Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman on Monday confirmed that voters’ lists were being used as a basis to provide relief goods to victims of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), but quickly added that it was just one source of names.
“Hindi po dapat gawin [na voters’ list] lang ang maging batayan kasi marami ring migrant workers,” Soliman told GMA News Online in a phone interview, adding a voters' list could just be a “starting point” in verifying the number of relief beneficiaries in a particular area.
She was reacting to Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez's accusation of politicking in the distribution of relief goods, which she based from the use of voters' lists by local government officials in charge of the distribution of relief goods.
“You do not look at the voters’ list. This is not an election. We do have a crisis,” Gomez said in an interview on ANC, as she noted discrepancies between voters’ lists and the actual number of households in a barangay.
“The relief operations is not just going as well as it should,” the lawmaker added. “May pulitika talaga.”
Not only voters' list
Soliman said a voters' list is just one of the many lists being used by local government units to determine the number of households in a particular barangay.
“Hindi po dapat voters’ list lang ang batayan ng dapat bigyan. Siguro ginagawa on the ground, [voters’ list] ang panimulang listahan para masiguradong sila ay tagaroon,” she said.
“Ang ating ginagawa, nagkakaroon tayo ng spot check at nakikipag-ugayan with the local government [para masigurado na nabibigyan ang lahat],” Soliman added.
During the ANC interview, Gomez narrated that in one instance, a voters’ list on a particular area only has 300 names, while there were about 700 to 800 households there.
“Just because hindi ka botante, hindi ibig sabihin na hindi ka na pwedeng tumanggap ng relief goods. You are as much as a victim as the next person,” she noted.
She also said that relief goods were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which dispatches the aid to the different municipalities.
Disorderly distribution
Gomez also said contrary to the government's claim, relief distribution on the ground is far from orderly.
“Alam ko naman ‘yung sistema na ginagawa ng national government, in theory it's correct, but just because the plan is perfect in their minds doesn’t mean the application on the ground will also be perfect,” she said. “What happens is that the goods were distributed so thinly that when it goes to municipality… pipiliin kung sino’ng pagbibigyan [kaya] mas magulo.”
“Dapat lahat nakakatanggap. Dapat walang color-coding. Walang pulitika,” she further said. “Mayroong nagsasabi, hindi kita bibigyan, umalis ka sa linya kasi ‘yung payong mo, hindi ‘yan kay mayor. Or, hindi tayo magkabalahibo. May ganun talaga. That is what’s happening on the ground.”
As of Monday, there were about 1.555 million food packs provided to 275,000 displaced families, according to Soliman. She said relief goods are distributed every two days.
— Rouchelle Dinglasan/KBK, GMA News
DSWD chief says voters' list just one basis for relief distribution | News | GMA News Online
DSWD chief says voters' list just one basis for relief distribution
Reply With Quote
Posting Permissions
