Dear Friends,
I would like to thank you, and every Filipino and friend(s) of the Filipino Community for your generous donation and helping out in the appeal for the assistance of our kababayans affected by Typhoon Ondoy. Every contribution and donation that we made helped give relief to people who had lost everything in the flood.
The flooding was the Philippines’ worst since 1967 and affected 3,084,997 persons (629,466 families), leaving 293 dead, 42 missing and five injured. The storm caused about P4.8 billion (A$ 116.1 million) in damages to agriculture and infrastructure. As of 1 October, a total of 419,333 people (83,493 families) were staying in 726 evacuation shelters.
At the time of this writing, our efforts to raise relief goods for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy have not yet ended, and already Typhoon Peping is beginning to batter Catanduanes and threatening Luzon as a Category 4 Storm / Super Typhoon.
The Philippine Consulate General in Sydney would like to assist the Filipino Community’s appeal efforts, current and future, by making available the advisories issued by the NDCC, PNRC, DOH, (and) DSWD for the bringing into the Philippines of relief goods. The Consulate is making this information available to make sure that your dispatch of relief goods makes proper entry to the Philippines.
For starters, I am attaching a document summarizing the guidelines of Memorandum No 36, which applies to the entry of relief goods intended for calamity-stricken areas. Over the next few days, I will be making available additional information and advisories related to the provision of relief assistance.
I would like to propose to the Filipino Community in NSW that a meeting be held for stakeholders (organization heads, remittance centers, cargo/ courier delivery forwarders, volunteer groups) to work out a coordinated action guide that will share information and facilitate partnering for bringing our donations to distressed communities in the Philippines. I think if we concert our initiatives in future appeals, we can do so with greater effect. Any interested party who is agreeable to have this meeting can email me at janthonyreyes@philippineconsulate.com.au
Please feel free to forward this letter to others raising donations for the assistance of Typhoon Ondoy victims.
Very truly yours,
J. Anthony Reyes, Vice Consul
Philippine Consulate General, Sydney