The Philippine Red Cross is prepared to meet the challenges of the times including climate change which might bring food shortages, PRC chairman and former Senator Richard Gordon said yesterday.

He said climate change can bring disasters even floods and calamities. “We also need safe and sufficient blood supply,” he added.

Gordon, who was keynote speaker during the PRC assembly yesterday, said the PRC National Blood Center in Manila received its ISO 9001-2008 certificate from TUV Rheiland, a global provider of technical, safety and certificate server, on Dec. 17, 2010.

“Above all, we have built 21,000 houses all over the country because of disasters. So we have become a model for the entire Red Cross International Movement for building homes and reacting to disasters,” he said.

Gordon said they are a voluntary organization and he is trying to put Red Cross chapters all over the country.

“I would like to see the Philippines a totally organized Red Cross Country because we have a buffet of disasters here,” he said.

He said they have over 2 million volunteers all over the country right now and he would like to have 44 volunteers in every barangays, especially in Negros. The program is called “1-43,” he said.

With the declaration of the United Nations for 2011 as International Year of Volunteers, PRC continues to intensify its volunteer recruitment by urging more individuals to become volunteers.

Meanwhile, two Bacolod City officials were elected board of directors of the Negros Occidental Bacolod City Red Cross Chapter during its assembly in Bacolod City yesterday.

Elected were Bacolod Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus, who garnered the highest number of votes, followed by lawyer Nelson Lo, TV host Ryan Gamboa, lawyer Ben Ortega, Councilor Em Legaspi-Ang, Dr. Melvin Ibañez, Christine Toledo, Rene Ben Ledesma and Andrew Tan.*CGS

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