THE regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-7) has cleared a non-government organization from allegations of irregularity in its relief and rehabilitation efforts in Bantayan island, northern Cebu.
Josephine Belotindos, head of Standards Unit, said that Young Pioneers Disaster Response (YPDR) is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is now complying with DSWD certification.
“They are just a group of both foreign and local volunteers wanting to help in the rehabilitation efforts in Bantayan,” said Belotindos.
YPDR president Chris White told Cebu Daily News that he is more than happy knowing that DSWD recognized their organization as legitimate and acknowledge the efforts they made in the last five months.
“We are SEC-registered for two months already. Aside from that, our organization is registered in US, making us an internationally-recognized organization,” White said.
White added that the reason they are doing all the paper works in DSWD and SEC is that they want the organization to have Filipino juridical personality which would be ready to respond to future disasters in the country.
“We were able to mobilize 200 volunteers coming from 33 different countries for the relief operations in Bantayan after the damages done by Yolanda,” said White.
By next week, the finalization for the DSWD certification is set to be finished. White also said that the local government unit of Sta. Fe has already recognized their organization after two meetings with Santa Fe Mayor Jose Esgana and submitting the required documents.
By Monday, they are also expecting the provincial government to give them recognition.
Last May 8, Belotindos went personally to Bantayan Island to probe on YPDR as requested by Santa Fe Mayor Esgana who alleged that YPDR is bogus and was falsely claiming rehabilitation efforts done in the island to entice donors.
YPDR is composed of foreign and local volunteers who also partners with Polish Humanitarian Action (PHA) which provides them their funds for rehabilitation programs.
White said that they were able to build 700 transitional houses in Bantayan Island, conducted various trainings to local carpenters, rehabilitated schools and conducted medical missions with the help of their partners abroad.
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