MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on January 25 sent off a 21-member medical team to assist in humanitarian efforts in the poor Caribbean nation.
“Our biggest contribution on top of a meager fund is the expertise of our doctors and nurses and we thank the volunteers who will go there,” she said in Filipino in Malacañang.
The humanitarian team was scheduled to leave on the night of Jnuary 25 t even as 70 Filipinos, mostly women and children, who were affected by the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, headed for Manila on January 26 under a government repatriation program.
Ms Arroyo had earlier promised to give $50,000 cash assistance as part of an international effort to help Haiti’s recovery. Coming from a poor country like the Philippines, the amount was understandably dwarfed by aid coming from the developed countries, such as the United States and France. She said Filipinos knew the “feeling” of being at the receiving end of international aid in the face of calamities, including Tropical Storm “Ondoy,” and Typhoons “Pepeng” and “Frank” that struck the Philippines last year.
“That’s why it is our responsibility to send help whenever we have brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world who are in need,” she said. “We felt the importance of help coming from other countries before; that’s why we’re doing the same now.”
Her deputy spokesperson, Gary Olivar, said that “we benefited from the world’s goodwill when we had disasters last year, so it’s but proper that we return the favor with our openness [to help] when other nations like Haiti are in need,” Headed by Dr. Emmanuel Bueno, the Philippine humanitarian team has general and orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, public health emergency specialists, sanitary engineers, an internal medicine specialist, a pediatrician, a psychologist and a social worker.
Another team, composed mostly of medical experts on post-traumatic cases, will leave for Haiti next week.
“We are going there to help. We have been ordered first and foremost to help the victims,” Bueno, an anesthesiologist of East Avenue Medical Center, told reporters. “With us are medicines and equipment necessary for surgical operations ... from gauze to antibiotics to anesthesia and anesthesia machine.”
“We are not asking for anything in return, not even recognition. This is pure service,” he said.
Describing the mission as “no longer new to us,” Bueno said most of the team members had been part of humanitarian missions in countries such as Iraq and Burma (Myanmar).
Ms Arroyo said the first batch would board a Philippine Airlines flight for free and take the long route to San Francisco, Miami and the Dominican Republic to get to Haiti.
She thanked FedEx for facilitating the delivery of the equipment that the medical team would need.
“We should praise our people who are going to a faraway place to help. We wish them the best. We wish them safety because the condition there is not yet totally safe. There are still follow-up tremors and the reconstruction and rehabilitation are dangerous work to start with,” Olivar said.
He added: “We expect that our mission will be honorable, successful, similar to the record of our peacekeeping missions with the United Nations and our [overseas Filipino workers].”
