Fil-Ams urged to help in hurricane relief efforts

Filipino-Americans were asked yesterday to join in efforts of the Philippine embassy in Washington to raise funds for victims of hurricane "Katrina."

The embassy said the post and consulates are ready to receive check donations payable to the American Red Cross from members of the Filipino-American community.

"In the true Filipino Bayanihan spirit, the Filipino-American community’s participation in this fund-raising drive will concretely demonstrate its sense of civic duty, its humanitarianism and its commitment to being a positive force in American society," Ambassador to Washington Albert del Rosario said.

To kick off the fund-raising drive, Del Rosario said the Philippine foreign service officers and staff in the US are committed to donate at least $10,000.

A similar amount will come from Loida Nicolas-Lewis, president of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations, as a personal donation.

All check donations received by the embassy and consulates will be collated and turned over to the American Red Cross as the collective donation of the Filipino-American community, Del Rosario said.

For transparency, the names of all donors and corresponding amounts donated will be posted in the embassy website at www.philippineembassy-usa.org.

The embassy will also issue periodic public announcements to give a running tally of all donations received by all Philippine foreign service posts in the US.

Del Rosario said this initiative is in addition to the embassy’s efforts to rally the help of Filipino-American doctors and nurses from Texas and other states for the victims of Katrina’s wrath.

"We are currently working with the state department in terms of how this assistance can be embedded in the federal government’s system of relief and rehabilitation operations," the envoy added.

Del Rosario also announced that the Philippine government is preparing to send a team of doctors and sanitary engineers to assist in the relief and rehabilitation efforts in the hurricane-stricken areas.

This offer of support by the Philippine government has already been publicly acknowledged by State Secretary Condoleezza Rice.

Meanwhile, Philippine Consul General to Los Angeles Marciano Paynor and three other personnel of the consulate are in Houston, Texas to help organize and mobilize the Filipino-American community in the city in its emergency disaster relief operations for Filipino victims of hurricane Katrina.

In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Paynor said that due to the huge inflow and chaotic movement of people at the Houston Astrodome, he will also determine on site how many Filipinos have been evacuated there from New Orleans, Louisiana.

He reported that the state of Texas had agreed to take in three times more refugees, bringing the total number of evacuees to nearly 75,000. At least 23,000 had already been evacuated to the Astrodome in Houston, and the cities of San Antonio and Dallas will be future destinations for the 50,000 new evacuees.

DFA spokesman Gilberto Asuque said the department has not received reports of any Filipino casualties in the hurricane.

Recent DFA records showed there are about 28,000 Filipino migrants in the Gulf States of which 17,055 live in Florida, 6,802 in Louisiana and 3,845 in Mississippi.

There are over two million Filipino migrants in the United States, comprising the third largest migrant group after the Mexicans and Chinese.