CenPEG RECOGNIZES PARTNERS AND VOLUNTEERS OF MISSION TABANG-SLB

Ms. Evita L. Jimenez of Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), during a short program held at the ship’s saloon, expressed her gratitude to the partners and volunteers who made Mission TABANG-SLB possible. William Johan Hovland, one of the first correspondents from Norway who broke the news of destruction of Tacloban hours after it was struck by supertyphoon Yolanda was given due recognition together with Nimpa Jimenez - Vice President for External Affairs of Mariners' System, Capt. Erik Blom - Managing Director of the Norwegian Training Center-Manila, Dr. Tingting Cojuangco - former President of Philippine Public Safety College, Capt. Joeran Noestvik - Deputy Director of  Norwegian Training Center Manila,  Dr. Priscilla Ampuan - Coordinator for Mission Tabang SLB and  Judge Freddie Ampuan - UGOP Chair. 

On Dec. 3, formal recognition and appreciation was given to Captain Noestvik together with Mr. Geir Thorseng, Maritime Adviser of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Manila, by UP President Alfredo E. Pascual during a welcome dinner held at the UP Executive House for faculty and students of  UP campuses in Tacloban and Palo, Leyte. (The campuses were shut down due to the Yolanda devastation, with their students cross-registering in UP Diliman and other campus units.) 

The T/S Kapitan Felix Oca led by the NTC-M’s Capt. Joeran Noestvik was one of the first to ship tons of relief packs to Leyte after Yolanda struck on November 8, 2013. The NTC-M in close cooperation with the Norwegian Embassy monitored the transport operations of relief aid from Manila to Tacloban, Leyte.

PIER 15, South Harbor, Manila—The Norwegian Training Center-Manila (NTC-M) of the Norwegian Maritime Foundation of the Philippines, Inc. with the assistance of Geir Thorseng, Maritime Consultant of the Norwegian Embassy made the use of a training ship possible, T/S Kapitan Felix Oca which was chartered to expedite the sending of relief by Mission TABANG- Samar, Leyte, Bohol for victims of Yolanda in Eastern Visayas. The ship sailed off on Nov. 23, 2013 from South Harbor, Manila and reached Tacloban City, Leyte four days later.

                  MISSION TABANG with training ship Kapitan Felix Oca chartered by NTC-M

The relief work of Mission TABANG (Visayan word for HELP)-SLB was organized by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), UGOP Waraynon, an NGO of Samar and Leyte residents based in Metro Manila, and the Mariners System based in Bicol and Manila. The Nov. 23 relief mission was also in cooperation with Tulong UP and the Office of the President, University of the Philippines, Philippine Public Safety College and its former President, Dr. Tingting Cojuangco and other institutions and organizations. (Simultaneously, a separate expedition of 15 trucks of relief goods was launched by Mission TABANG-SLB through the Mariners System, local government partners, and volunteers from the Philippine Medical Association via Legaspi City to Matnog, Sorsogon from where the goods consisting of rice, canned goods, clothes, toiletries and other necessities were shipped by a RORO vessel to Samar.)

                              MISSION TABANG with KFO crew, partners and volunteers

Among the major supporters and donors for the relief mission were Alagang Kapatid, Inc., a charity foundation of  TV 5 and Maynilad.

T/S Kapitan Felix Oca shipped some 1,300 tons of relief goods collected by Mission Tabang and Tulong UP including food, medicines, water filtering equipment, and other donations.

Around 100 cadets and volunteers from the NTC-Manila helped with the loading operation of tons of relief goods that lasted up until midnight and delivered to the storm ravaged municipalities in Eastern Visayas. Three passenger jeepneys followed later in the morning and by evening, a 40-foot container truck also arrived with the goods. 

The NTC-M Managing Director, Captain Erik Freberg Blom and NTC-M Deputy Director Captain Joeran Noestvik and captain of T/S Kapitan Felix Oca, headed the crew, volunteers and supporters in the loading operations.