ABB-SA Employees donates P121,612 for flood Ondoy victims in Philippines

ABB-SA Employees donates  P121,612 for flood Ondoy victims in Philippines

By Bong Amora

RIYADH, 5 January 2010 – ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri) Electrical Industries Co. Ltd., Saudi Arabia employees has proven once again that colors, cultures, beliefs, languages and nations are not hindrance in time of unity and communal effort  helping those in needs.  ABB or ASEA Brown Boveri is  the leading power and automation group in the world.

ABB-SA employees announced  yesterday through Mr. Roland Suarez, ABB-SA QA Administrator who is currently in Manila that it has donated P121,612.00 to the victims of typhoon Ondoy in the Philippines.

ABB Employees at Sagip Kapamilya

Philippines was struck by a historic typhoon  in September of last year putting over 26 provinces under a state of calamity. Some 80% of Manila was submerged, displacing 450,000 people. More than 120,000  are now still in makeshift shelters.  The historic 85 kph typhoon “Ondoy” surpassed the highest 24-hour rainfall in June 1967 in Metro Manila.

The  cash donation  contributed by ABB-SA employees  initiated by Filipino employees  led by Mr. Alex Veloso Bello of ABB-SA Purchasing Department  was handed  to SAGIP Kapamilya of ABS-CBN Foundation last December 22, 2009.

Bello in his thank you email message to ABB-SA employees particularly to fellow Filipinos said “Typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng probably one of the worst natural calamities to hit our country, ruined a lot of things but not the Filipino spirit.”   Bello is also the President of Overseas Filipino Workers Congress-Riyadh.

“Once again, we would like to thanks our ABB pinoys and to our non-Filipino colleagues/ boss/ friends, we thank you Sirs for giving Filipinos space in your heart. “ Bello added.

ABB-SA  and its hundreds of employees mostly professional Filipino electrical engineers are always  committed helping the country in time of calamities. ABB-SA employees were one of the biggest donors during the 2006 Philippine Landslide that hit  Guinsaugon, Leyte where  only 139 bodies have been retrieved and 973 remained missing and believed buried up to now beneath tons of mud.  ABB-SA alone collected almost P 100,000.00  for the victims of one of the nation’s worst disaster ever experienced. The Filipino community around Riyadh collected a total of P 204,740 intended for the survivors and families of the victims. (click Philippine Landslide Survivors Get Donation From Riyadh Community)

Like so many Filipino migrants forced abroad, away from loved ones  and sending remittances to keep Philippine economy afloat,  the spirit of oneness (bayanihan)  remains in Filipinos heart forever in times of needs.

The ABB-SA employees hope that their donations contribute in a small way to a happier New Year 2010.

To our friends and co-employees in different nationalities and cultures in the Kingdom, the more partnership, cooperation and solidarity, the further we are to a new world where there is an equality, peace, unity and justice. – Bong A.