BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – A member of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) in Toboso, Negros Occidental questioned the municipal government for failing to release rice assistance worth P11 million to cushion the economic effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Up to now the rice is still stocked at the municipal gym,” said SB member Madelene Dela Torre in a privilege speech during their regular session yesterday.
Dela Torre also said some sacks of rice may have already been damaged by rain.
The P11-million fund used to procure rice represented one month Internal Revenue Allotment of Toboso released by the Department of Budget as part of the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act relative to the threat of COVID-19, she pointed out.
The rice should have been distributed before the Bayanihan Act 1 expired on June 25, said Dela Torre.
In another development, SB member Peewee Estrada warned about a possible misuse of the municipal ambulance.
The ambulance, driven by job hire Glen Bustillo, met with an accident on June 30 in Barangay Pinapugasan, Calatrava on its way back to Toboso from Barangay Paghumayan, Calatrava town.
Bustilo was immediately dismissed from the service.
According to Estrada, the ambulance was transporting a drunken former barangay official and an incumbent barangay captain./PN
