Caritas seeks P5.8M aid for Vinta victims

MANILA — The Catholic Church through Caritas Philippines appealed for a P5.8-million assistance for communities affected by tropical storm Vinta.

In a statement, Caritas Philippines or the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines National Secretariat for Social Action enjoined people to support the campaign to gather additional funds for relief and early recovery efforts for 3,000 families or 15,000 individuals.

The appeal will cover the provision of food packs, hygiene kits and capacity building on emergency preparedness and response to the provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Misamis Oriental.

"Vinta" displaced a total of 118,596 families and left 164 dead and 176 missing.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle earlier called on the faithful to extend their help to the victims of "Urduja" and "Vinta," which lashed Visayas and Mindanao days before Christmas.

“We in Caritas Manila are ready to accept your donations, which we will send to different churches and dioceses in Visayas and Mindanao. Christmas is about helping one another, just like Jesus did,” Tagle said in an interview over Radio Veritas.

Caritas Philippines said donations may be deposited to its Alay Kapwa Bank of the Philippine Islands’ account with account name CBCP Caritas Filipinas Foundation Inc. and account number: 4951-0071-08.

The humanitarian and advocacy arm of the CBCP is also doing two humanitarian responses in Mindanao related to Marawi crisis.

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