I HAVE READ THIS FROM MR. MARION RAAGAS TIMELINE, A FAMILY MAN FROM BOHOL WHO NOW LIVE IN USA BUT WENT BACK HOME TO BOHOL TO HELP HIS FAMILY AND HIS FELLOWMEN WHO ARE SO BADLY AFFECTED BY THE EARTHQUAKE. I WANTED TO SHARE HIS POST, BUT FOR SOME REASON, MY COMPUTER IS ACTING UP AND IT DOESNT LET ME SHARE ANYTHING. NOT EVEN MY PHONE. SO I THOUGHT ID COPY AND PASTE HIS POST IN MY STATUS INSTEAD. HOPE SOMEBODY WILL READ THIS, ESPECIALLY THE FILIPINOS, AND REALIZE WHATS GOING ON. I WOULD LIKE TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP BUT I DONT KNOW WHERE TO START SINCE IM HERE. I HOPE GOD WILL ENLIGHTEN MY MIND AND SHOW ME THE WAY.. START HERE: RED CROSS – RED(DEST) TAPE (Oct 19, 2013) (As a backgrounder, my cousins in the Raagas Clan and I organized a privately funded relief operation bringing 50 sacks of rice, assorted bread, medicines and water to Maribojoc, Bohol last October 18 and 19. It is our gift to our parents and our ancestors whose hometown is Maribojoc, Bohol. We took a 5 am flight to Cebu yesterday, hired a dive boat in Cebu, crossed to Maribojoc by sea at 730 am to deliver our relief goods ourselves. We also assisted Globe Telecom Corporate Responsibility Team by bringing their goods using our dive boat from Tagbilaran to Maribojoc and Loon since Globe Telco have the goods and we have the boat. May trucks yung Globe pero di makatawid from Tagbilaran to Maribojoc. With such joint team effort, a total of 400 pcs na 6000 ml of water and 400 bags of assorted relief goods were dropped in Maribojoc and Loon. In addition, we used our dive boat to pick up another boat load of relief goods from various sources in Tagbilaran and do another drop in Maribojoc today. When our boat left for Cebu, we voluntarily provided the Mayor of Maribojoc (Mayor Tuloy Evasco) another dive boat which we rented in Panglao to enable the son of Mayor Evasco to ferry an additional 2 boatloads of relief goods (from various donors/resources) from Tagbilaran to Maribojoc. By the way, the son of Mayor Evasco (Gani Evasco) flew in yesterday from Brunei, left his job, to help his father in such relief operations. Kaya ako galit na galit, I expect Red Cross to be more organized and efficient than us and more importantly can move FASTER as a TEAM than us given their various network and resources! Hindi ako – umeEpal kasi walang akong hangarin na maging Red Cross Chairman). This is a CALL FOR ACTION. So here’s my write up. “ Without the list of families, you will get NOTHING” quoting from my conversation with the head of Red Cross Bohol Chapter, Ms Nenita Briones (October 18 at about 1 pm)while negotiating in behalf of the mayor of Maribojoc Bohol –after the arrogant Red Cross assessment team from Manila refused to give relief goods the day before, only because the Mayor cannot give a list of recipients. “ We are apolitical, we do things on our own.” – Mr Richard Gordon (Red Cross Chairman) He said this right in the face of Mayor Evasco, after the mayor expressed disappointment with the way Manila “A” Team Red Cross boys (“A” for arrogant) treated him. Richard Gordon visited the mayor in Maribojoc (October 18, perhaps at the same time I visited the Head of Red Cross Bohol Chapter.) Also, Mr Gordon, reiterated “NO LIST NO RELIEF GOODS” policy. I understand the purpose of such policy --–to prevent ghost recipients, to prevent the selling of relief goods or so that relief goods will be received by the people who really deserve it, to cover wider ground in the distribution efforts,and of course to ensure Red Cross’ own accountabilities to their donors, and all of these borne by years of experience in disaster relief. What I cannot understand is how even from an organizational execution perspective, there is no latitude or elbow room given to men on the ground so that the efforts are more responsive. But what really bothers me most is this --- isasampal mo ang “NO LIST NO RELIEF GOODS” sa mga taong sumisigaw ng tulong habang bakas naman ang gutom at uhaw sa mga mata nila, goods they wish to bring back to their barangays and families who have lost their homes to a calamity that now has snatched away the fruits of their labor and for now broken their aspirations for the future. The townspeople have been literally earth-shaken, and that includes the mayor who himself has lost his own home, and then you press them down even further with policy At that point, the ”NO LIST NO RELIEF GOODS” policy is reduced to ineffectiveness and counter-productivity, and has become plain harsh and inhumane. “NO LIST NO RELIEF GOODS” is equal to depriving people to get the much needed help and assistance in an earthquake situation or in any calamity for that matter. It is compared to a hostage situation ! People and the relief goods are caught in the cross fire between the “fight” of local government and Red Cross. Bakit hindi mo bigyan ng pagkain ang isang tao na nagugutom kung mayroon ka naman ipapakain? Bakit hindi mo bigyan ng maiinom ang isang tao na nauuhaw if meron ka namang mapapainom sa kanila? Red Cross should have given some form of allowance or they should have been more considerate that in disaster situations such as an earthquake, you don’t expect the recipient lists in the mayor’s pocket. What if the file cannot be retrieved in their computers – nasira kasi or what? What if the list was burned or got wet? What if nadaganan ng debris, cemento, kahoy or worse ng tao (dahil nag-eartquake) yung listahan na hinihingi ng Red Cross? They have to factor the inaccessibility of such list/s when the mayor and his staff were all struck by an earthquake ! This is not only bureaucracy at its best ! This is the reddest tape among the red tapes of Red Cross and it is a long tape too – at maraming rolyo! You don’t expect local governments to be organized if EVERYTHING is DISORGANIZED by an earthquake. Red Cross policy of “NO LIST, NO RELIEF GOODS” is counter to it’s purpose and being ! Don’t blame it on the local government for not giving you the list that’s why they don’t get their much needed relief goods! If local government do not have the list, Red Cross should not STOP themselves from distributing relief goods to the people. It is their duty as Red Cross to do so! If local government cannot provide the list for whatever reason, Red Cross ought to distribute at least a minimum number of relief packages with proper guidance with the local government otherwise duplications of recipients will occur. Kaya nga tawag sa kanila local government kasi they have local knowledge. Hirap kasi pag fund raising ng Red Cross, tsaka sila “cooperative” sa local government. Better yet, Red Cross themselves ought to be MORE PROACTIVE in securing a “list basis” coming from other list sources like perhaps Bureau of Census, NSO or Comelec voter’s list if and when local government cannot or perhaps unwilling to comply with Red Cross policy. So when disaster strikes, they have a more scientific basis on who to give from town, barangay and family level. O sige kung walang listahan maibigay ang local government, puede ba gamitin nalang muna natin yung mga mata natin kung sino ang karapat dapat bigyan? Madali naman po siguro malaman ng Red Cross kung sino ang mukang gutom at busog! Let me ask these questions to Mr Gordon and his one- and two-downs with all due and outmost respect– ang mga phone-in questions ko po ay: 1. If your friend or ka-alyado cannot provide such list, will you be strict in enforcing not to give your friend the relief goods his people need? Eh kung di mo kaibigan or ka-partido, papahirapan mo ba sila bago magka-allocation ng relief goods? Sounds PDAF ba or sounds pork. So saan mapupunta yung supposed to be allocation ng relief goods intended kungyari sa Maribojoc na hindi nag-submit ng list? Mukang ang sagot eh “Siyempre, sa ibang bayan kung saan ko gusto ibigay” or “Siyempre yung mas malapit sa akin or sa sandok!” 2. If you were to trade places with an earthquake victim, will you understand the necessity of such policy if you have been deprived of food and water for 2 to 4 days? 3. As an earthquake victim, can you understand the LOGIC of such “NO LIST NO RELIEF GOODS” policy? Siguro naman pag gutom at nanunuyo ang lalamunan mo sa sakit, Mr Gordon, siguro hindi mo maiintidahan or ma-define yung word na “policy” or palagay ko di mo ma-spell yung word na “policy” kahit spelling bee champion ka! 4. As a private and concerned citizen, I am wondering why I felt that Red Cross is just a “Cross” period. Meaning, bakit parang isang mabigat na cross ang dala ko noong nakikipagnegotiate ako kay Ms Briones para mabigyan po ng nararapat na allocation ang Maribojoc dahil isa siya sa mga bayan na napuruhan ng earthquake. 5. Bakit po na-feel ko sa aking pakikipagpanayam kay Ms Briones na ang “Red” sa Cross ay dinugo po ako? Eh, lalaki naman po ako, bakit ako dinudugo? On a very serious note, let me sincerely express that I am not anti-Red Cross per se – In fact, I believe in my heart that among Red Cross volunteers there is a hero among them, actually, I believe, there is a hero in each of them – risking life, limbs, sharing their precious time/resources with people whom they don’t know from Adam, going to unreachable areas just so someone hungry can eat and survive. Let the arm chair generals of Red Cross or EPals of Red Cross be more sensitive to the needs of the people. This policy ought to be more “back to basics” policy driven. Don’t make policies too complicated in a country where things are not as sophisticated and not as advanced and more organized such as the US. We are not yet mature as a nation for such complex policies. At the end of the day, if disaster strikes, the “rule of equality” kicks in by default – walang mayaman, walang mahirap, lahat nagtutulungan, walang mataas, walang mababa, lahat nagtulungan para makaahon sa paghihikahos at kahirapan para lang po mabuhay. Hindi po ako actvista, taos puso lang po ako na nakikiusap na PLEASE – MODIFY Red Cross policy of “NO LIST NO RELIEF GOODS” para naman po such policy is not a road block to give the relief goods. In fact the policy ought to be a bridge para ang isang batang nagugutom at nauuhaw para mapapakain at makakainom pagkatapos ma-earthquake. Sana naman po mabigyan ang local government ng leeway to distruibute the much needed relief goods to their townspeople. Bigyan ninyo naman po ng konting respeto ang pagiging mayor nila lalo na sa mga mayor na honest at taos pusong naglilingkod at nagmamalasakit sa taong bayan. Di naman po siguro lahat ng mayor kakanainin ang mga relief goods ng sarili lang niya . Eh kung gagawin lang ng isang mayor yan dahil sa pagsaswapang sa relief goods eh baka ma-purga siya sa bigas at sardinas at kinbukasan eh may buntot na siya ng isda at ang buhok ay may naka usling rice stalk ! Ay naku, Mr Gordon, the irony of it all, sabay tayo sa eroplano from Bohol pauwi sa Maynila taking the 4:30pm PAL flight (Oct 19). Sa totoo lang po at di po sa pagyayabang, I wanted to ask the above questions to you – face to face with the media all around the pre-departure area in Tagbilaran but I was reminded by my cousin to choose the battles and my battleground. My nephew said “ Tito, please let us end our private relief efforts with a good note, we were able to help a lot of people today and yesterday so let us not spoil it.” It is my fervent hope that Mr Gordon be purest in his heart and decide if such “NO GOODS NO RELIEF POLICY” serves Red Cross purpose and it’s existence. Sana din po, Mr Gordon na you stand and practice by your word that you are apolitical and do things on your own – hopefully doing things the right, honest and the humanitarian way. I say also with all sincerity and I pray that all Red Cross volunteers out there now, men and women, young and old be out of harm’s way everyday, everywhere. May the FORCE (Lord) be with them always. Sincerely yours, Marion Raagas
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 11:36:12 +0000
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