Palace condemns break-in at DSWD Davao office

Malacanang condemned the "exert of violence" by supposed victims of typhoon Pablo who ransacked Tuesday the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Davao City and carted off sacks of rice and cartons of sardines.

"We certainly condemned the exert of violence here," said Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda in a press briefing on Wednesday.

"Those are intended to the victims of typhoon Pablo who will be able to give us their names (and) not to some victims," he said.

Lacierda said the government through the DSWD "has been proactive in providing assistance not only to those who we can reach. In fact, we were asking for choppers because there were areas that was hard to reach. And in spite of the difficulty, we promise them that we will give them assistance and we did. This government will go all out to help its citizens, those affected by typhoon Pablo," he stressed.

Earlier reports said that members of the so-called "Barug Katawhan," ransacked the DSWD office in Davao City on Feb. 26 and carted off relief goods in protest for the Department's alleged slow distribution of food assistance to typhoon victims.

DSWD Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman, however, said that the Department has been working round-the-clock to provide much-needed services to victims of calamities.

"We are very saddened by these acts of aggression directed at our Field Office, as well as our personnel. DSWD has been faithfully serving all sectors affected by the calamity. Our people work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide much-needed services. We respond to the exigency of public service at great cost to ourselves and our families. That we are now being subjected to harassment is deplorable. This will leave us no choice but to pursue legal action against those who are responsible," said Soliman in a statement.

She stressed that the DSWD is committed to serving the victims of typhoon Pablo and the qualified beneficiaries of government programs in Region 11.

Soliman said the 10,000 sacks of rice which was earlier promised to be distributed to Pablo victims "can be made readily available but there has to be a system of ensuring that these will go to qualified beneficiaries."

In spite of what happened yesterday, Soliman said the DSWD is willing to hold dialogues and coordinate with Barug Katawhan and the groups they represent.

"The regional office staff is waiting for the distribution list so that they can immediately do the validation and assessment to ensure that the needs of affected families will be responded to," she said.

To date, Soliman said, despite consistent requests for the distribution list, Barug Katawhan "has failed to provide the intended list of beneficiaries."

"What was submitted to DSWD was a list of repacking areas and the names of people who agreed to have these places used as distribution site. DSWD has checked with at least two of those in the alleged list, and they denied that they agreed to have their places used as repacking areas," she said.

Soliman is appealing to the leader of Barug Katawhan and its allied groups "not to use the people for their own political agenda."

"We are willing to resolve these issues, and serve those who are in need. We need not engage in counter-productive propaganda war," she said.

Meanwhile, Lacierda said that yesterday's incident was not the first time that the Department experienced such act.

The first time was when Soliman was stopped by leftist groups in a highway demanding to release to them sacks of rice intended for typhoon Pablo victims.

But, Lacierda said Soliman insisted for their identification to be able to verify if they were really typhoon victims.

"Hindi naman siguro reasonable 'yon na sasabihin mo lang 'biktima ako ng typhoon Pablo, akin na 'yong sako ng bigas'. Kailangan ho natin na i-identify po talaga and that's what we are doing. Sa layu-layo ng ComVal nakaabot sila (members of Barug Katawhan) ng Davao. Paano nangyari yun? I mean sabi nila wala silang pera," he noted.

"Sobra ho ang ginawang karahasan dito ng mga nagudyok dito sa mga tao. Naawa po kami sa mga biktima," he added. (PNA)