Filipinos in Singapore rush to fill aid vacuum in wake of Typhoon Vamco

As Typhoon Vamco, the deadliest storm of the year for the Philippines, battered the country’s main island of Luzon earlier this month, Jake Raven, a 24-year-old native of Cagayan province, in Luzon’s northern tip, was watching closely from Singapore.

Raven moved to the city state as a high school student to live with his parents, who emigrated in 1993. Just two months ago, he lost his job in the food and beverage industry, one of the many casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite his personal setback, he began collecting clothing from donors to send back to the Philippines for the thousands of people who were displaced by Typhoon Vamco.

Raven then started a fundraiser online called “A Dollar for Life” for residents of three other towns on Luzon island – Tuguegarao City, Aggunetan, and in Marikina. Most of the donors were Singaporeans who supported his relief efforts to mitigate the plight of almost 500 families devastated by flooding in the wake of the typhoon.

Raven’s efforts reflect just how active Filipino overseas foreign workers in Singapore, who number 90,000, have been during times of crisis back home. Seven years ago, the Singapore Red Cross raised more than S$10 million (US$7.4 million) for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, with many of the donations coming from resident Filipinos. Typhoon Haiyan was one of the deadliest in Philippine history, killing more than 6,000 people.