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Relief Aid

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ACEPoolPlayer
  7/28/2014 07:01 EST

So I just returned from a 3 week vacation in the Philippines. The main reason for the vacation was because my wife is from Tacloban ("Yolanda") and she hasn't been back to see her family in 3 years. She spent over 2 weeks there, I was there for 6 days. Of course her family like everyone else's in that area lost almost everything. I've been appalled the last 8 months when I hear about all the humanitarian aid that has been sent from around the world (millions of USD) but it never got to the people. I know first hand because I have been sending money every month to try to rebuild their home and they have received nothing other than sardines for the first two months after the storm. While in Manila I over heard a wealthy foreigner with good government ties saying that there were over 70 containers just sitting in North Harbor that haven't cleared customs. Two days later I'm in Saisaki/Dads/Kamayan restaurant for lunch and I hear some Filipinos mention the word Tacloban. I told them I was flying there tomorrow. The older guy was a politician/media person or something. He confirmed that the containers are just sitting in the harbor. Politics between local and national government on who is to get what. He even showed me a video on his phone of a recent meeting with the President. He had a front row seat. The President was saying we need to just tell everyone only 6,000 died. It's not good for the country to keep counting and tell the exact number of deaths. He has it on video on his phone. The Philippines is what it is... Imagine all the medicine, food, supplies and whatever else just sitting in the all those containers in the harbor estimated between 70-100 containers. Politics between local and government officials. That is what the Filipino guy (who obviously had clout told me).

poochewer
  7/28/2014 15:17 EST

Ace u are exactly spot on. And it's not millions it ended up being over a billion dollars! And I was in the storm also, and all the people in my area only got sardines also. Actually the sardines were all stolen overnight one night from the Canadian army makeshift camp, and they were mysteriously replaced with Filipino sardines, in place of the Canadian ones!

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poochewer
  7/28/2014 15:21 EST

Oh I forgot to add that when all the Canadian sardines were stolen and replaced by Filipino ones, they also stole all the Canadian soldiers laptops and cameras while they were there!

sherwood
  7/28/2014 17:08 EST

During the after mask of the storm we donate gallons of store bought water and it was loaded on a transport.
We also visited the area and handed out medicine donate by a drug store.

Sherwood

standupguy
  7/28/2014 23:52 EST

I don't think those army guys were the same ones that fought next to the British & American troops in Afghanistan. Brunswick Sardines are good. Those guys sound more like the Dart units that were sent into New Orleans to rescue Katrina survivors. .

standupguy
  7/29/2014 00:46 EST

Canada has put in $40 mil so far in disaster aid for Yolanda victims. Canada also fast tracks Visa applications for the survivors to relocate to Canada. The Dart units are mostly for making and providing fresh drinking water.

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ACEPoolPlayer
  7/29/2014 04:23 EST

Too bad that money never made it to the people.... A friend of mine at the time of Yolanda asked me how he can donate money to the cause. I wanted to tell him to give it to me an I'll give it directly to my wife's family but of course I was too shy to say that. Instead I told him, "don't bother there is too much red tape, they may never get the money anyway". Boy was I correct!

antiqueron
  7/29/2014 09:00 EST

In our community if Texas the Filipina's got together and raised money and then distributed it to all members families that were affected directly to them.

CAteacher
  7/29/2014 09:54 EST

We were pleased to see how quickly World Vision set up shop. Perhaps that was possible because they already had a year-around presence in the Philippines.

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