Though an active member of the Philippine Community Council (PCC), the Ateneo Alumni Association of Australia (AAAA) chose to send its donation for the flood victims directly to Father Roberto Yap, SJ President of the Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro. The university was formerly known as Ateneo de Cagayan. The relief goods were sent free of charge courtesy of Austral Cargo and Negros Navigation.
The main concern is that the real donor would lose its identity in the process of coursing any donation through a third party. The majority of PCC board members who made the decision are reportedly Rotarians. The fact remains that the $7,000 donation was raised through the Philippine Australia Disaster Emergency Response (PADER) program of PCC. There is no assurance that the donation — coursed through the Rotary Club — would be distributed in the name of the real donor.
A similar thing happened in the case of Education First Foundation Limited of England who sent its donation for Iligan using LBC. (See related story in page 9 of this issue). As of press time, the donations have not been received by the intended consignee. The only response given by LBC to the sender was “not to worry, LBC Foundation will make sure that the goods are distributed to the flood victims.” It seems that the glory was ‘stolen’ by the courier.