Resurgence 2.5

Oct 1st 09 Posted by Arnold in Day today, Politics

DSWD vs NGO : where to send donations?

For the longest time, Filipinos here and around the world are one again. Typhoon Ondoy brought us together through generosity. Churches, NGOs, Media outfits — they all received donations all throughout the country and even from around the world. ABS-CBN, for one reported:

@ANCALERTS: Update on Donations ABS CBN Sagip Kapamilya: P30.2 million cash and P72 million in goods & service

This is just one of the non-government institutions that received and distributed the cash and in-kind donations. I personally gave through Red Cross. Our church collected and gave to VCF Greenhills.

The president, however, delivered this message. Notice how she stresses the words “… sa DSWD”.

I have the impression that the government wants the funds to go through them and not through the NGO. So, when somebody asks you on how and where to give (as a client of mine from the US just asked me), what will you tell them? Are you going to ask them to send your funds to DSWD? Or will you direct them somewhere else?

Let me give my opinion as a citizen of this country under the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo: I will NEVER ask people to give to DSWD for these reasons:

1. Effectiveness – as shown in the past days after the tragedy, the non-government instritutions – Red Cross, media, the church – they are all way more effective in delivering the services and the good to the shelters than the government. They are more organized and have more volunteers. In fact, it even looked like these institutions are our government these past few days!

2. Corruption – no need to explain here. But I can’t help it, can I just say some more? Remember the “Calamity fund” that’s supposed to be used for — well, as the name implies — calamity? It’s been used up for GMA’s travel abroad. This is a verifiable fact. This issue was discussed over and over even before the Saturday flood. You used up the calamity fund now you want to horde the donations to the government? I just wouldn’t trust my money on corrupt hands. I’d rather give my donations to some place where I’m sure it will be directly given to where it is intended to be.

If you’ll ask me, here’s how you can give.

How about you, will you course your donation through DSWD as the president suggests?

*/

No debate: Deluge due to climate change

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:05:00 09/30/2009

Filed Under: Ondoy, Flood, Disasters & Accidents, Government, Weather, Climate Change

MANILA, Philippines—The massive floods that inundated Metro Manila were a chilling reminder of the need to seriously address climate change, experts said, warning that the lives of millions were at stake.

More rain fell on Manila and surrounding regions in nine hours on Saturday than the amount Hurricane “Katrina” dumped on New Orleans in 2005.

The ferocity of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana) shocked even seasoned experts in this country where an average 20 typhoons hit every year, but they said it continued a recent pattern of unusually bad weather.

Civil defense chief Anthony Golez and chief weather forecaster Prisco Nilo said they were puzzled by strange changes in the behavior of the typhoons over the past two years.

In early 2007, three typhoons hit the country, with an unusual one in February triggering a landslide that killed 250 people in Southern Leyte province, Golez said.

The typhoons also deviated from their traditional paths during the month of June, traversing the northern and central parts of Luzon for the first time.

‘Very strange years’

“When you try to scientifically observe the data … we will find this year and last year as very strange years, and we can only presuppose that this is due to climate change,” Golez said.

Middle-class enclaves

Saturday’s flooding that overwhelmed large parts of the sprawling metropolis of 12 million people, including gated middle-class enclaves which had never been flooded in the past.

“We can’t just blame this on the rain. We know this is the worst deluge in 40 years. We know there is climate change happening, there is no debate about that,” Greenpeace campaigner Mark Dia said on local television.

Need for global accord

“This is just a glimpse of what will happen. This is not even a super typhoon. We need to be prepared. This is just a taste of things to come. We need to have more preparations and we need to factor in climate change.”

In Bangkok, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer on Monday said the Philippine floods highlighted the need for the world to agree on a global warming pact by a December deadline during talks in Copenhagen.

A global accord would ensure that “the frequency and severity of those kinds of extreme weather events decreases as a result of ambitious climate change policy,” De Boer said.

Wake-up call

Jose Bersales, humanitarian and emergency affairs director at charity World Vision, warned that the Philippine storm was likely a taste of more doom for the world’s poorest, who often are the least prepared for storms.

“This has to be a wake-up call for the world as it prepares for the climate change talks in Copenhagen later this year,” Bersales said.

More intense storms

World Vision quoted recent forecasts by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that tropical storms would become more intense, have stronger peak wind speeds and heavier precipitation.

This phenomenon would have a disproportionate impact on the Philippines, it said.

With 43 percent of the population, or 36 million people, living on less than two dollars a day and with only one doctor for every 1,700 people, the impact of major disasters on the Philippines will become more devastating, World Vision said.

And with an archipelagic coastline of 36,289 kilometers, the country is vulnerable to rising sea levels, another consequence of climate change, the charity added.

“Millions in the Philippines must be helped to prepare for worsening wind storm disasters,” the charity said.

Time has run out

Research by British charity Oxfam showed that the number of people affected by climate crises worldwide was projected to rise 54 percent to 375 million over the next six years.

“Time is not just pressing, it has almost run out,” said De Boer, who broke down in tears of frustration at talks in Bali two years ago, when world governments drew up the “road map” to the Copenhagen deadline.

After two years of haggling, the world is still trying to thrash out a draft text for December’s talks, with major disagreements on the two key issues of cutting carbon emissions and meeting the associated costs

You'll never appreciate the effect of climate change until you experience it yourself. Time take part in action against climate change!