Palo, Leyte – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) sent a team to investigate the media reports that rotten relief were distributed in a barangay in Leyte.
Upon validation by a team from DSWD-Field Office VIII who went to the area and interviewed Brgy. Captain Panchito Cortes, they found out that the goods comprising of 300-ml bottled water, cup noodles, foiled viand, and biscuits were donations from a private organization who directly gave the goods to the LGU.
Cortes showed the rotten goods to the DSWD team who said that these were not part of the food packs given out by the Department. The MSWDO also confirmed this.
He informed the DSWD team that he did not distribute the goods when he learned that these were already spoiled. He reported the incident to the MSWDO which ordered for the immediate retrieval of the goods.
Cortes said he panicked when he learned that the goods were already spoiled citing that people have started to flock to the barangay hall eager to receive the goods.
Earlier, DSWD also investigated the reported truckloads of relief goods being buried in the dumpsite of Palo..a certification issued by the Municipal Health Officer (MHO) on March 7 belied the allegation.The MHO said that only one sack of assorted biscuits, 10 cups of instant noodles, 1/2 sack of wet rice, and one sack of used clothing were buried. The MSWDo said that the goods came from “various agencies” which she can no longer remember.
DSWD said that MSWDOs should always check the expiration dates and the quality of the goods being donated to them before they distribute these so as not to compromise the health and well-being of their constituents.
For its part, DSWD will conduct a comprehensive investigation to ascertain the circumstances of storing donated goods, identify areas for technical assistance to improve the capacity of the LGUs in storage and distribution of relief goods.
To date, DSWD has already distributed more than 5 million food packs to Typhoon Yolanda-affected local government units in Eastern Visayas. ###
