NFA tells looters: Share rice with others

MANILA, Philippines - Share your loot.

The National Food Authority (NFA) said it will not go after the looters that ransacked their warehouse in Alangalang, Leyte last week, but called on those involved to share the rice they took from the warehouse with their fellow victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

NFA spokesman Rex Estoperez said Typhoon Yolanda created an “extraordinary situation” that led some people to become desperate.

While NFA personnel in Leyte were able to get the license plate numbers of the vehicles used in the looting, Estoperez said they will not pursue them or file charges.

The NFA said it lost some 33,000 bags of rice in the looting, as well as 16,000 bags of rice and 96,000 bags of palay that got wet during the typhoon.

Estoperez, however, assured the public that despite the loss, the NFA has enough inventory of rice for the calamity stricken areas.

He added the NFA has been releasing an average of 15,000 bags of rice to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for repacking in Manila since Nov. 14.

This is in addition to 53,000 bags being repacked daily in Tacloban City, he said.

The DSWD, meanwhile, reported more than 1.2 million family food packs had been distributed to typhoon victims in Eastern Visayas.

“That would translate to approximately 82,000 packs a day distributed in all the 40 towns of Leyte, 15 municipalities of Eastern Samar including Guiuan, and the 138 barangays of Tacloban City,” the DSWD said.

The DSWD added the shortage of plastic bags in Eastern Visayas affected the process of repacking. Many of the available plastic bags could only carry three kilograms instead of the six kilograms of rice.

This prompted the DSWD to order plastic bags from Cebu or Manila.

Meanwhile, a total of 164 container vans of relief goods have arrived in Tacloban City, the DSWD said.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman added they have been distributing tarpaulins to the residents whose homes were destroyed by the typhoon for use as temporary roofs.

The DSWD also appealed for donors to lend forklifts and pallets, necessary for hauling relief goods, to speed up their relief operations in Cebu province, Iloilo City and Tacloban City.