Homegrown and foreign companies are mobilizing funds for humanitarian aid, disaster relief, and reconstruction initiatives in areas hit by Typhoon Yolanda, the strongest typhoon to make landfall in recorded history.
The SM Group of taipan Henry Sy Sr., the country’s richest according to Forbes, has allotted P100 million as calamity fund for survivors.
The money will be used to rebuild homes, community centers, schools and churches, and provide immediate relief through food and supplies, the group said in an e-mailed statement, noting the fund will chiefly benefit Tacloban and Ormoc in Leyte Province, as well as the provinces of Samar, Bohol, Cebu, Iloilo Capiz, and Bicol.
Cebu-based Aboitiz Group of Companies targets P200 million worth of relief, pooled from various business units like Aboitiz Foundation, Union Bank of the Philippines, and SN Aboitiz.
The group said it already raised P95 million – P50 million from Aboitiz Foundation, P25 million from Union Bank, P15 million from SN Aboitiz Power and P5 million given by actress Sharon Cuneta.
The conglomerate identified Bogo, San Remigio, Medellin and Bantayan towns in Northern Cebu as priority areas for thousands of relief packs it has readied since Sunday. A separate relief effort will also be organized in Leyte province.
Spearheaded by president and COO Ramon Ang, San Miguel Corp. is mobilizing its business units and major facilities in the region for relief operations.
Affiliate Philippine Airlines started airlifting critical supplies and relief goods since Monday, after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines lifted the closure order on airports in Central Philippines.
A PAL official who asked not to be named on Wednesday said the airline mounted direct Manila-Tacloban humanitarian flights on Nov. 11 after CAAP allowed commercial airlines carrying relief goods to land in Tacloban.
Petron Corporation has designated over 500 service stations nationwide as drop-off points for donations.
US-based Western Union Foundation is making a grant of $100,000 (P4.3 million) to Save the Children in support of immediate response activities in typhoon-hit areas. It also waived money transfer fees to the Philippines.
HSBC, the global financial services giant, is donating $1 million (roughly P43 million), while its Philippine arm is giving $23,000 (nearly P1 million), the lender said in a statement, adding that “funds are also continuously being raised by HSBC employees globally.”
On Monday, Citi Foundation of the Citi Group pledged a $250,000 (P10.75 million) disaster relief grant to the American Red Cross Pacific Typhoon Fund.
As of Tuesday, the total international aid to support relief and rehabilitation efforts is estimated at P2.585 billion.
The United Nations said as much as $301 million (P13.174 billion) is needed to launch its action plan for the typhoon-battered Central Philippines.
Typhoon Yolanda barreled through Central Philippines on Friday, flattening coastal cities and towns. Earlier estimates placed the dead at 10,000, but President Benigno Aquino III said the working number the administration is looking at is 2,500. – VS, GMA News