Political rifts hamper shelter assistance

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Conflicts among barangay officials in Negros Occidental have reportedly hampered the timely release of shelter assistance to victims of typhoon Yolanda.

Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer Liane Garcia the other day said they could not yet release the P3,000 shelter assistance because the list was still muddled with “insertions” of unverified beneficiaries.

Some incoming village officials, elected last Oct. 28 but are yet to assume their posts on Nov. 30, reportedly clashed with incumbent village officials on determining the list of beneficiaries for shelter assistance.

The list is being prepared by barangay health workers and submitted to the PSWDO. “It’s hard because we’re the victims here ... We’re caught in between the conflict of incoming and outgoing barangay officials,” Garcia lamented.

Garcia said there was a time when they have to stop (the distribution of relief goods) in typhoon-hit areas because of the conflict among barangay officials.

Last week, the Provincial Board placed Negros Occidental under a state of calamity, and then authorized the re-alignment of  P32 million from the calamity fund into quick response fund for shelter aid.

Vice Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said, out of this fund, P22 million was allocated for shelter assistance. Only destroyed or “totally wrecked” houses will be given P3,000 assistance, while the partially damaged houses will be assisted by their respective LGUs, he said.

Prior to the announcement of this aid, or last Nov. 9, only 917 destroyed or totally damaged houses were reported by the PSWDO. But last Nov. 13, the number swelled to 11,083, with 42,955 partially damaged houses.

Provincial Administrator Enrique Pinongan said the allocated P22 million fund will no longer be enough considering that, if it is true that there were 11,083 destroyed houses, Capitol will need P33.2 million in shelter aid fund.

Ma. Lina Sanogal, secretary of the Provincial Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), said this prompted the Council to verify the actual number of destroyed houses per barangay. That meant it may take a while for Capitol to release the assistance, she added.

Some of the list have been purged for now but overall PDRRMC still continued to revalidate the number of destroyed houses.  (FREEMAN)