Philippines Forum

ACEPoolPlayer
Joined 2012
Posts: 2036

9 years ago

Relief Aid

9 years ago

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).

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