The prior provincial of the Augustinian Recollects in the Philippines, Lauro Larlar, has called on all friars to collect the needed aid, financial and in kind, to the families affected by typhoon Haiyan.
Frs. Vicente Ramon and Allan Cabatian were supported by the whole community to convert the Talavera House of Spirituality (Cebu City) as temporary refuge for the parents and relatives of the Augustinan Recollects.
The Order’s social and humanitarian organization in the Philippines, Heartanonymous https://www.heartanonymous.org/, has given immediate aid of 2,500 bags of relief goods to families in Bantayan island (towns of Bantayan and Santa Fe) and in Medellin (Cebu). It has also facilitated the provision of a generator set for the community of Saint Paul Academy, which is administered by the Augustinian Recollect Sisters.
Hunger and fear
Not far from Tacloban city, in the town of Alangalang, the Augustinian Recollect Sisters have a small school with close to 300 elementary pupils and high school students. The good news is that there have been no deaths. Only the building, a two-story affair, has suffered damage, losing a big part of its roof. The sisters, who reside in that part of the building, are at the mercy of the elements. They are also very much afraid, since people are getting to be desperate and hunger has driven some to looting.
In Alangalang there is not only power outage, but also cellphone signal. The religious had to send a staff member to a place with coverage from where he could communicate with Manila. Since there is no transport, the messenger had to travel by foot. Food is running out.
Some Augustinian Recollect sisters from their school in Makati are trying to get to Tacloban on a navy plane. They have readied relief goods for distribution to the religious and to the people.