CEBU CITY, Philippines – A stampede marred the distribution of the Pantawid Pangkabuhayang Pampamilya Program (4Ps) in a gym in Barili town last Friday, leaving at least 13 people injured.
Former Vito barangay captain Vicente Villarin said panic ensued when someone shouted that there was a bomb.
Villarin said nine of those injured were brought to the rural health center, and four others to the Barili District Hospital.
But rural health officer Mary Joy Bajarias said no one was hurt, except a 22-year-old woman who has just given birth and fainted.
For her part, provincial Health Officer Dr. Cristina Giango, who was in Barili, said only one was rushed to the district hospital for fainting probably due to hunger.
It was the sixth time that the 4Ps’ distribution was held in the gym by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Region 7.
This time though, the DSWD commissioned the CFI Community Multi-purpose Cooperative along with the Land Bank of the Philippines to do it. – Gregg Rubio/Freeman News Service