Haiti’s Filipino nuncio counters critics on slow aid

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, priest of the Diocese of Talibon, Bohol, Papal Nuncio to Haiti

The Philippine media usually very quick to get a local angle on something that happens elsewhere, as indeed do media practitioners everywhere. After the recent earthquake in Haiti we read about soldiers and police from the Philippines on duty there as part of UN peacekeeping forces, some of whom lost their lives.

But, while he was mentioned in passing, not much attention was given to the Papal Nuncio in Port-au-Prince, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, a priest of the Diocese of Talibon, Bohol.

That is, until today, when Ma. Ceres P. Doyo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer wrote a front-page feature article about the nuncio's response to the earthquke.

Doyo reports:

He had some words for his critics who said relief efforts had been slow, chaotic and hampered by rivalries. “They have forgotten the tragedies when four hurricanes hit Haiti in 2008. Conducting relief efforts on a grand scale in a country without the basic infrastructures and with significant security and social problems is hugely problematic.

“Haiti imports 80 percent of its basic needs—like food. When disaster struck, most of the aid had to be flown or trucked from other countries, mainly from the United States and Haiti’s neighbor, the Dominican Republic. But the tremendous good will and human solidarity of all have overcome these negative factors,” Auza reminded the critics.

“I have been constantly visiting relief centers, especially those managed by Catholic agencies and have attended many meetings related to aid distribution,” Auza told the Inquirer in an interview via e-mail.

You can read the full article here.

Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince who died in the earthquake