TACLOBAN CITY-The regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is now readying of filing a case against a food eatery owner found to have been selling rice intended for typhoon victims.
Nestor Ramos, regional DSWD director, said that their lawyers are now studying on what possible case they would file against the owner of the establishment.
Ramos, however, declined to identify the food eatery and its owner except to say that he has a personal account on this incident.
“We confiscated 17 bags of 25 kilos of rice, with a seal DSWD not for sale. We would be studying what case to file against the owner of the food eatery. Our purpose is to know who sold him the rice and why it is that he is selling it also,” Ramos told Leyte Samar Daily Express in a phone interview.
According to Ramos, the incident took place last April 3 evening while he was eating inside the establishment in Brgy. 23, this city.
“I personally went there, they don’t know me as I was eating there and I caught them by chance. The owner alleged to have bought that rice at P600 per bag. I called the police to assist us during the situation,” Ramos said, adding that the owner was not cooperating when he asked him questions like who sold him the rice intended for victims of Yolanda.
Ramos said that he took the rice to serve as evidence as for the possible case they would file against the owner.
The DSWD regional director said that they would dig deeper on this issue when asked if there could be a possibility that some of his staff might be involved on this matter.
Meanwhile, Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez said that he “understand” why some people are doing this.
“That is something bound to happen. Number 1, pagod na rin ang tao; isang buwan na panay sardinas pa rin kinakain nila. So some of them choose to barter that or sell that and then buy something like fresh meat or fresh fish, in order to have something better or different to eat,” Romualdez said.
“But the reason why that happened nakikita ko diyan dahil kapag iyong mga pagkain na binibigay na bigas ay walang measure eh. Ibig sabihin ay whether your family is having one, or five children or nine children, it doesn’t matter, they also give you one sack of rice every month,” Romualdez said.
Romualdez, however, stressed that the DSWD should continue in giving food reliefs to the victims of Yolanda. (RONALD O.REYES)

Alliance of typhoon Yolanda survivors has asked the help of the Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio for their struggle as they demand justice and attention from the government on their plight.
“We feel that the Aquino government has let the people down, there are many who continue to suffer five months after the calamity, and the government’s reconstruction program is inherently anti-poor,” said Sr. Edita Eslopor, People Surge spokesperson, as the victims dramatized their struggles by holding protest march and “people’s Calvary” nationwide on April 8, to commemorate the fifth month of the disaster.
Hundreds of protesters carried small crucifixes during the procession to remind Pres. Benigno Aquino III his “criminal negligence” to the the victims.
“So this Holy Week we are seeking the blessings of the Catholic Church for the Yolanda survivors who suffer like Christ, as well as its moral suasion to remind the Aquino government of its obligations to the poor and downtrodden,” added the Benedictine nun.
According to Eslopor, the activity is out of respect for the Holy Week tradition and symbolic of the plight of the Yolanda survivors.
“We hope to enlighten the Catholic Church and the public about the continuing struggle of the Yolanda survivors. By doing so, we hope also the Aquino government will wake up to its immorality and unjustness towards the Yolanda survivors,” added Eslopor in a statement to Leyte Samar Daily Express.
The victims maintained that rehabilitation in affected areas remain slow five months after super typhoon Yolanda hit central Philippines last year killing over 8,000 and displacing over four million people.

By Ronald O. Reyes

TACLOBAN CITY- Families now living in bunk houses located in Barangay Caibaan, this city, have expressed their apprehensions as to how long they would be staying at their temporary shelters.
The owner of the lost where the 27 bunkhouses are located have made it known that they are only giving up to June 30 of this year for the evacuees to stay.
The property is owned by the International Pharmaceutical Incorporated (IPI) which has put up on the entrance of the compound stating that the typhoon victims have only up to June 30 to stay.
IPI had stressed that they allowed their property be utilized as a temporary shelter for Yolanda-affected communities but never as a permanent relocation or resettlement site.
Needles to say, the decision of the IPI have made the 500 families comprising over 3,000 people, worried as to where they would live next if the day comes for them to leave the bunk houses which they now considers as their homes, albeit on temporary basis.
With the possible relocation site for the families not yet developed, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said that the evacuees could stay at their bunk houses for at least two years.
The government has constructed three bunk houses in Tacloban, namely, at Abucay, Sagkahan and at Caibaan, considered to be the biggest of the three areas in terms of occupants.
Those living at the bunk houses have totally lost their houses, mostly located along the shores, due to the storm surges generated by supertyphoon Yolanda.
The DSWD point person for Caibaan bunk house, Agnes Bugal, admitted that there is no day that passes without occupants asking for clarification where they will go should IPI implement its deadline at the end of June.
Bugal said that the problem has already been discussed during the meeting at the camp management and coordination cluster of the United Nations. The solution identified was to transfer the Caibaan occupants to the 10,000 permanent housing units that are to be built at the northern part of Tacloban.
However, the permanent houses to be constructed are to be finished by December, six months short of IPI’s deadline.
Faster solution is to build another bunk houses near the area where the permanent site is located to make an easier transfer. However, this too will take some time to finish.
“All we can do is hope that IPI will at least extend their deadline because apparently the permanent relocation site will never be ready until December, there are potential solutions but time is a big factor,” Bugal said. (REGIN OLIMBERIO, Communitere)