Rotten goods donated by private group, says DSWD

MANILA, Philippines - The rotten relief supplies discovered in Yolanda-hit Palo, Leyte two weeks ago were donated to the local government by a private organization, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The DSWD sent a team from its field office in Palo town to investigate media reports on alleged truckloads of rotten relief goods, and found out that these were “not part of the food packs given out by the department.”

The team, according to the DSWD, interviewed a barangay chairman, Panchito Cortes, and found out that the relief goods – including 300-milliliter bottled water, cup noodles, viands in sachets, and biscuits – were directly donated by the private organization to the local government.

Cortes even showed the rotten goods to the DSWD team, saying he did not distribute these when he learned that these were already spoiled.

The DSWD said it would also investigate the procedures for storing donated supplies, identify areas for technical assistance to improve the storage capacity of local governments, and the distribution of relief goods.

The DSWD confirmed reports that some relief goods, not truckloads as some reports said, were buried in a dump in Palo. Disposed off were a sack of assorted biscuits, 10 cups of instant noodles, a half-sack of wet rice, and one sack of used clothing, it said.