I am not asking for information regarding the several millions of dollars that were donated by several countries to the Typhoon Haiyan victims in the Philippines. Hopefully, the money is in good hands and will eventually reach the right people. God forbid, not the ‘pork’ hungry politicians.
But there are some Filipinos in Sydney involved in fund raising activities whenever typhoons hit the Philippines. No less than 20 calamities hit our home country every year.
Each time it happens, some organisations and ‘civic-minded’ individuals engage in fund raising concerts supposedly aimed at helping the victims.
What I find interesting is where the money goes. I have yet to see an audited financial report declaring the gross amount earned versus legitimate expenses incurred to arrive at a net amount. I have seen on facebook conflicting dollar figures derived from such events as reported by some individuals. Why do the figures fluctuate? Shouldn’t there be a steady rise in the amount collected? Is facebook the proper venue to make the report?
More importantly, how was the money spent? Did they purchase relief goods for distribution to the typhoon victims? Which organisations in the Philippines benefitted from the fund-raising efforts of our ‘charitable’ individuals?
There appears to be a trend
What I find most alarming is that there appears to be a trend. Some people in Sydney are always quick to respond whenever disasters occur in the Philippines. That looks admirable indeed. However, none of them have really made a public disclosure of how much money was raised and how the funds were allocated. Who were the beneficiaries? What has become very visible is that these ‘charitable’ individuals almost always travel back to the Philippines almost immediately after the fund-raising event. One can only hope that their purpose was to personally distribute the fruits of their efforts to the disaster victims, some of whom may even be related to them. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that but my unsolicited advice is for them not to make it very obvious, most especially if the travel funds used were donated by other people or came from their fund-raising activities. – Dino Crescini