New CBCP president Archbishop Lingayen-Dagupan Socrates Villegas says the urgent need of the people in the Eastern Visayas will require a certain “simplicity of lifestyle” to make it possible to help the “displaced and grieving typhoon victims.” (cbcpforlife.com photo)
MANILA, Philippines—The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has called on the public to live a simple lifestyle so they are able to give assistance to those still reeling from the devastation caused by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
The call came as the CBCP’s new set of officers vowed to set the rehabilitation of Samar and Leyte, two of the areas hardest hit by the typhoon, as its top priority.
“The first immediate concern is helping our suffering countrymen in Leyte and Samar… We must move forward from relief work to rehabilitation work, then hopefully to developmental programs,” said the new CBCP president, Archbishop Lingayen-Dagupan Socrates Villegas, in the CBCP website.
Villegas said the urgent need of the people in the Eastern Visayas would require a certain “simplicity of lifestyle” to make it possible to help the “displaced and grieving typhoon victims.”
A protégé of the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, Villegas became the head of the official organization of the Catholic hierarchy on Dec. 1.
The new CBCP president has written a prayer calling on God to spare the country from further disasters.
“It is Jesus who is suffering. We must serve the Lord among our suffering countrymen,” he said.
According to a recent report from Caritas Manila, many weeks after the disaster, as many as 1.6 million families in Samar and Leyte continue to be in dire need of basic necessities like food and toiletries.
Caritas Manila, the charity arm of the Archdiocese of Manila, has called on the public to donate basic provisions like rice, biscuits, bottled water, coffee, canned goods, soap, toothpaste, new underwear, cooking ware, beddings, tool boxes, working and school clothes, crucifixes and rosaries.
In a text message, Caritas Manila executive director Anton Pascual said that while they have distributed 111,097 relief food bags with additional medicine and hygiene and household items to the areas in the Visayas hit by the typhoon as of Dec. 2, more people still need help.