(Leaders of internally displaced persons from Marawi City and Fr. Rex Paul Arjona (4th from right) pose for a commemorative photo after the press conference held at CBCP this morning.)
February 21, 2018 - The Catholic Church, through NASSA/Caritas Philippines released a total of 26 million pesos from its local funds under Alay Kapwa, to a number of disasters and emergencies in 2017.
In a statement released Fr. Edwin A. Gariguez, he said “the amount and the vastness of the contribution our Alay Kapwa solidarity fund has provided are a testament to how fast we can gather our resources and extend assistance to the most in need dioceses!”
“As a network, we have implemented programs in the most remote communities, highly vulnerable population and in some instances, under the most challenging conditions! The figures provide us a glimpse of our capacity, as the national social action arm of the Catholic Church, to respond readily to the needs of our dioceses. These are also showing how we have developed in terms of competence and efficiency to implement and manage multi-donor responses,” added NASSA/Caritas Philippines’ Executive Secretary.
In addition to the local funds, NASSA/Caritas Philippines’ over-all humanitarian response portfolio in 2017 totalled to 267 million pesos. These are from the Caritas Internationalis confederation and other funding mechanisms. The amount assisted more than 69 thousand families (348 thousand individuals) affected by disasters and emergencies.
Fr. Gariguez however underscored that the Catholic Church is only complementing the efforts of the government and other organizations. “We do not wish to be doing the work of the government especially. We fully recognize that our role is only to provide additional assistance. However, we cannot close our eyes to the pressing and severing needs of our people. Where others fail, we do our share.”
The most recent humanitarian crises the national Caritas is supporting are the on-going Marawi response (22 million pesos), and the Mayon volcano eruption with an initial aid of 5 million pesos.
NASSA/Caritas Philippines is the humanitarian, development and advocacy arm of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. It is serves as secretariat to the 85 diocesan social action centers in the country and represents the Philippines to the global confederation of Catholic charities - Caritas Internationalis. (J. Henderson, NASSA / CARITAS Philippines)
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