The donations received by the Filipino United Network (USA) for its
Typhoon Relief Drive in the last couple of months in 2009, were hand-carried
to Manila by Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FACS, Chairman of FUN, and
handed over to the Christ the King Parish, the Antipolo Parish, the
Saint Anthony de Padua in San Francisco del Monte, and to the Gawad
Kalinga, last November.
The largest single contribution ($10,000) was made by the Association
of Philippine Physicians/Louisiana-GulfCoast, sent to the Filipino
United Network (USA) by its Treasurer, Dr. Romeo Hernandez, with the
endorsement of its Board, headed by President Douglas Mendoza.
“On behalf of the Filipino United Network (USA), I want to
acknowledge with gratitude and appreciation once again the touching
and compassionate response of the officers and members of the APPL-GC,
and of all our generous donors to the plight of the suffering victims
of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng which, in tandem, hammered Manila and
its neighboring towns one after the other,” reiterated Dr Chua.
FUN (USA) selected those four institutions to be recipient of the
funds because they have the proper mechanism to distribute the funds
to those hardest hit indigent victims, who also lost a loved one.
“We intentionally chose those families who lost a family member
to be fully transparent and accountable to our donors, having death
certificates to show where the funds went to,” the FUN chairman
explained.
Dr. Chua, who opted not to be a signatory in the FUN bank account,
in order to inhibit himself from having access to the funds of the
Foundation, noted that, in his observation, most Filipinos are reluctant
to contribute to humanitarian fund drives, even to the Philippine
National Red Cross, because of their bitter past experience of donating
and not knowing where their contribution went to.
Besides using some of the funds for acute needs immediately after
the two typhoons, the remainder will be utilized for post-disaster
rehabilitation. Christ the King, for one, is planning to build a housing
project for the disppaced victims of the two calamities.
Interested prospective donors may go to the website of the Filipino
United Network (USA), which is: www.FUN8888.com, and click on the
orange Donate button on the mid-right section of its Homepage to contribute
thru PayPal. Unless anonymity is requested, the donors’ names
are posted in the List of Patriot Donors on the FUN website.