“We really want to educate the people about climate change, to offer explanation why the province was badly devastated by typhoon Pablo when this was not the case before” — Penelope Palma Gil, program head of Tulong Kabataan-Southern Mindanao.
By ACE R. MORANDANTE
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – About 300 youth volunteers are joining the mission led by Tulong Kabataan, a campaign on volunteerism for youth disaster-response. They will also hold psychosocial therapy and educational discussions, among others in the three-day mission for the typhoon-affected community in Compostela Valley starting Saturday January 26.
“We really want to educate the people about climate change, to offer explanation why the province was badly devastated by typhoon Pablo when this was not the case before,” said Penelope Palma Gil, the program head of Tulong Kabataan-Southern Mindanao.
Tulong Kabataan has already launched a series of relief and rehabilitation operations after Pablo hit the provinces of ComVal and Davao Oriental, and the recent floodings in Davao City.
“Malaking tulong po ito sa rehabilitasyon ng komunidad (This is really a big help for the community’s rehabilitation),” said Bai Ali Indayla, second nominee of Kabataan Partylist.
Typhoon Pablo has left 1,067 dead and 834 missing with PHP 40 Billion-worth of damage to agriculture, infrastructure and private properties.
Palma Gil said that their mission in ComVal is part of their week-long celebration of the 43rd National Youth Week with the theme, Kabataan Depensahan ang Kalikasan, Paglingkuran ang Sambayanan (Youth defend the environment, serve the people).
The National Youth Week, according to Kabataan, is dedicated to commemorate the nationalism of the Filipino youth. It roots from the First Quarter Storm in the ‘70s when tens of thousands of youth and students took to the streets to fight Marcos’s dictatorship and to register their criticisms on the socio-economic crises.
Now with the series of disasters — the typhoon Sendong in 2011, Pablo in 2012 and now, the heavy floodings — they said they have to step up to a higher political campaign to protect the environment from further damages “because of indiscriminate plunder to our natural resources.”
Sendong left 1,268 people dead and 85 missing with a PHP 2 Billion-worth of damage to agriculture, infrastructure and private properties.
“We are calling our fellow youth to unite, strengthen and mobilize our ranks in calling for justice for the environment and the people against abuses and plunder of our natural resources by foreign multinational and transnational corporations,” Palma Gil urged as she noted that “they are one with the Pablo victims in demanding for climate justice and for genuine rehabilitation for the affected communities.”
The group said that global warming is taking its toll on the poorest communities which are highly vulnerable to extreme weather conditions.
“As we continue to provide support to the communities hit by typhoons and floods, we demand the accountability and responsibility of the Aquino government and the large-scale and foreign mining and logging companies,” Indayla said. (Ace R. Morandante/davaotoday.com)
