GIVE until it hurts, was St. Mother Teresa’s advice. There’s another way, give because it gives your heart a lift. Most people give anonymously, but we also need to see famous people like Derek Ramsay and Piolo Pascual doing their share to inspire others by helping, donating, putting their shoulder to the wheel, bayanihan style.
Henry Lim Bon Liong, president of the biggest philanthropic organization in Metro Manila, the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, believes in speaking up “so we can do more.” Tony Pastor, Batangueño music lover and “godfather” to up-and-coming musicians, believes in the personal approach, i.e., extending a hand to a person in need, face to face. Angel Locsin, known for her behind-the-scene, out-of-camera-range deeds of charity, and Hans Sy, whose private side has become synonymous with his pet charity, ChildHaus for children with cancer, were the Philippines’ 2019 Heroes of Philanthropy as chosen by Forbes magazine. The two are public figures, but when it comes to acting out their compassion, they’d rather be anonymous. (Hans’ partner, the easily recognizable Ricky Reyes, is now in the habit of receiving donations from unnamed donors for ChildHaus.)
Taal volcano’s episodic, virulent behavior has displaced thousands upon thousands, causing massive suffering, anxiety, disruption and inconvenience, but it has brought out the best in some of us, such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), proving once more that the kindness of strangers is not as strange as we think.
Today, the day after thank-God-it’s-Friday, a multimillionaire bachelor is setting out for Batangas with his assistants to distribute blankets and ready-to-eat food packs for 700 families in the underserved barangays. As his own personal mission or his family’s, he will aim for the refugee camps that are hardest to reach; no pain, no gain. The trip is so secret, in a manner of speaking, that he hasn’t told his most trusted v.p. for public relations about it.
Reaching hard-to-reach victims of the volcano within a lake within a volcano is a logistical nightmare that involves transportation, security, familiarity with the terrain, not to mention the ability to predict when to pull out just before the shaking starts again and balls of fire roll down against fountaining lava – spectacular but deadly!
