BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – The government’s food packs and relief goods for typhoon victims distributed to local government units must not be used for raffles, warned Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region 6.
Reports reached DSWD that some relief goods were raffled among the attendees during the Nutrition Month culminating activity in the town of Zarraga on July 31.
“Relief goods are intended for typhoon victims,” said May Rago Castillo, DSWD Region 6 information officer.
Castillo said DSWD already called the attention of the Municipal Social Welfare Development Officer (MSWDO) concerned and the local government of Zarraga itself.
Zarraga’s Mayor John Tarrosa was not inclined to call it a raffle as claimed by an unidentified complainant. He said it was a staggered distribution of relief goods and that the attendees of the Nutrition Month culminating activity in his town were all survivors of super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).
Tarrosa explained that during the event, the weather was not good so the MSWDO strategized to keep the attendees from going home, especially that the activity included forums on dengue and calamity preparedness, among others.
“Every 3o minutes, the MSWDO was calling names of recipients to get the relief packs,” said Tarrosa.
The municipal mayor also said that the system of distribution was conceptualized in the bid to have an equitable distribution of relief goods.
Zarraga was one of the towns affected by “Yolanda” November last year and close to 6,000 households were affected./PN
