meeting of the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals, a priest denounced Limkaichong. At a mass where another priest went into a denouncing spiel, three members of the congregation walked out.

I met Representative Limkaichong last Sunday, and she confirmed that voters in her opponents’ areas have mouthed Monsignor Tulabing’s misrepresentation of facts. She said people have asked her if it is true that under the RH law, the government wants only two babies, and those born after the two, are not entitled to benefits, if the law allows abortion, and is anti-church and anti-religion. The congresswoman has found herself explaining painstakingly that the charges are false.

She told me that at first she was not in favor of the RH bill, but when she saw that authors amended portions that she objected to, she became convinced that the law benefits Filipinos. She continues to be a staunch Roman Catholic, as does her philanthropist mother, Aning Sy, who, deeply hurt by the actuation of the monsignor, said that her family can attend mass in other churches where they are warmly welcomed.

Those who are seeing the good accomplishments, the sincerity and dedication, and the no-nonsense stance of this congresswoman believe that she will make a good Negros Oriental governor.  

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