International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) President Tadateru Konoe began his 5-day visit to the Philippines on December 11, 2013. This visit comes after IFRC Secretary General Bekele Geleta arrived the previous week to assess the damage done by typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in Eastern Visayas. President Konoe was welcomed by Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman Richard Gordon and PRC Secretary General Gwen Pang at the Centrury Park Hotel in Manila evening December 11. The following morning December 12, the group went to the Department of Foreign Affairs Office (DFA) to meet with Undersecretary Jose Brillantes to discuss joint initiatives between PRC and IFRC. One joint effort was the building of 45,000 houses in the past 8 years thru the cooperation of both groups. On Dec. 13, President Konoe will pay a visit to the Department of National Defense Office (DND) to meet with Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. Konoe, who is, the first Japanese to be elected President of IFRC, will also meet with the Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Toshinao Urabe. As the highlight of SG Geleta’s trip last week was his visit to Leyte, President Konoe chose to travel to Bohol instead on December 13-14. Konoe chose the province of Bohol, which was shaken by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake last Oct 15, just a few weeks before super-typhoon Yolanda struck, so as to assess whether substantial recovery efforts are being made there. Chairman Richard Gordon said that Mr Konoe’s decision to travel to Bohol will highlight the contributions of the Philippine Red Cross in that area. During their meeting with USec Brillantes, Chairman Gordon said that “I am very gratified that my president (Konoe) has agreed to visit Bohol when everybody has forgotten. We should not forget Bohol.” Gordon noted that whereas Leyte was the center of both relief and media attention in the past month, the situation and progress in the province of Bohol-- where 676,065 families were affected--is equally important to monitor and Sec Gen Gwendolyn Pang, meanwhile, said that the PRC has been very active in the area despite the Yolanda crisis. Aside from providing food, relief and tarpaulin shelter to the affected, the PRC has been primarily addressing the province’s main problem--water. She added that “Despite the fact that water pumps are already restored in the affected areas, the main line going to the communities are still under repair. Reports are still coming in that there are areas that have contaminated water sources in Tubigon, Inabanga, Sagbayan and Clarin. As of December 8, the water stations set-up by the PRC across Bohol have served 1, 741, 500 liters of water. Just like SG Geleta’s visit to Leyte, President Konoe’s personal trip to the affected Bohol province will prove to be quite fruitful as he can then provide his insights and suggestions to the PRC based on his international expertise and by seeing the area first hand, Sec Gen. Pang said.
Posted on: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 11:45:05 +0000
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