Six months past the horrifying savagery of supertyphoon Yolanda in November last year, coastal towns of Leyte and Samar severely ruined both by the storm surge and whirlwind present in the calamity are gradually pulling through the devastation that momentarily drooped them and their constituents to the ground. The positive attitude called resilience of the survivors, backed by the relentless support of humanitarian groups from across the archipelago and the globe, the government and foreign states, the church, and benevolent individuals in order to help these survivors stand on their own two feet once more, apparently makes the recovery effort less worrisome than thought of. The principle of accountability for the welfare of others is an underpinning factor that could likewise be accentuated. It is the same driving force that orbits efforts to generate funds that will fuel the engine of charity and empathy. In the Roman Catholic Church of the Philippines one undertaking that incarnates the principle of accountability (pananagutan) is Alay Kapwa, where the faithful could pool in their alms for the poor for a more noble charity project to better their lots. In the Archdiocese of Palo, a more distinct project is Club Cuarenta which it replicated from fund drive of the Diocese of Lipa in Batangas bearing the same name. Here, the public, whether or not members of the local church here and abroad, could give a minimum donation of P40 to be a bonafide member of Club Cuarenta, for which they could get some benefits in exchange for the smallest donation given and be identified as member of the Archdiocese of Palo Caritas Inc (APCI). Msgr. Jaime Villanueva, the vicar-general of the Archdiocese of Palo and one of the frontrunners of APCI and Palo Archdiocese’ Club Cuarenta, underscored the element of responsibility in this fund campaign. Quoting the lines in the faith song “Pananagutan”, he recapitulated the dictum “Walang sinuman ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang at walang sinuman ang namamatay para sa sarili lamang; tayong lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa’t isa” (no one lives and dies for himself alone; all of are responsible for one another). This sense of responsiveness is fleshed out in the sacrifices that donors make for each cent that they give for the welfare of their brethren especially the poor, the deprived and the oppressed. As Fr. Amadeo Alvero, the spokesman of the Archdiocese of Palo and an assistant parish priest of the Sto. Nino Parish, the beauty about Club Cuarenta is that the donors will learn not just how to discipline themselves but to do sacrifices in going to the parish office to give their daily P1 donation until they have fully shared at least P40 to be officially named a volunteer of APCI through the Club Cuarenta. The Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation adopts a similar method in raising the funds for the assistance they give to those in need whether Taiwanese or not, Buddhists or otherwise. The little sacrifices that members make to build the fund to finance the assistance that the foundation gives to those in distress yields awesome wonder in the lives of those they help. This is the same principle that animates other individuals and institutions that never tire in coming over to Eastern Visayas and help the survivors of sty Haiyan (Yolanda) even beyond the recovery and rehabilitation phase of their humanitarian efforts.
