Blood & Diamonds

Carissa Oledan Coscolluela didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in her mouth - hers was most probably platinum.

Her father Buji, the son of the late Carlos Coscolluela of Negros Occidental and Vicenta Luz of Lipa, Batangas, comes from a landed political family.

Her mother Linda, the daughter of former Ambassador to Spain Jose Oledan and jeweler Liding Miranda-Oledan, is a card-carrying member of Manila’s high society.

Carissa, who was and is still very much a part of Manila’s horsey set, attended a private Catholic school for girls in New York for grade school and high school and traveled the world with her Oledan grandparents. She rode horses as a pastime.

“Well, I feel growing up I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve never really had to need or want for anything,” is how she humbly describes her life. She was sheltered but not shielded from the realities of life, and the inhumane conditions many of her countrymen lived in.

“When you see all the suffering of the people, especially in times of disaster and in times of need, you can’t really help to want to do something to help them. And you realize that what you can give them today is not even going to go a long way for them. They need so much more than that. But if you can provide that little bit of comfort and support for them today, and get them through today, then you should do it. It’s not enough, to just say ‘hay kawawa naman’.”

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After high school, Carissa pursued a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City. She then taught English at the Assumption College in Makati before a job assignment at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, under then chairman Richard Gordon, changed her life forever. Gordon infected her with his love of country and can-do attitude to prove that love.

Carissa found ways to give more than just temporary relief for the afflicted. She joined the Red Cross as a volunteer in 1999.

Carissa also had a brief but productive stint in the 14th Congress as representative for the party-list group Buhay. She was the principal author of several pieces of legislation that were pro-life because they sought to improve the quality of life of millions, from babies to war veterans.

“One of my first bills that actually became a law, which was very early in the 14th Congress, was the Veteran’s Equity Bill. There was a parallel bill in the US Congress,” she recalls proudly.

Carissa was also the principal author in the House of Representatives of the Philippine Red Cross Act of 2009.

When she differed with Buhay in its choice for candidate in the presidential elections of 2010, Carissa opted not to seek public office that year. With Gordon as chairman of the Red Cross, Carissa decided in 2011 to run as governor of the Red Cross board instead. The board is composed of 30 governors  elected, appointed and selected (by those appointed).

In a sense, she has gone full-circle with the organization, starting as a volunteer.

In 1999, as the new millennium was approaching, the Red Cross tasked Carissa to spearhead a fundraising project that was going to be sustainable. “So what we launched then was what we called the Millennium Partnership Program of the Philippine Red Cross. It’s very hard to act only after a disaster has hit and you just run to people and ask for money. You don’t want to just react all the time, you want to be ready all the time in times of disaster. We went to corporations that donated P5 million, P1 million per year, so that we were sure that every year, we’d have something. Through that program that I conceptualized, marketed and put together, we raised P60 million for Red Cross for disasters.”

The 1999-born project is still alive and kicking, breaking out of the ningas cogon mold of several noteworthy pro-poor projects. Carissa refuses to take credit for the projects sustainability and attributes it instead to the credibility of the Red Cross.

“The Red Cross is accountable to a head office. It’s an international agency with representatives who audit our books,” she points out.

Carissa, who says she isn’t running for public office in the 2013 elections, is now a driving force behind the Red Cross’ “Blood Samaritan” program.

“The Red Cross is really known for blood. You can’t imagine how many people need blood every day. The blood that you get in a transfusion is the difference between living and dying. Here, at the Red Cross, when people ask for blood, it’s our policy not to turn anyone away. If they come to the office and they need Type A, and we don’t have it, we make it our job to find it: we call another chapter to find out if they have it. The blood itself is free, of course. They come from voluntary donations from people. But it takes money to process blood. You have to clean it, it needs extensive processing. So there’s a charge for the blood. And that charge is exactly the cost of processing of blood.

“So this is where we’re coming in,” Carissa continues. “If you have no money, you’re still going to get blood from the Red Cross even if you’re not going to pay for it. But we need to raise the funds to pay for this, otherwise, we’ll be dipping into our other funds, and then we’re going to run out. So one bag of blood, depending on the type, will amount to about P1,500. So a donation of P1,500 from those who don’t want to give blood or cannot, or are not qualified to give blood, but still want to help the Red Cross, will go a long way.”

The Red Cross accounts for 45 percent of the country’s total blood collection. In 2011, it collected 314,000 units from some 150,000 donors. A total of 110,813 patients were served with the blood collected in 2011, 8,865 of whom were indigents. But because of the upgrade in testing facilities for the blood, the Red Cross, which survives entirely on donations, needs a transfusion itself.

Carissa grew up rich  she never has had to work a day in her life. But not even her diamond studs will prevent her from riding a banca in the floods to deliver relief goods to typhoon victims.

Nowadays, Carissa wants to be like the lifeblood that sustains many lives   not just for a day, but for the long term.

“If it’s in your capability and within your capacity to harness other people to help, and to give up their time, and their resources to help, then more and more people are going to get the help that they need. If you can multiply yourself and get other people to join you in your efforts, imagine how many lives will be better today because of that effort.

For this jewelry heiress-turned-Red Cross governor, “Productivity is not just being able to earn a living, or make money, you know? I think the most productive thing you do is to help other people.”

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