Aussies to victims: We stand with you

MANILA, Philippines - Australia committed an additional A$10 million (over P399.8 million) in aid to typhoon-hit areas yesterday as its foreign minister promised Filipinos long-term assistance.

“We stand with you. We understand there is a long road ahead. Australia and your friends won’t let you down,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the victims as she visited Tacloban’s San Jose district, one of the areas worst hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda on Nov. 8.

Bishop arrived in the Philippines the other night and returned to Australia last night, mainly to see for herself the extent of the devastation and her country’s response to the disaster.

She visited a field hospital set up by the Australian Medical Assistance Team in San Jose as soon as Yolanda left, then flew to Ormoc, Leyte to inspect an elementary school in Libertad that Australian soldiers are helping to rebuild. Classes in the school resumed last Monday.

Seeing the extent of the damage, the victims’ suffering and resilience as well as her compatriots’ efforts to assist, Bishop said, “makes me feel very humble.”

She flew to the Visayas on a C-130 Hercules military transport plane accompanied by Australian Ambassador Bill Tweddell.

The A$10 million is on top of A$30 million already donated by Australia for typhoon relief efforts. The additional aid will go to the United Nations Children’s Fund for water and sanitation and school rehabilitation, the UN Population Fund for health and hygiene support and supplementary feeding for pregnant and lactating women, the World Health Organization, Filipino non-government organizations for the provision of shelter and livelihood support, and for the operations of the Australian field hospital in San Jose.

USAID to help in court rebuilding

Meanwhile, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has vowed to help rebuild courts in Tacloban that were wiped out by Yolanda.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez yesterday said the USAID has pledged to assist the Supreme Court (SC) through the American Bar Association.

“I just spoke with the American Bar Association. They cleared it with USAID and I just received information that they are interested in automation of court records,” Marquez told The STAR.

Since the proposed automation might take some time, Marquez said he would suggest to trial court judges in Tacloban that they start from scratch by mediation of cases.

“If it does not work, then we can proceed to reconstitution of records,” he said.

The SC will send two “Justice on Wheels” buses to Tacloban and to Guiuan in Eastern Samar to serve as temporary courts while the halls of justice there are being repaired, Marquez said.

The current judicial system requires paper-based filing of petitions and pleadings by litigants and issuance of decisions and orders by courts. A new system for electronic filing of petitions and pleadings is currently being tested by the SC at the Quezon City regional trial court.

Last week, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno said she was eyeing the computerization of all court records to shield cases from destruction during calamities.

In a meeting with new US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, Sereno lamented that the reconstitution of court records in Central Visayan provinces hit by Yolanda is a “big problem.”

She told Goldberg that she had been pondering “if it was wise to invest in the digitization of all court records.”

In response, Goldberg vowed that the US government would help in reform and relief projects.

“We need to work together,” Goldberg told Sereno.

‘Continue financial support’

Meanwhile, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has appealed to donors for continued financial support for long-term recovery.

“We plan on helping communities to rebuild their lives over the next three to four years. This will require considerable resources and sustained support from donors,” said Bernd Schell, country representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

So far, the Red Cross food aid has reached over 440,000 people and more than 500,000 individuals have been given access to safe water in the affected areas of Cebu, Panay, Leyte and Samar.

“The generosity in the immediate aftermath of Haiyan (international name of Yolanda) enabled us to deliver food, water and health care to people still in desperate need of vital aid,” said Alain Aeschlimann, the International Committee of the Red Cross head of operations for the region.  - With Edu Punay, Helen Flores, Mayen Jaymalin