SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga -- President Macapagal-Arroyo voiced irritation Tuesday apparently over the sight that greeted her on her return Sunday night from the Asean summit in Thailand: a long line of trucks laden with relief goods still waiting to be flagged off outside Malacañang.

The "relief caravan" was to have kicked off on Oct. 19 but was delayed because of Typhoon "Ramil" (international codename: Lupit), which moved away from the country on Saturday.

"We should have the caravan already,'' she said at a Cabinet meeting here on Tuesday. "If it was stopped at that time, it should not have stayed there with all these goods waiting. They should have been told that the caravan is off.''

The government was set to embark on a relief caravan for the thousands of calamity victims in Regions 1, 2 and 3, and the Cordillera Administrative Region beginning Oct. 19, but this was put off indefinitely in view of Typhoon "Ramil.''

The boxes of food packs and clothing were to be unloaded at the headquarters of local disaster coordinating councils for eventual distribution to residents displaced by flooding and landslides.

Ms Arroyo wondered why nobody informed Malacañang about the postponement.

"It was postponed. Then those assets should have been available for other things other than lying down there,'' she said.

Secretary Hermogenes Esperon of the Presidential Management Staff explained that a meeting was set to discuss the kick-off of the caravan, but was deferred due to the oncoming storm.

In response to the President's query, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said that there was ample supply of goods in northern Luzon, and that Laguna was in need more of these goods.

This prompted Ms Arroyo to say that the caravan should have been diverted to southern and central Luzon instead.

"Why don't we have a caravan in southern Luzon instead? So pre-position everything,'' she said. "Let's have a caravan to central and southern Luzon. Everything is loaded. We should do it tomorrow.''

Weather officials reported on a tropical depression over the Pacific Ocean that was expected to swirl into the Philippine area of responsibility late this week.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development has come under fire over a blogger's claim that the department was sitting on millions of pesos worth of donations to calamity victims in a warehouse. The department explained that the goods were released on the basis of requests from local government units.