Kudos to Operation Damayan in Bantayan!

Did you hear Department of Social Welfare and Development head Dinky Soliman say that Local Government Unit officials who do not help in the delivery or distribution of relief goods will face charges? Perhaps we, the Filipino people, should charge Dinky So-liman for the ugly things happening within her agency, like what we heard about the Indonesian relief goods that were repacked in the name of DSWD? Perhaps Dinky Soliman has forgotten that phrase, “When you point your finger at someone, do not ever forget that three of your fingers are pointing back at you!”

How dare the DWSD do that? Worse, we heard from dySS anchor Bobby Nalzaro who blurted out on the air that when DSWD ran out of plastic bags with its name, the repacking was stopped and the shipment for relief goods ground to a halt! Meanwhile, GMA-7’s Mike Enriquez heard and questioned why DSWD officials do not allow cellphones inside the repacking areas? We can only second-guess that most cellphones these days have cameras and by not allowing cellphones means, getting those snooping cameras out of the repacking centers where they are hiding so many things.

At least, the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas through Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol was quick to suggest to the DSWD-7 to stop the repacking of the aid pouring into Cebu from foreign governments. But while we’re elated that the Office of the Ombudsman has made this suggestion, the question is wheth-er the DSWD in Region-7 would listen to that noteworthy sugges-tion? For their sake, I hope the DSWD here listens.

Meanwhile, we laud The Freeman and The Philippine Star’s Operation “Damayan” which brought some 2,300 relief packs to Madridejos in Bantayan Island last Tuesday and Wednesday. This was led by no less than Philippine Star President Miguel Belmonte and his wife Millette. That Sir Dodong Gullas also offered to repair the damaged San Miquel Parish Church in Tapilon, Daanban-tayan, is a very laudable act. For sure, God will reward you guys for your kindheartedness.

Last Tuesday, the Cebu Country Club employees who de-cided to cancel their Christmas Party also trooped to San Remigio in two tourist buses led by General Manager Geric Hechanova and followed by a truck of supplies. They cooked hot meals for 1,200 families who must now be weary of eating canned goods. It was a hot meal for a change and when they arrived back at the club last Wednesday evening, the employees were all so heartened with what they did for the least of our brethren who are in need in San Remi-gio.

At this point, during our meeting at the Rotary Club of Cebu, we were discussing more on the long-term solutions to this disas-ter. Thanks to the private sector and private businesses, food has been streaming to northern Cebu. But what caught my attention was when French Ambassador Gilles Garachon held a presscon where he would bring French architects to teach Cebuanos how to build earthquake and typhoon-proof homes. Now when they come to do this, it would be the greatest contribution of France to the country. Vive la France!

Incidentally as I woke up yesterday morning, I caught Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez on ANC’s Headstart with Karen Davila and I heard her say that the problem happening in Ormoc, and I would dare say that is also happening in Cebu, is that when the relief goods were distributed by the national agencies, they relied on the “Voters List.” This makes the DSWD a tool of politicians because it allows itself to be used by the powers-that-be in the locality. She mentioned that a councilor could not get relief goods because he belonged to the different party and did not have any written en-dorsement from the mayor.

Even the US Military offered the use of helicopters and all they need to do was merely point where they wanted the relief goods dropped. But this was not used by the mayor. Representative Gomez could only surmise that the mayor refused because he could not control where the relief goods would be given. Obviously that mayor wanted to give relief goods only to those that voted for them. If you ask me, there ought to be a law wherein politicizing relief operations should be made into a crime!

Mind you, this is the mentality of our politicians; to give priority to those who voted for them, where they have their voters list. But in times of disaster, I dare say that it is criminal to give only to those typhoon victims who voted for them and deny relief goods to those who didn’t vote for them. They have clearly forgotten that when elections are over, they are public servants of all their constituents regardless of whether they voted or not.

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