Beyond ‘condoling’ with the victims of the re­cent floods in the Philippines, the Canadian gov­ernment is silent on its plans to extend aid to the stricken country. A brief, three-paragraph statement by Minister for International Cooperation Bev Oda was all that the government could muster For his part, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird issued the following statement on December 17 – two more paragraphs than Oda’s.
“On behalf of all Canadians, I extend my deep­est sympathies to the friends and families who have lost loved ones or are otherwise affected by tropical storm Washi.

“We are monitoring the situation closely and stand ready to provide emergency consular as­sistance to Canadian citizens as required
“To date, there are no reports of Canadian fatal­ities or injuries as a result of the tropical storm.
“We advise Canadians to stay informed of re­gional weather forecasts and to follow the advice of local authorities.
“We stand with the people of the Philippines during this difficult time.”
You do?

What about sending monetary aid immediately for starters?
The United Nations has appealed for $28.6 million in aid and perhaps Canada can contribute to that instead of ‘monitoring’ the situation. Unless they don’t trust the U.N. The provincial government of Manitoba though its relief agency, Manitoba Council for Interna­tional Cooperation, immediately sent $100,000 without ‘monitoring’ the situation as the feds are doing. The Canadian Catholic Organization for Devel­opment & Peace (D&P) has already sent $50,000 to its partner agency in the Philippines – Caritas.

The Australian government, meanwhile, prom­ised to provide P55 million in relief aid to the disaster victims. For its part, the Chinese Embassy in Manila do­nated at least P440, 000 for its host government’s relief efforts. Other pledges: U.S., P4.1 million ($100,000); Denmark, P2.3 million (300,000 krones); Indone­sia, P13.3 million ($310,000); and New Zealand, P17 million (NZ$500,000).

The South Korean government gave $500,000 worth of goods through its Korea International Cooperation Agency for the typhoon victims The donation includes 500 sets of tents, 15,000 pieces of towels, 3,000 boxes or 63,000 pieces of chicken and 6,800 pieces of aqua tabs or water purification tablets. Perhaps community leaders nationally and provincially need to establish contacts within gov­ernment bureaucracies so that emergencies like this could be effectively communicated and aid money solicited.

Even more, maybe it’s time that a national organization specifically for disaster relief in the Philippines be formed. It could be run by expatriate Filipinos here and can tap into the reservoir of goodwill and solidar­ity that already exists. While there are already numerous government and non-governmental agencies that provide aid, it would be good if we have our own agency that we can turn to in times like this.

Filipino Canadians have been forming organi­zations to help in disaster relief over the years like Winnipeg’s Fil-Can Disaster Relief Fund, which raised $120,000 during typhoon ‘Ondoy’ in 2009 and is now raising funds for ‘Sendong’ typhoon victims.

Other cities have organized their own relief ef­forts and these are all well and good. Perhaps, it is now time to think of gluing these disparate efforts together into one movement of solidarity with the people back home. –Ted Al­cuitas

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