PALO, LEYTE—A 41-year-old farmer went to the dump in Barangay (village) San Jose, 8 kilometers from the town proper, following reports that relief items were being dumped there.
He found several packs of biscuits.
“I brought the biscuits to our house, which my kids ate,” said the father of five children, who declined to give his name for fear of being scolded by municipal officials.
He said the biscuits still tasted good.
Municipal and social welfare officials admitted that relief items and used clothing were thrown into the dump last week but claimed that these were spoiled and damaged.
“We will not distribute them if they are no longer fit for (human) consumption or if these used clothing have molds already. If we do this, our people might get sick,” said Palo Mayor Remedios Petilla, mother of Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla.
Palo is one of the areas badly hit by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in November last year. More than 18,000 families were displaced after their houses were destroyed by the supertyphoon.
The families have been receiving assistance not only from the national government but also from international and national humanitarian groups.
The relief items were stored on the ground floor of the municipal hall, which was also damaged by Yolanda.
Mayor Petilla said she ordered the dumping of several relief packs and used clothing on March 7 because these were either spoiled or damaged.
These included four sacks of rice, four sacks of assorted biscuits, one-fourth sack of canned goods, three sacks and two boxes of used clothing, three sacks of used shoes and 10 pieces of instant noodles.
Petilla said she had been informed by Dr. Ofelia Soliva, municipal health officer, that the food items were no longer fit for consumption.
Mayor Petilla said her son, Secretary Petilla, called her attention on the reported dumping of relief items in the dump. The secretary was informed by Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman about the allegation against his mother.
Mayor Petilla branded the charges as “baseless, unfair and malicious.” Her claim was supported by the municipal social welfare officer, Rosalina Balderas, in a one-page report dated March 12.
“These goods were found to be damaged at the time of delivery and during the repacking, were set aside so as not to be included in the relief distribution,” Balderas reported.
She said the garbage truck owned by the municipal government was used to bring the “spoiled” items to the dump.
Mayor Petilla said among those thrown away was rice donated to the municipal government by the national government through the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
“The four sacks of rice that were seen at the dump were just part of the (thousands of) rice donated to us. These rice were either wet when we received them or already smelled,” she said.
“We separated the good rice from the spoiled ones and we were able to collect four sacks of rice in the process. No, I cannot afford to order to throw them if these are still fit for consumption,” she added.