Buddhists in Manila raise aid for battered Leyte

COLLECTION box in hand, a Tzu Chi Foundation volunteer for a post-“Yolanda” relief drive finds an instant donor—a sidewalk vendor—on the streets of Manila.

Ong Piac Ching appeared tired and feeble after undergoing weeks of therapy for her Stage-4 cancer, but she didn’t let it slow her down for the day’s task: Gathering donations for the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

Ong was one of the more than 100 volunteers of Tzu Chi Foundation Philippines, a Buddhist group with roots in Taiwan, who this week fanned out in Manila with donation boxes marked with the slogan: “Healing Disasters with Great Love.”

They approached shop owners, commuters and sidewalk vendors in the Binondo and Sta. Cruz districts, believing that no one is too rich or too poor to extend help.

The foundation’s chief executive officer Alfredo Li said that before the campaign in Manila, Tzu Chi mobilized volunteers for medical and relief missions in the calamity areas, particularly in Ormoc and Tacloban City in Leyte province, from Nov. 13 to 16.

“We have launched a large-scale relief mission for 10,000 families in Ormoc and are also having a cash-for-work program in Tacloban,” Li told the Inquirer.

Michael Siao, who is in charge of the cash-for-work program, said Tzu Chi pays workers P500 each a day to clean up and start rebuilding their own neighborhoods.

It’s not just about putting money in their pockets but “reviving the community spirit,” Siao said, noting that Tzu Chi also launched similar projects in Marikina City after “Ondoy” in 2009 and in Rizal province after the onslaught of heavy monsoon rains (habagat) in 2012.

The foundation is expecting more than 50 volunteers from Taiwan to arrive in the country Sunday. They include members of the Tzu Chi International Medical Association, which will conduct another medical mission in Tacloban.

“Aside from the Philippines, volunteers and supporters from more than 50 Tzu Chi offices worldwide, such as those in Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Canada and the United States, are also soliciting donations to help the calamity victims,” the foundation said in a statement.

Founded in 1966 by Dharma Master Cheng Yen, the Tzu Chi Foundation has been active in the Philippines since November 1994. Maricar B. Brizuela