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This sentiment is good but look at the research on incentives and this would actually reduce the number of volunteers. Nice thoughts but not a good idea when coupled with what we know about the motivations of people when they volunteer!

Give student volunteers extra credits in class, solon urges
By Lira Dalangin-FernandezINQUIRER.netFirst Posted 19:52:00 10/02/2009Filed Under: Ondoy, Education, Flood, Disasters generalMANILA, Philippines—College students who have done volunteer work in helping the victims of storm Ondoy international codename: Ketsana deserve extra credits in class, a lawmaker proposed on Friday.Muntinlupa Representative Rufino Biazon said the student volunteers could earn extra credits in their National Service Training Program NSTP.“The work they have done to help in the relief efforts are more than enough to earn credits in their NSTP or CMT classes,” he said.
via Give student volunteers extra credits in class, solon urges – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

Damn, lots of relief operations are closing up and we still have 400,000 people in evacuation centers, typhoon pepeng is coming and I don’t know who will deliver food to the evacuees in the middle of the typhoon. I hate to say this but we need to borrow some amphibious vehicles from the US government.
If the Philippine government can’t get it’s act together, I feel that 2010 is really too long a time to wait for the removal of these DAMNED people in power! Tangina Ninyo!
An excerpt of the excellent article by de quiros. Hope you read the whole thing.

Three, indeed to this hour, what government we have is courtesy of the private sector where voluntarism has sprung like wildflowers. That is the bright spot in all this, the light amid the darkness, the blazing sun after the storm. Truly the Filipino rises to his finest self during trying times, the more trying the times, the finer the rising. Or it is in times of disaster that the Filipino ceases to be a disaster, thinking of others first before self.
It’s especially heartening to see the kids go en masse on relief mode. Many of the kids in my neighborhood have done so, teeners who normally while away the holidays playing basketball, flipping rollerblades, and drinking beer in the stores. They’ve enrolled themselves to help without thought of pay, without thought of recompense, without thought of reward. Just the thought of doing something nice for a change, just the thought of doing something to make things better.
It rekindles memories of the July-August floods of 1972, when students also went in droves to places in Greater Manila no longer traversable by land, or indeed outside the metropolis where they were greeted by a greater ravaging. But then there was activism to fuel, or goad, or flagellate the youth to idealism. Well, there was also the prospect of meeting a cool chick or a cool cat while on your best form. Today, there’s just spontaneous goodwill to do the trick. And the prospect of meeting a cool chick or a cool cat while on your best form. The kids come home happy, comparing the welts and bruises on their arms from lifting crates while drinking beer in the stores.
Makes you wonder what on earth you need government for.
via Three – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

Nice article/story , read the whole thing!

Amid ‘The Great Flood,’ the kindness of strangers
MARK MERUEÑAS, GMANews.TV
10/01/2009 | 04:20 AM
The genius Isaac Newton was more than correct when he posited: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This was true, even, when what we can now consider “The Great Flood” of Luzon rampaged through the country’s National Capital Region and the neighboring provinces of Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite.
A multitude of flood victims were stranded in the floods, driven out of their homes or trapped in them. But in a robust reaction, countless other people rose to the occasion and tried to to save lives and shelter the lost and helpless, like me.
via Amid ‘The Great Flood,’ the kindness of strangers – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.

The Presidential Palace was partially opened to allow volunteers to pack supplies for affected areas and some food was handed out to those lucky enough to hear about the aid distribution.
But by the time we arrived, hundreds were waiting outside with a growing sense of disappointment, as they realized they had gotten there too late. In reality, the use of a couple of rooms in the museum of the Presidential Palace was nothing more than an attempt to give local TV stations something to film.
With some 2 million people affected by the flooding, it will take more than biscuits and potato chips to get a grip on the storm and flood aftermath.
via In the Field: Hear from CNN reporters across the globe Blog Archive – Misery in Manila after the floods « – Blogs from CNN.com.