PRESS RELEASE: SingTel donates 500,000 Philippine Pesos to Globe’s disaster relief efforts for Sendong victims

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel), in support of its Philippines associate’s relief efforts for Typhoon Sendong victims, is pledging 500,000 Philippine Pesos to Globe Telecom’s corporate social responsibility programme, Globe Bridging Communities.

The donation will be used to provide relief items, including drinking water and medicines, to families affected by the flash floods and landslides that were triggered by the typhoon.
Ms Aileen Tan, SingTel’s Group Director of Human Resource, said, “We wish to express our condolences for the loss of life and destruction caused by Typhoon Sendong. Together with Globe, our regional mobile associate, we hope to play a part in assisting the Filipinos in their recovery efforts.”

Globe has responded swiftly to the calamity by offering free call and SMS services to victims, as well as setting up internet stations in evacuation centres to help them contact their kin. Globe has pledged approximately 750,000 Philippine Pesos in-kind while its employees donated 250,000 Philippine Pesos to fund on-going relief efforts.

More About SingTel

SingTel is Asia's leading communications group providing a portfolio of services including infocomm technology, pay TV as well as voice and data solutions over fixed, wireless and Internet platforms. The Group has presence in Asia and Africa with 424 million mobile customers in 25 countries, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand. It also has a network of 35 offices in 19 countries and territories throughout Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Yoly Crisanto

Head, Corporate Communications

Globe Telecom

Tel. No. 730 2627
Fax no. 739 3075
Email: globe.corpcomm@gmail.com

Help Them With Heart Not For Publicity

photo: courtesy of Direk Dennis

Lately their are group of celebrity who visited Cagayan de Oro to give helped to the victims of Typhoon Sendong namely Kris Aquino, Vice Ganda, Anne Curtis and Angel Locsin. They said we will be there in Cagayan de Oro to give some donations and to help. But I think some of these celebrities don't know what is the meaning of volunteers, WHY...?? just read below.

This is a true story by one volunteer in cdo. this is the height of inefficiency just to satisfy KRIS AQUINO:

:Dec. 19 @2pm. Ang aking anak at ibang pang mga “abs-cbn volunteers” ay ay sama-samang nagreport sa kanilang tungkulin bilang boluntaryo, nang mapuno na ang trak na may naka... kabit na malaking streamer na nakasaad na ABS-CBN relief op. na pagdadalhan ng mga “Relief goods” para maipamahagi, ang grupo nila ay inatasan na pumunta sa Balulang Evacuation Center. Habang nasa daan sila papuntang Balulang, ay isang tawag mula sa himpilan ng mga donasyon ng abs-cbn ang kanilang natanggap at ito ay ay ipag-utos sa kanila na ihinto pansamantala ang pagtungo nila sa Balulang at hintayin nila Si Kris Aquino at mga kasamahan nito.

Naghintay naman ang grupo at siyempre pati na ang trak na may laman ng mga relief goods, alas 6 ng gabi ng makatanggap ulit sila ng tawag mula sa himpilan ng mga ipapamahaging tulong ng abs cbn upang abisohan sila na hindi na sa Balulang ang punta nila kundi sa Brgy. Consolacion na dahil si Kris Aquino at mga kasamahan ay nasa Brgy. Consolacion pala. Isipin mo, tatlong oras naghintay ang mga boluntaryo upang ito ay pasabihan ulit na sa Consolacion na ang deriksyon nila. Sa puntong ito ay di napigilan ng ibang boluntaryo na punahin ang pamamaraan ng pamamahagi ng relief goods, at ang anak ko din a napigilan ang sabihin ng malakas na “Kay Kris ba itong mga relief goods?! Bakit wala tayong mapagpipiliin kundi sundin ang utos nila?!, ano akala nila sa mga boluntaryo? Mga robot na bahala na kung maabutan ng hating gabi sa daan sa kahihintay ng kanilang pabago bagong utos”. Ok lang din a kailangan ng robot ang pagkain para mapanatili ang lakas nito para sa isasagawang trabaho.” muli, ang grupo kumilos na naman sa papuntang Consolacion. Sobrang bigat ng trapiko, kaya mahina at patigil tigil din ang takbo ng trak bago makarating sa Consolacion. Di mawari ang mga pagmumukha ng mga tao sa Brgy.

Consolacion sa sobrang gutom na nararamdaman ng mga ito at halos hablotin na nila ang mga sako-sakong relief goods na nasa trak, gusto nang ipamahagi ng mga boluntaryo sa mga ang mga relief goods pero di nila magawa dahil wala pang bigay na utos mula sa himpilan na ipamigay na ang mga relief goods.. Sa awa nila sa mga tao, pilit nilang ipina-unawa sa mga tao duon na naghihintay pa sila ng kautosan mula sa nakakataas sa kanila. Dahil sa halong gutom at pagkadismaya, ang ibang tao ay nagsimula ng sumigaw sa kanila na “ano ba yan pare?!! Pangpaakit lang ba yang dala dala ninyo tulong?!”gutom na daw sila talaga, reklamo ng mga tao duon. Sa isip-isip ng mga boluntaryo, sino ba ang hindi nagugutom sa pangyayaring ito? Dahil sa naiipong galit ng mga tao, takot na takot na ang ga boluntaryo na baka lusobin ang trak at paghahablotin na lang mga sako-sakong relief goods. Sa puntong ito, saka lang nila naiisip na hindi pala sila pinasahan ng “security escort” ni pulis or sundalo man lang. Maya-maya pa, may dumating na mga vans na naka convoy.

Si Kris at mga kasamahan nito pala ang dadaan, kasali na ang mga PSG na nagsisigaw ng “tabi kayo!..saan ba mga pulis ditto?!”, laking gulat ng grupo ng mga boluntaryo ng maintindihan nilang papaalis na pala si Kris at mga kasamahan nito, bakit pa sila pinapunta duon? Ilang minuto pa, isang tawag na naman mula sa himpilan ng reliefs goods operation ng abs cbn na nag-uutos sa kanila na iwanan na nila ang Consolacion at tutungo na naman sila ng Balulang, muli!. Diyos Mio!. Ang relief goods pala ang pinang-aakit lang pala talaga. Nang makarating ng Balulang bandang alas 9 na ng gabi, sinundan-sundan talaga ng mga likas ng mga tao ang trak na puno ng relief goods, at muli, wala pa ring utos na ipamahagi na ang mga ito o ipababa man lang sa trak ang sako-sakong relief goods sa “evacuation center.” Kinapa-kapa na naman ng mga nag silikas ng tao ang sako-sako tulong na nasa trak, nagsusumigaw na ang iba na ipamigay na nila ang mga ito, dahil nakita naman daw nila ang malaking streamer sa trak na naka sulat duon na “ABS-CBN Relief Operation”. Dahil di pinansin nag sisigaw na ang mga tao, “ASAN ang inyong president!!”aming binay, galing na dito…

Muli! Nakatanggap na naman sila ng tawag mula sa himpilan ng relief operation ng abs cbn na bumalik ulit sila sa himpilan(base)..sobrang awa talaga ang ang naramdaman nila para sa mga biktima ng trahedya, may dala dala pa ang mga itong trauma mula sa pangyayaring trahedya tapos di pa pinansin ang kanilang pagsusumayo na na ibigay na sa kanila ang relief goods. Walang magawa ang grupo ng mga boluntaryo kunbdi sundin ang utos ng himpilan na bumalik na sila sa pinanggalingan ng relief goods, pero dahil di nila matiis ang kaawa-awang mga tao, pa sekreto silang nag bukas ng sako ng relief goods at pasekreto rin silang namigay sa mga nadadaanan nila pero pinagbilinan nila itong huwag mga ingay sa iba “psstt huwag na ipagsabi sa iba”(psst ayaw saba sa uban”), dahil takot din sila na lusobin sila ng mga tao, at kaya silang mahabol dahil sa bagal ng takbo ng trak dulot ng trapiko.

Ganito ang naging nakahila-hilakbot na karanasan ng mga boluntaryo sa mga naging pagsasagawa ng network ng abs cbn relief operations, dahil kitang kita talaga ng kanilang mga mata ang mga kaaw-awng kalagayan nga mga biktima sa mga lugar na napuntahan nila at tapos ang nagawa nila ay para laman silang nag-iikot at palundag-lumdag sa mga evacuation center’s. Kaya, napag isip-isip ko na pahihintuin ko na sa pagiging boluntaryo sa network ang anak ko at patulungin na lang sa pamamagitan ng mga NGO, paaralan at simbahan.

LBC Refused to help CDO victims - the two faces of LBC

This post is from Carlo Mangoba where he is trying to send donations via LBC to Cagayan de Oro. The statement below that you will read is so sad because LBC Hari ng Padala Refused it.

For the longest time LBC has been my go-to company for all of my shipping needs, especially during the time that I was studying in Cagayan de Oro city. But due to my recent experience with LBC, I will never ever use them again now that I’ve seen that they don’t value the plight of their customers.

As we all know, CDO has recently been ravaged by Typhoon Sendong leaving hundreds dead, and thousands without basic necessities like food, clothing and even potable water. Among those victims is my fiancé’s family. Sendong left their area badly flooded and have rendered them with a low supply of food and no potable drinking water. They have spent the last couple of days trying to secure a supply of potable drinking water but to no avail, most sources of potable water in the city have been contaminated, or in short supply.

I heard in the news that LBC was accepting donations of food, water, clothing, etc. to Cagayan de Oro city, that all donations would be accepted in any of their branches so I thought that maybe me and my fiancé can send her family a shipment of bottled water. Just to make sure that we would not be wasting our time, I called beforehand LBC’s customer service number (02) 858-5999 and got a confirmation from two customer service representatives, one girl and an agent named “Bryan.” I clearly stated with them that the water that I was sending was to be sent to my fiancé’s parents and not to be donated, the agent’s reassured me after putting me on hold for over two minutes that the water would be accepted as long as they are in sealed containers and are properly packaged. I even asked them if they can deliver the package door-to-door or if my fiancé’s family needs to pick-up the package from the LBC office in CDO. Me and my fiancé were both relieved to hear the reassurance from LBC that they would accept our shipment especially since my fiancé’s family only has less than a gallon of water left and we were informed that they will get our shipment in 24 hours.

We bought a case of 1.5 liter bottled water in Landmark Makati then proceeded to the LBC branch in Glorietta to ship the water. Upon reaching the counter the guy behind the counter frowned and gruffly said to his companion “ o donation nanaman.” We informed them that the water was for my fiancé’s family and not to be donated. The man behind the counter gruffly told us that they won’t accept the shipment of water unless we are donating the water to a foundation. (NOTE: WE TOLD LBC THAT WE ARE PAYING FOR THE COST OF SHIPPING THE PACKAGE) We told the man behind the counter that we were informed by their customer service department that they can accept shipment of bottled water, we were practically begging them to accept the shipment since my fiancé’s family badly needs the water. The man told us to sit and wait while he called someone on the phone. After 10 minutes he put the phone down and told us that they still won’t accept the shipment.

The man’s companion, who was a bit nicer than the man we were speaking to, told us that the donations are shipped via sea freight and would take weeks before it reaches its destination. This little factoid horrified me, people are cold, going hungry and thirsty in CDO due to the lack of clothing, food and potable drinking water and here’s a company proudly proclaiming that they accepting donations but takes their sweet time in getting those badly needed donations to the intended recipients. As the saying goes, “paano na ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo.” So what use is their effort in accepting donations when those donations would not be received when needed?

If you are a Kagayanon, or someone who sympathizes with the victims of the tragedy in Mindanao, please spread the word and repost this note about how LBC treated a victim of Sendong and showed their true stand about Corporate Social Responsibilit.

So all the statement of LBC release are all joke joke to help to the victims of Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro and some part of Northern Mindanao?

Where Is P-Noy When Typhoon Sendong Hit Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City

Did you where is our beloved President when this tragic happened in these two cities in Mindanao? He is partying with his security personnel in Malacanang, enjoying the jokes and performances of actresses. This was confirm by Valerie Concepcion on Sunday, the same day the combined death toll in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan climbed to more than 600 and about 900 are missing.. According to Valerie Concepcion

Done w/ work.. Tnx for having me.. :) It was nice to see Pres. P-Noy laughing at my jokes & enjoying my performance..ü #Malacañang #PSGNight,

and later she was deleted. but too late people are start asking and do a screen shot on she tweets.

Is this the right time to the President to have party where in people of Visayas and Mindanao having problem to save life and look for a food to eat.?
The tweet of Valerie Concepcion is not end on this tweet.

she was performing three songs for the President and was alongside singer Jessa Zaragosa, who was one of the performers.

After of her series of tweets people are asking to P-NOY why he is on the party at the time he knows that the Typhoon Sendong victims are still picking up pieces? He has time to go party to PSG Christmas party while his people fighting for survival in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Bukidnon and other neighboring areas.
Other and concern questions. If Valerie Concepcion and Jessa Zaragoza was hire to perform during the PSG Christmas party where the public funds used?

The statement below is an observation of the Kagay-anons or from Mindanao on how local media of ours cover the tragedy.

The difference when a calamity strikes metro manila and other provinces:

Metro Manila - everything stops, everybody helps, The MEDIA is focused on the efforts of different celebrities, groups and politicians on their effort to help.

Other provinces especially in Mindanao - The shows on major networks goes on... if you turn on your tv you see them dancing, singing, smiling... if there are efforts...not visible enough. media will just show the updates on their allotted time slot.

SO TRUE! good thing BBC WORLD and CNN shows updates on what happened in CDO and Iligan.

Thanks to Mindanaoan for the Photos