Tagle hits gown donation during Yolanda: Don’t send what you’ve thrown away

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. SCREENGRAB FROM RTVM

CEBU CITY—The “throw-away culture” has been prevalent among Filipinos even during disasters, according to Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.

Tagle on Thursday recalled how someone donated a wedding gown after the onslaught of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).

Yolanda was the strongest typhoon recorded to hit land, which claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in Central Visayas.

“Imagine, during the time of Haiyan or Yolanda, as we were unpacking some of the donations, there was a wedding gown. Who would use a wedding gown? They were just throwing unused clothes to the poor,” he said.

After Yolanda, he said some people “lived in the midst of trash discarded by others.”

“May I appeal to you brothers and sisters, when you send relief goods to the victims of natural calamities, do not send what you have thrown away. You are just decluttering your closet,” he said.

Tagle was one of the high-caliber speakers at the 51^st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu City, discussing “The Eucharist and the Dialogue with Cultures.”

The eight-day global fellowship of the Catholic faithful has drawn around 15, 000 delegates from 71 countries. RC