Helping People Help Themselves
Foundation for Aid to the Philippines, Inc.
By Greg B. Macabenta

It has become a matter of great concern among overseas Filipinos that the money they send to the Philippines has unwittingly been fostering a pensionado attitude among their beneficiaries. Even worse, a culture of mendicancy.

It is in this context that the programs and projects of the Foundation for Aid to the Philippines, Inc. (FAPI), a private non-profit organization based in Maryland, deserve recognition and emulation.



A Writer Worth Writing About
By Anthony E. Maddela

Bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz brings teenaged vampires and their immortal longings to life.

The many readers who were introduced to Melissa de la Cruz, age 38, by her profile in Entertainment Weekly’s vampire issue on July 31, 2009 have lots of reading to catch up on.

Published by Disney imprint Hyperion, the Blue Bloods series is the latest of several novels Melissa has authored since her first, Cat’s Meow, was released by Simon and Schuster in 2001. That book displayed her uniquely Filipina gift for the absurd in a work she describes as “P.G. Wodehouse meets Sex in the City.” Melissa’s eye for the inane soon went into investigative mode in 2003 with the nonfiction exposé on overexposure she co-wrote with Karen Rabinovitz, How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less (Random House), which originated from an eponymous article in Marie Claire.

There are stories all around us, though we may not always hear them. Author and playwright Merlinda Bobis considers it her job to listen. If stories are like music, Merlinda listens to even the quietest of murmurings, keeping her ear tuned to the small, human experiences that often go unrecognized. Everyday moments of tenderness, suffering, cruelty, and bravery inspire her most. “It’s the story that we stumble upon, or sometimes don’t see or don’t comprehend, that snags us into some conspiracy of feeling, of passion,” she says.

Journalist and Mistress of the Dark: The Enigma That Is Yvette Tan
By Alex G. Paman

The art of juggling is a skill seldom associated with writers. But for freelance scribe Yvette Tan, it best describes her life as a journalist. When not contributing to a seemingly endless stream of newspapers, magazines (including Filipinas), and even television shows, this self-described media mercenary and obsessive foodie even finds time to write a blog for the GMA network website.

Foundation for Aid to the Philippines, Inc. (FAPI) Medical Team

Helping People Help Themselves
Foundation for Aid to the Philippines, Inc.
By Greg B. Macabenta

It has become a matter of great concern among overseas Filipinos that the money they send to the Philippines has unwittingly been fostering a pensionado attitude among their beneficiaries. Even worse, a culture of mendicancy.

It is in this context that the programs and projects of the Foundation for Aid to the Philippines, Inc. (FAPI), a private non-profit organization based in Maryland, deserve recognition and emulation.

Established in 1986 by Fil-Am community leaders in Baltimore, most of them medical professionals, FAPI set out to "help Filipinos help themselves by funding community-based livelihood projects in the Philippines in order to give them a sustainable source of income...an alternative to traditional handouts." The organizers felt that handouts only provided "short-term benefits."

For over two decades, FAPI has funded, through faith-based and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) significant livelihood projects such as fish farming, poultry and swine production, manufacturing of animal feed, handicraft making, and rice and coconut cooperatives.

FAPI's track record is impressive. In 2005, it funded the purchase of a truck for the Palawan Center for Appropriate Rural Technology (PCART) for the use of farmers and fishermen engaged in seaweed and herbal projects, including the cultivation of lagundi, sambong and lemon grass leaves used for medicinal purposes. The poor transportation infrastructure in the area, that limited their ability to bring the products to prospective buyers, had made it difficult for the rural folk to make their enterprise financially viable. The truck solved the problem.

In Oriental Mindoro, FAPI provided a grant to the Gelasio I. Yason Foundation Family Farm School, Inc. for a cattle-raising project. This facilitated the purchase of 20 calves that were distributed to as many families. In Tagbilaran, Bohol, FAPI collaborated with the Holy Name University Center for Community Extension and Development in a piggery project that benefited 60 families.

Other livelihood projects include a banana trading operation of two people's organizations, a rice trading project, organic vegetable farming and the construction of irrigation dams and potable water systems. FAPI has also partnered with the Palawan NGO Network, Inc. (PNNI) to promote copra production and abaca extraction.

The funds provided by FAPI have been substantial and the number of direct beneficiaries impressive: $11,500 for a tilapia cage in Laguna, benefiting 85 families; $9,173 for crab culture in Camarines Sur, for 35 families; $16,000 to develop 40 hectares of rubber plantation in Palawan, for 40 families; $9,000 for a rice trading cooperative, $9,000 for a copra trading cooperative, and $8,000 for a sari-sari store cooperative, all in Quezon Province, benefiting 335 families; and $7,500 for a Grameen Bank project in Laguna, for 30 families, among others.

Significantly, FAPI does not give the money as a dole-out but as a loan that has to be repaid from the proceeds of the project. This enables the organization to re-lend the funds to other deserving recipients. FAPI has also provided funds for victims of natural disasters and for other charitable projects and scholarships.

Dr. Marietta Caragay (right) on a medical mission).

In the wake of the super typhoon in late 2004 that devastated the Southern Tagalog area, FAPI donated $30,000 to Gawad Kalinga for the construction of 30 homes in Matawe, Dingalan, Aurora province. Of the 42,000 families affected by the typhoon, 1,600 were from Dingalan.

Since 1997, FAPI has also dispatched annual medical missions to the Philippines, reaching out to areas where professional medical care is badly needed.

The typical mission has consisted of specialists in general surgery, plastic surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, ENT, ophthalmology, anesthesiology and radiology plus operating room nurses, internists and paramedics.

FAPI's medical missions have covered towns in the Bicol Region, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Zambales,Isabela and the Mountain Province, as well as Cavite, Quezon City and Pasay City. The number of patients that each mission attends to comes into the thousands.

A mission is usually held from Monday through Friday, with 100 to 200 major and minor surgeries being undertaken. These involve such cases as cleft lips, cleft palates, thyroid, hernias, tumors, gall bladder and abdominal ailments and gynecological cases. At the same time, clinicians attend to 3,000 to 3,500 patients, giving them free medicine and providing health care education.

FAPI has conducted 10 medical missions so far, benefiting some 30,000 people. The most recent medical mission, from December 4 to 11, 2009, was in Santiago, Isabela, in cooperation with Mayor Amelita Navarro and the De Veyra Hospital. The medical contingent consisted of eight surgeons, two gynecologists, one plastic surgeon, one ENT specialist, five anesthesiologists, four pediatricians, four internists, five nurses and ten paramedics. Some 3,000 patients were treated. The mission also did 140 minor surgeries and 54 major operations.

In pursuing its mission, FAPI has collaborated with other organizations, such as UNICEF, Rotary International and the Knights of Columbus. The organization raises its funds through membership drives, raffle drawings and cultural and entertainment activities. Up to recently, it also received a grant from the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation, Inc.

In 1993, President Fidel V. Ramos acknowledged FAPI as one of only two outstanding Filipino international NGOs making significant contributions to the country's efforts to help the poor in the Philippines.

The current executive board of FAPI is chaired by Dr. Evangeline M. Garcia, with Dr. Edilberto Beltran as Vice Chair; Dr. Pio Valle, Secretary; Board members: Dr. Alberto Del Corro, Dr. Roger Filamor, Mrs. Sony Florendo, Dr. Manuel Gatchalian, Dr. Elllie Quizon; and   Ex Officio Members: Dr. Marietta Caragay, Dr. Jacinto de Borja, Dr. Esperanza Covera, and Dr. Jess Socrates.

Dr. Marietta Caragay is the current president of FAPI. The other officers are Dr. Jacinto de Borja, executive vice-president; Dr. Esperanza Covera, VP for Development; Dr. Jesus Socrates, VP for Program & Research; Mrs. Helen Sadorra, VP for Audit & Finance; Dr. Ruben Ballesteros, VP for Membership; Mrs. Dorothy de Borja, VP for Public Relations; Dr. Diadema Simon-Beltran, treasurer; and Mrs. Bell Owens, secretary.