RP relief team off to Burma

The Philippines will take part in the international effort to bring relief aid to Myanmar, whose military junta still limits the foreign aid it accepts.

Sen. Richard Gordon, concurrent chair of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), will head the Philippine delegation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-United Nations International Pledging Conference for the Myanmar cyclone victims to be held in Yangon tomorrow.

Gordon will fly to Yangon after attending the 17th Governing Board Meeting of the International Federation of the Red Crescent in Geneva, Switzerland.

Last May 9, Gordon sent off the first two members of a three-man PNRC disaster assessment team to Myanmar to help in disaster management, particularly in the areas of relief goods distribution and water sanitation.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon personally went to Myanmar on a mission to persuade the country's military government to allow a large-scale international aid effort for the cyclone victims.

In a meeting with Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein, Ban stressed the need to speed up delivery of humanitarian aid.

Reports quoted Ban as saying mutual trust was needed between Myanmar and the international community, which was prepared to send in planes and helicopters to help.

Myanmar is still reluctant to accept more than a handful of experienced foreign rescue and disaster relief workers, particularly from the United States.

http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20080523130
RP relief team off to Burma
By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star
Saturday, May 24, 2008