THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 20, 1995 TAG: 9511200078
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
The television screens flickering in the San Lorenzo Spiritual Center were a bit fuzzy Sunday evening but the images of the typhoon-ravaged Philippines were clear enough: Grandmothers trudging through thigh-high mud. Homes buried to the rooftops. Fathers crying for lost children.
``It is just too sad,'' said Tita Cabaccan of Virginia Beach, shaking her head in disbelief. ``It is just too sad.''
About 200 people gathered at the center Sunday for the Mission of Mercy, a special Catholic Mass to begin a three-month relief effort to help people hit by typhoon Angela, which swept through the Philippines two weeks ago.
Recent reports place the death toll at about 600, with more than 3,000 people injured. More than 86,000 homes were damaged and hundreds of thousands of people remain in evacuation camps.
The community leaders of more than 40 local Filipino-American organizations are working together to collect clothing, non-perishable food and medication to send back home.
``We need to concentrate our efforts,'' said Alex Andres, who is coordinating the project.
``This is a countrywide effort. We don't want the items being sent to one island only, or give one region one box. We have the chance to have a larger effect. We need to help our motherland.''
The lobby of the spiritual center filled quickly Sunday with blankets, packages of dried soups and cases of pork-and-beans.
Halfway through the Mass, the Rev. Leo Manalo played a 10-minute video with footage of Pampanga, one of the hardest-hit regions.
``This will describe it,'' Manalo said, ``better than anything I can put into words.''
Armanda Placides, one of the project coordinators, is from the Camarines Sur province of the Philippines and said at least eight people were killed from that region.
``They still have no telephone or electricity,'' Placides said. ``They might have something in December. They have to go 15 miles to Manila just to make a telephone call.''
Andres said the group will make shipments to the Philippines at least once a month through February and will sponsor annual fund-raisers beginning next November.
``This will be an ongoing project,'' Andres said. ``It will take years to rebuild what has been damaged in the Philippines.''
For more information, contact Alex Andres at 857-0903. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
BETH BERGMAN\ The Virginian-Pilot
Cora Palad and her husband, Gerry, watch a video of the
storm-ravaged Philippines.
David Basilio of Virginia Beach prays for typhoon victims. About 200
people attended the service Sunday at the San Lorenzo Spiritual
Center in Virginia Beach.
by CNB