Donations for typhoon Ondoy victims flood in

International and local donations poured in as tropical storm Ondoy (with international code name Ketsana) left the Philippines leaving behind at least 140 people dead, scores missing, hundreds of thousands of families affected, an estimated half a billion pesos worth of crops destroyed, hundreds of millions of pesos worth of properties damaged, and thousands of video and text postings in cyberspace.

US Ambassador Kristie Kenney authorized an additional $50,000 in immediate disaster relief assistance through the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), bringing the total in immediate relief donation assistance of the US to $100,000, said Rebecca Thompson of the public affairs office of the US embassy in Manila.

China, through Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao, also donated $10,000 (about half a million pesos) for the victims of typhoon Ondoy. The donation is coursed through the Philippine National Red Cross.

Hollywood celebrities also got involved to raise funds for the victims of typhoon Ondoy.

Meanwhile in the Philippines, millions of pesos in cash and in kind were given or pledged by good Samaritans through the fund drives of TV networks ABS-CBN and GMA, and through government and NGO drop-off points.

However, the nation is waiting with bated breaths how much money Congressmen Danilo Suarez of Quezon 3rd District and Martin Romualdez of Leyte province will unload to alleviate the sufferings of their fellow Filipinos.

It must be recalled that Romualdez reportedly paid the $20,000 bill for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's dinner in the upscale Le Cirque restaurant in New York. Ms. Arroyo was accompanied by 40 other people, mostly Congressmen. On the other hand, Suarez was said to foot the $15,000 bill of Ms Arroyo's meal in Bobby Van's Steakhouse in Washington. She was accompanied by the same entourage in New York. Ms Arroyo and party were in the US on a working visit upon the invitation of US President Barack Obama.

People keep wondering that China, a would-be superpower country, can give only $10,000, while a Philippine congressman can splurge double the amount in a single dinner. Therefore, people hope that Romualdez, Suarez, et.al., would be as generous to those who really need their mullah.

BTW, with all the braggings of Gloria Arroyo especially in her July 2009 SONA (which many thought was the bitchest SONA ever), many are wondering why imperial Metro Manila was not prepared during the Ondoy onslaught. More than a year ago in July 2008, Panay island was devastated by typhoon Frank and its subsequent flood never before seen in the island's history. Didn't the Arroyo administration think that the same situation would happen in Metro Manila, or in any other place in the Philippines for that matter? Last weekend, people just realized that rubber boats and rescue helicopters were direly needed. And didn't Gloria Arroyo think she needed a presidential jet sometime ago?@