LGUs hoarding relief goods in Leyte to face charges. "They were helping their allies and the people they knew first,” Gomez said.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development said on Thursday that it will file criminal charges against government officials who are found directly involved in hoarding relief goods in typhoon-hit areas. DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman said she would file appropriate charges against these local officials after receiving complaints of hoarding of food items, including rice, in at least four towns in Leyte. But the DSWD itself did not escape criticism with the way it was disbursing the relief goods to local officials in hard-hit areas in the province. In a television interview, 4th district Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez said the DSWD may have the best intention, but “politics” and “inefficiency” have gotten in the way in providing relief to as many people as possible.

“Just because the plan in their minds is perfect doesn’t mean the application on the ground will also be perfect because what happens is the goods are distributed so thinly when it gets to the municipality. Maybe one municipality will have one truckload after being without relief goods for 4 days. So ano ang gagawin ngayon? Pipiliin kung sino ang bibigyan. Mas magulo,” (So what do you do now? Will you choose to whom you will give the goods? That would be more confusing) Gomez said. “For relief operations to be really effective and to be felt, it has to be massive, Dapat sabay sabay ang dating ng goods,” she said. Gomez also blamed poor logistics and the insistence of some government officials to stick to bureaucratic process despite the desperate situation for the poor relief effort.

“The real problem was logistics because only three teams from the government arrived every day. That’s only nine truckloads a day to service the whole western part of Leyte,” Gomez said.

“Another problem was the process,” Gomez said. “When the goods arrived those were turned over to the DSWD and they had created a system that was probably aimed at equitable distribution, but the people had already been waiting for too long.” Gomez appealed to the government to provide emergency funds to the local government units to help them attend to the typhoon victims. Gomez added that politics also deprived Yolanda’s victims of getting help when they needed it.

“They were helping their allies and the people they knew first,” Gomez said. She cited the case of a village councilor who asked for help in behalf of his constituents but was ignored because he was not an ally.

“The DSWD or the releasing officer at the dispatching center would not release aid without an endorsement from the mayor,” Gomez said. House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., meanwhile, condemned “any kind of politicking.”

“Aid is for everyone regardless of party,” Belmonte said.

“And I ask the municipal mayors through whom aid is sometimes coursed to serve everyone regardless of political color.” Rep. Sherwin Tugna echoed Belmonte and said politicking had no place in a tragedy, while Reps. Rodel Batocabe and Rodolfo Albano III said the general welfare of the people should be taken into consideration. Rep. Carlos Zarate warned that “once the relief distribution and rehabilitation are dictated by political survival and patronage, then we are really in for a much tragic disaster.” Rep. Luz Ilagan urged the national leaders to set the example and set aside their political interests.

“They should be able to focus on giving help regardless of political connections,” Ilagan said.  Gomez, meanwhile, lamented that is now difficult for her as legislator to attend to her district ravaged by ‘Yolanda’ without the available funds, referring to the the priority development assistance funds (PDAF).

With PDAF’s suspension, Gomez said she was handicapped in giving funds to the mayors in her district. Gomez added that a lot of donations have poured in her district – in many forms, including financial help, but she as reserving some of them for the rehabilitation and rebuilding of homes in her district, 4th District of Leyte. As this developed, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago asked the Department of Justice to look into reports of looting, rape and fraud in the communities ravaged by Yolanda. She asked the department to take concrete steps to stop the incidents of looting and rape in the disaster areas and to ensure that the effort to help the typhoon victims was organized.

Santiago made her statement during Senate deliberations on the proposed budget of the DOJ. The senator, who hails from Iloilo, one of the provinces severely damaged by the super typhoon, asked about the department’s concrete steps in responding to incidents of looting and rape. She also inquired on how the DOJ is able to ensure that efforts in assisting the victims are organized and fast-tracked. The DOJ responded to Santiago’s inquiries, saying that the department assumes a zero-tolerance policy for acts of senseless violence and criminality, such as assaults against innocent civilians and rape. But with regard to looting, the DOJ explained that “even our penal laws recognize the existence of a true state of necessity is a justifying circumstance, under which no criminal liability is incurred. Thus, each case of looting…will be carefully examined and resolved according to a case-to-case basis.” The DOJ, howver, assured Santiago that it would prioritize the investigation and prosecution of those who have participated in “big-time” looting, black market activities, and those who systematically and intentionally took advantage of the calamity for financial gain.

Soliman, meanwhile, said she would act on persistent claims that relief goods and rice remained stocked in warehouses in the towns of Javier, Mcarthur, Dulag and Mayorga in Letye,

“We received reports that there are relief goods and rice stock in a bodega in four municipalities in Leyte that are not being distributed,” Soliman said. She said she would ask the police and the military to investigate why the items remained in warehouses despite orders for its immediate disposal. At least 45,000 sacks of rice had been delivered in Tacloban City alone aside from thousands of rice donated by foreign donors.