Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman. FILE PHOTO
The messy warehouse shown in a video broadcast by a television network and published on its online news portal recently was not the relief hub of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Tacloban City, according to Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman.
Soliman made the clarification even as she requested the TV5 television network to provide more information on where the warehouse is located so an investigation can be conducted.
The video footage purported to show the hub of the Supertyphoon “Yolanda” relief work in Tacloban with shots of relief goods scattered about.
“Our hubs, especially the one in Tacloban City, are not in disarray. I know this because I was there on March 25 to accompany Australian Ambassador Bill Tweddell and Spanish Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo,” Soliman said.
She said relief workers repacked the goods intended for distribution at the hub.
According to Soliman, the day after she went to Tacloban with Tweddell, representatives of the United Nations World Food Program (UN-WFP) also visited there.
Locals keep area clean
“Hence, it is impossible that you will find our hub to be disorderly. We in fact have a cash-for-work program for locals in the area to keep the hubs clean,” she said.
“For the sake of truth and our own information, we insist that they let us know where this is, so our department can act on their allegations of mishandling of relief goods,” she stressed.
She reiterated that the DSWD has been investigating all reports about the relief goods distributed to Yolanda survivors and the warehouses that it maintains.
She said she was always open to having a dialogue with any group wanting to help in the relief and rehabilitation work in the Eastern Visayas.
“We have demonstrated that we are open to dialogue as long as we are notified in advance, unlike today when all our officials are in the field attending to important tasks,” Soliman said.
She said DSWD Eastern Visayas has been helping the local governments in handling and warehousing the relief goods to prevent the goods from spoiling and having to be disposed of.
On the seven persons, including a three-month-old baby who died of hunger in the region, Soliman said she has instructed the DSWD staff to conduct an investigation.
She urged those with complaints regarding the relief operations to contact the DSWD text hotline 0920-9463766. Cynthia D. Balana