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Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo on Monday said the Philippine government was not closing its doors to foreign donations for victims of natural calamities.

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Taguiwalo made the clarification in a press briefing in Malacañang when asked about her now viral Facebook post about foreign aid for victims of supertyphoon “Lawin.”

In her post, Taguiwalo said the government was not soliciting international aid because it has sufficient funds to address the needs of affected families.

“Mga mahal naming kababayan, kaunting paliwanag po: hindi tayo humihingi ng foreign assistance o donations mula sa ibang bansa para sa Karen o Lawin dahil nakitang may sapat na pondo ang gobyerno at mga ahensya nito para saklolohan ang mamamayang apektado,” Taguiwalo wrote.

(To our beloved countrymen, just a few explanation: we are not asking for foreign assistance or donations from other countries for [the victims of] Karen or Lawin because we saw that the government and its agencies have sufficient funds to address the needs of the affected families.)

(“Hindi tayo dapat maging pala-asa at pala-hingi sa mga dayuhang gobyerno kung kaya nating tumindig sa sariling paa. Kung sama-sama, lahat makakaya (We should not be too dependent on foreign agencies if we could stand on our own feet. If we unite, we could do it),” she added.

But Taguiwalo said the government still welcomes donations from other countries and organizations based on the country’s needs as it conducts an assessment of the damage brought by Lawin and Karen in agriculture, livestock and infrastructure.

“Pasensya na kung ang naging dating ng komento na ‘yun ay hindi na natin kailangan ng foreign aid. Nakayanan natin nitong nakaraan, bago at pagdating ng Karen at Lawin, naging maagap ang pagtulong sa ating mamayan,” Taguiwalo said.

(I would like to apologize if my comment sounded like we no longer need foreign aid. We were able to address the needs of the victims, before and during Karen at Lawin, we were able to help them immediately.)

“Handa tayong tanggapin ang tulong na ito batay sa ating pangangailan at batay sa walang kondisyon… Ito ay nakadepende sa extent ng need na kailangan natin. Paglilinaw ho ‘yun, hindi tayo nagsasabing kayang kaya na natin ito. Nagpapasalamat tayo sa mga kaibigan, indibidwal, organisasyon at ibang bayan na handa na silang tumulong,” she added.

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(We welcome the foreign aid based on our needs and it should come without any condition. It depends on the extent of our needs. It is a clarification, we are not saying we could do it on our own. We are thankful to our friends, the individuals, organizations and other countries which are willing to help.)

Citing initial report as of Oct. 24, Taguiwalo said Cordillera has the most number of affected families at 66,875, or a total of 304,796 individuals. RAM/rga

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