Catholic Church Donates P26-M to Humanitarian Responses in 2017

The social action arm of the Catholic Church has donated a total of PHP 26 million to several disasters and emergencies last year.

According to Fr. Edwin Gariguez, Executive Secretary, NASSA/Caritas Philippines, the donation was released from its local funds under Alay Kapwa for numerous responses including fire, medical assistance, burial, and typhoons.

“The amount and the vastness of the contribution our Alay Kapwa solidarity fund has provided are a testament to how fast we can gather our resources and extend assistance to the most in need dioceses,” he said in a statement.

“As a network, we have implemented programs in the most remote communities, highly vulnerable population, and in some instances, under the most challenging conditions! The figures provide us a glimpse of our capacity, as the national social action arm of the Catholic Church, to respond readily to the needs of our dioceses. These are also showing how we have developed in terms of competence and efficiency to implement and manage multi-donor responses,” he added.

In addition to the local funds, NASSA/Caritas Philippines’ overall humanitarian response portfolio in 2017 totaled to PHP 267 million.

These are from the Caritas Internationalis confederation and other funding mechanisms. The amount assisted more than 69,000 families (348,000 individuals) affected by disasters and emergencies.

Currently, the humanitarian crises the national Caritas is supporting are the ongoing Marawi response and the Mayon Volcano’s eruption.

Gariguez noted that the Catholic Church is only complementing the efforts of the government and other organizations.

“We do not wish to be doing the work of the government especially. We fully recognize that our role is only to provide additional assistance. However, we cannot close our eyes to the pressing and severing needs of our people. Where others fail, we do our share,” he added.

NASSA /Caritas Philippines is the humanitarian, development, and advocacy arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

It serves as secretariat to the 85 diocesan social action centers in the country and represents the Philippines to the Caritas Internationalis, a global confederation of Catholic charities. (PNA)