CARITAS MANILA IS POOLING resources with its international counterparts to send aid to Burma (Myanmar), the first batch of which will be personally flown to the country by two Philippine-based Burmese priests.

In an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas, Fr. Anton Pascual, Caritas Manila executive director, said the agency had started organizing relief and rehabilitation operations for the victims of Cyclone Nargis and were closely working with the Thailand-based Caritas Internationalis.

Pascual said Caritas Internationalis had given a bank account number where donations may be deposited.

Burma-based Catholic bishops had also opened a bank account to receive foreign donations, he said.

He said Caritas Manila was in direct contact with a counterpart organization in Karuna, Burma, headed by its chair, Msgr. Sotero Pharno, and national director, Fr. Joseph Muang Win.

But even with the bank accounts serving as foreign donation channels, Caritas Manila said it would be sending the first batch of donations through Burmese priests David Kyaw Kyaw Lwin and Philip Maka Naw Aung who are making a special trip to Burma on Monday to deliver them.

The archdiocese of Manila has started special Mass collections for the relief and rehabilitation of Burma, asking the faithful to donate whatever they can to the victims of the cyclone.

“The donations can be in the form of cash, clothing, food and medicine. The Catholic Church is praying for the souls of the people who died in the tragedy and those who are struggling to survive after the devastation,” Pascual said.

Radio Veritas, which Pascual heads as president, has also started a campaign calling for donations to Burma.