Solidarity Appeal for the Families Affected by Typhoon Ambo in Samar Provinces
Typhoon Ambo has put more than 200 thousand lives in much peril after it ravaged Samar and Quezon provinces several days ago. Most unfortunately, it hit the Philippines while the country is battling against the meltdown COVID-19 pandemic is causing.
Unlike all the previous disasters, NASSA/Caritas Philippines was always able to respond quickly to dioceses needing immediate interventions. We are constantly able to launch emergency appeals to our donors, especially the Caritas Internationalis confederation. During the Mindanao Earthquake for example, we were able to provide almost 50 million pesos’ worth of response from our external appeals alone.
In the same manner, the Alay Kapwa Solidarity Fund has been our primary source of local emergency response fund. Since 2004, we have been using our AK Fund especially for small-scale emergencies, and the advocacy campaigns of the National Social Action General Assembly.
However, of the 85 dioceses, our Annual Report recorded only a fraction that has been religiously providing support to the national campaign mandated by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. We feel this great challenge now with the COVID-19 pandemic. Since we have no Lenten Campaign this year because of the lockdown, and there is no donation coming from our partner schools, our AK Solidarity Fund currently amounts to at least 900 thousand pesos only. We have allotted 500 thousand pesos to our solidarity response to the dioceses of Borangan and Catarman. We will not have enough if another disaster or emergency will happen during the next months.
Thus our urgent and utmost appeal to our Brother Bishops: “In this great time of need, we urge you to show solidarity to the Dioceses of Borongan and Catarman by giving your donations directly to them.”
“In like manner, we enjoin you to collectively support our Alay Kapwa Program both at the diocesan and national levels. We need this solidarity mechanism to be able to appropriately and timely respond to the emergency needs of our communities, where the most vulnerable and marginalized families continue to be the most affected.”
We are hoping that you will positively respond to this appeal, while steadfastly praying that all will be well.
In the service of the Church of the Poor,
Most Rev. Gerardo Alminaza, DD Most Rev. Jose Colin M. Bagaforo, DD
Bishop, Diocese of San Carlos Bishop, Diocese of Kidapawan
Vice Chair, ECSAJP Chairman,ECSAJP
