Typhoon Relief Goods from US, etc. gathering dust at DSWD

[PrtyBoyDlicious]

There are quite a few reasons to "hold back" certain relief goods.
First there is lack of infrastructure to receive/distribute/store said goods
at the disaster site. Second is to prevent misdelivery of goods to where they
are not needed: we are not privy to the feedback reports from relief
distribution centers. Third is inapplicability of relief goods: thick
blankets are often inappropriate, and tents might sound good, unless there
are no safe tent-grounds at the disaster site, etc..; Fourth is that many
foreign aid organizations require special accounting, to wit, done by their
own people, who unfortunately are slow in showing up. Fifth is prudent
reserve considerations: the day of Ondoy, PAGASA was already warning of
4-6 more strong typhoons to possibly threaten the country before year's end,
so DSWD has to maintain a reserve... kung bara-bara ang pag-release, you
have the sort of shoddy planning that left NDCC at a loss in the first 48 hrs.

The fact that Spanish relief goods which were bought from local Philippine
sources have not been delivered discourages a suspicion that only imported
goods are being witheld. US and Russian (UN charters) helos have been
delivering a great deal of relief goods --there are photos-- to the North,
post-Pepeng.

My gut feel is that there is malicious motive behind the bias towards
foreign goods being retained at DSWD. However, it may not be the only factor
actually working to keep these goods in DSWD's warehouses. Baka meron din
mga legit reasons. The next 2-3 weeks will tell, which is why I'm bringing this
up NOW: I'm not interested in a blame-game, as much as I want to help
make sure the goods are delivered where needed, while they still can be.

Cabral's "lack of volunteers" excuse is a load of crap, and if that was
indeed her response, and the telephoned question wasn't merely
misunderstood, then that is genuine cause to be suspicious.


Cheers,
h.

I agree, relief distribution is not a simple task. I would have understood DSWD's situation if hoarding of imported donated items didn't happen in the past. Remember the 2006 Leyte landslide? Relief goods from foreign countries over pours DSWD but what did the landslide survivors receive? Expired rotten local products...