‘Yolanda’ aid goes viral with lots of thanks to netizens

SOLIDARITY AFTER THE STORM Tabang Visayas movers: (Back row) Marilou Suplido, Mercy Cabrillas, Edsel Ramirez, Jing Rey Henderson, Kennethe Turaray, Dr. Expedito Medalla, George Bagundol Jr., Restie Male, Bong Soto, Ryan Joson, Connie Kalagayan, David Liban Jr., Magdalena Esmeralda and Joyce Talag, and (front row) Viel Aquino-Dee, Lot Ortiz-Luis, Dr. Ofelia Alcantara, Dr. Jose Llacuna, Mayor Sandy Javier, Inquirer president and CEO Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, Ambassador Howard Dee and Dr. Paulyn Jean B. Rosell-Ubial. KIMBERLY DELA CRUZ

Call it solidarity after the storm—in a new charity platform.

The country’s civil society organizations bore witness to how netizens could be a force to reckon with in the ongoing rehabilitation of areas badly hit by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), which devastated the country on Nov. 8 last year.

Online donations—big and small—came pouring in at Tabang Visayas (Help Visayas) Task Force, a coalition of 20 organizations helping to rebuild areas ravaged by Yolanda.

Five months after the task force was launched, it has pooled P10 million from netizens, most of whom have chosen to remain anonymous. Add this to close to half a billion pesos worth of aid the coalition and its member organizations were able to raise.

“It was a surprise that in a matter of five months, we were able to raise such an amount from individuals through the Internet,” Benjamin Abadiano, president of Assisi Development Foundation, the organization leading the task force together with the Inquirer and Ayala Foundation.

Some cash donations were made through bank deposits while others signed up for the specific assistance packages that the task force offered to those who want to help.

Various kits

These packages are: “education kit” worth P250, which includes pad paper, ball pen, pencil, crayons and ruler; “dignity kit” (for personal hygiene) worth P700, which includes soap, a towel and pail; and “food kit” worth P1,000, which includes relief food items and vegetable seeds.

There is an “infant kit” worth P1,000 for babies and other kits such as boat and livelihood kits, and school and housing aids, ranging from P3,500 to P3 million.

“We are so happy to see donations online. That’s something to be noted because those are really from individuals,” said Inquirer president Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, who with Ambassador Howard Dee, thought about reviving the same coalition that united groups in helping Mindanao prepare for a long drought at the height of the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Representatives of the 20 organizations of the task force met on Tuesday to assess their accomplishments in the past 10 months.

Private-gov’t coalition

Tabang Visayas includes the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace, Philam Foundation, Unilab Foundation, Philippine Business for Social Progress, Habitat for Humanity, Hands on Manila, Metrobank Foundation, Kaya Natin and Zuellig Family Foundation.

Officials from government agencies serving as partners of the task force—the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police—attended the meeting at the Inquirer office.

Tabang Visayas, since its launch in November, has raised P567 million, both in cash and in kind, through its local member organizations and international partners.

But leaders of the coalition noted that the figure could be higher—close to P1 billion—since some funds shelled out by its member organizations have not been reported to the secretariat of the task force.

Some 339,346 families in the Visayas region received immediate aid such as food and other basic items as a result of the relief operations mounted by the task force.

The task force led by Hope Japan, Ayala Foundation and Eastwest Seed Group, through its livelihood program, gave 7,043 families planting seeds so they could start farming again after the typhoon destroyed their sources of livelihood.

Some 37,774 families received tools and materials for the repair and reconstruction of their houses torn down by the typhoon.

The Inquirer and Cross Catholic Outreach led the task force in enrolling 79 students in a two-year midwifery course and 30 students in technical-vocational courses. Some 2,000 students likewise received education kits and 10 students got scholarship grants.

Beyond the numbers, Sandy Javier, mayor of Javier town in Leyte, noted that the first meeting of Tabang Visayas opened the gates for the assistance needed by the victims of the supertyphoon.

A match caused wildfire

“A match was lit that caused a huge wildfire, which was a great help to the victims of Yolanda,” Javier told the organizations’ representatives during the meeting.

One of the achievements of Tabang Visayas was its successful collaboration with government agencies in bringing aid and rehabilitating Yolanda-stricken areas.

“This time, we expanded the partnership, which now includes the local government units and national government agencies,” Abadiano said.

The two objectives of the task force were to complement the work being done by the government and avoid the duplication of tasks even among the civil society groups.

All projects of Tabang Visayas will end in April next year. “But we are committed to go beyond April,” Abadiano said, noting that the livelihood projects are a necessity for the next year or two.

“Tabang Visayas is still willing to have a follow-through activity, particularly on the livelihood and training on resiliency building in communities,” Abadiano said.

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