Philippines: Archbishop praises compassion and heroism amid floods

|PIC1|At least 246 people have been killed in the floods, brought on by tropical storm Ketsana, while another 400,000 people are seeking shelter in schools, churches and other makeshift relief centres.

"Compassion is drawing many Filipinos to unite with their unfortunate brothers and sisters," said Archbishop Angel N Lagdameo, according to the Catholic News Agency.

He paid tribute to 18-year-old Muelmar Magallanes who died after saving more than a dozen neighbours from raging flood waters, including a six month old baby.

"Through the ravages of nature in the past, the Filipino sense of compassion, which we also call 'bayanihan', has been called forth," said the Archbishop. "The pictures we have seen in the past few days are pictures of Filipinos responding to the call for compassion, of people willing to 'suffer with', people with the spirit of 'bayanihan'," he said.

Catholic aid agency Caritas has already started to respond to the needs of flood victims in the Manila area, while churches are being encouraged to send items to the CBCP's National Secretariat for Social Action.

The Archbishop continued: "We bend our knees in prayer for salvation against natural calamities, but when they do come, we are not so helpless as not to respond with heroism."

"In the Church, no one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and no one is so rich as to have nothing to receive."

"We are humbled by the crises that come to us. We pray to God and appeal for our neighbour."

The Archbishop hit out at the government, however, saying that it would have been better prepared for the crisis if there were no corruption.

The government has appealed for international aid in the face of two more storms forecast to hit northern Philippines in the coming week.