Cebu mayor wants relief NGO probed
RESIDENTS of the village of Sagkahan in Tacloban City view the destruction left by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” on their community. FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY—A municipal mayor wants the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) office here to investigate a nongovernment organization (NGO) operating in his town.
Sta. Fe Mayor Jose Esgana told the Inquirer in a phone interview that he was alarmed by the brochures of Young Pioneer Disaster Response (YPDR) that featured photos of assistance purportedly given by the NGO to Sta. Fe town when these were actually given by other foreign groups.
Mariano Ilustrisimo, Sta. Fe National High School principal, said YPDR promised to replace one of two school buildings damaged by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
But more than five months later, he added that there was no update yet on the project.
Reached for comment, YPDR president Chris White said they had documents to prove what YPDR had done to help. He also gave the assurance that the school project was just put on hold and would push through.
“We have no political agenda here, no other agenda but to help,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
Sta. Fe was among the three towns on Bantayan Island in northern Cebu province that were badly affected by Yolanda on
Nov. 8, 2013. The two others were Bantayan and Madridejos towns.
Esgana said he noticed that the YPDR brochures showed that it had a housing project in Sta. Fe when this was undertaken by the Polish Humanitarian Action (PHA).
“Some of the addresses in the brochure are in Sta. Fe. What if someone will donate and ask us about it, since their address is Sta. Fe?” he asked.
Ilustrisimo said YPDR had the school building demolished even if it could have still be repaired.
“YPDR assured us that container van classrooms will be installed in the area but until now, they have not fulfilled their promises,” he told the Inquirer.
Mayor Esgana said YPDR continued to solicit donations on their website and Facebook page to fund their projects that also include housing assistance for Sta. Fe residents and repairs and installations of washing stations and comfort rooms in schools.
“I already warned them not to post that they have a project if it will not push through,” he said.
White denied that the projects they listed in their brochures were not theirs. He said YPDR always acknowledged in their brochures their partners, like PHA.
White said his group moved to Bantayan town last month after Esgana told them to stop operating in the municipality. He said Esgana started disliking them when they didn’t give in to his request that instead of giving the four container vans to the school to be used as classrooms, these would be installed in a community.
Despite the charges, White said the classroom project would push through. He added that they were reviewing the project bids and were talking to the design engineer.
Esgana said he also wanted the Bureau of Immigration to check the documents presented by White if he had indeed acquired a special visa to do long-term volunteer work in the country.
Leah Quintana, DSWD Central Visayas spokesperson, told the Inquirer that their records showed that YPDR was not among their accredited NGOs. She said YPDR representatives visited their office in March to ask about the requirements for accreditation but the group had not yet officially applied.
White said they acquired their registration from the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 7 and were in the process of applying for accreditation with the DSWD. He said the donations they raised came from family members, friends, relatives and business contacts.
On their website (www.ypdr.org), YPDR was founded by White and three others—Joseph Ferris III, Marshall Mayer and Katlyn Murray. It said White and Ferris were running tours to destinations like North Korea and Burma for an extreme travel company when they heard about the devastation caused by Yolanda in the Philippines.
Mayer was involved in logistical work with the same company and Murray was filming a documentary in China. The group planned to hold a three-year operation on Bantayan Island.
Their website also posted that they had received a total of $71,538 in donations.
