Pacific Angel in Negros Oriental: US Embassy official lauds joint humanitarian mission

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – United States Embassy’s Public Affairs Office head Robin Diallo on Monday lauded the successful staging of the joint U.S. and Philippine Armed Forces humanitarian assistance mission in Negros Oriental.

The mission, dubbed Operation Pacific Angel 2013-01, which reeled off March 9 in this capital city and other satellite areas in Negros Oriental, had benefited 6,885 people around the province with medical, dental and optometry care as well as the repair of at least three school buildings.

Robin Diallo, who was also the deputy chief of the mission, attended last Monday’s culmination ceremony of the three-day activity staged at the Bio-os Elementary School in Amlan town of Negros Oriental.

She described the “tremendous successful humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise” as exemplifying the relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines with accomplishment, team work and friendship.

Pacific Angel improves the interoperability and disaster readiness of the U.S. and Philippines militaries as both countries continue to build their professional and personal relationships, Diallo said. “Our enduring relations have made exercises like this one successful,” she said.

The humanitarian outreach has touched the lives of many thousands of people in Negros Oriental with the joint execution of civil military operations, medical, dental and engineering projects.

The U.S. government has been working with local partners to target underserved areas where people would not otherwise receive this type of medical care, said Diallo.

Exercises such as the Pacific Angel paved the way for joint disaster relief and humanitarian assistance for the two governments to successfully work together and respond when disaster occurs. “We cannot keep the natural disasters from happening but we can be ready for them,” she said.

Diallo also said the U.S. government has provided much assistance to the Philippines over the years, especially during disasters left behind by typhoons Ondoy, Sendong and Pablo.

In the aftermath of Pablo, the U.S. federal government was among the first international donors to pledge assistance and deploy people on the ground to make sure that assistance was delivered to the storm victims in Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental and Negros Oriental provinces.

The U.S. military, the United States Agency for International Development and its implementing partners provided transport, logistics, emergency relief commodities, water and hygiene, with commitments amounting to US$12.4 million or P508.4 million that benefited hundreds of thousands of people, Diallo said.

Diallo further said she was proud to have Pacific Angel took place in Negros Oriental this year as this was “another concrete sign to the people here of (U.S.) commitment to the Philippines and its people ...”

Pacific Angel 2013-01 was a tremendous feat of communication, organization, goodwill and planning between the two armed forces of the U.S. and the Philippines. (FREEMAN)