Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Warehoused Relief Goods




Relief goods donated from Asia, Europe and other parts of the world are said to be stockpiled in the Philippine government's Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) warehouses. Meanwhile, I am getting email about people starving, falling ill, sleeping in the streets, and girls signing up with traffickers.

The photos above were sent to me via email. Other photos show the pathetic bucket of soap, two thin mats, etc., which comprise what are actually distributed to the flood victims. Next year being election year, one can only assume that the undistributed goods are being held back for the campaign. There was one report of campaigners pasting the name of their candidate on relief goods. Eh, what else is new?

7 comments:

ALBERT B. CASUGA said...

Katayin ang mga hoarders. Scum of the earth. ABC

Anonymous said...

Apparently, there has been some progress on this... because of all the bad publicity DSWD got because of it, they are beginning to mobilize some volunteers.

I got it via an update on this blog.

http://gangbadoy.multiply.com/journal/item/416

I'd like to know what you think of the situation.

Unknown said...

It does not speak well of government and of government agencies if bad publicity becomes the motive force for action. The Philippines is in such a constant state of peril that it should have permanent disaster, relief and evacuation centers. With 22 typhoons per year, this should have been standard operating procedure from way back -- like 25 years ago. But everyone's too mired in power politics -- as in who will be the next president, senator, congressman, governor, etc. -- to pay attention to the ordinary lives of ordinary people. When will it stop? When one has a government of, for and by the people... which means demolishing the current power structures of the indifferent rich.

Anonymous said...

Look at all those new, unused, cooking pots! And all that food and water.....It almost reminds me of the story of Daniel and the priests of Bel. Those damn priests horded all the peoples' food and wine just because they could....That's right pinoys it's in your Bible. The Book of Daniel. Read it!

Anonymous said...

OMG! The book of Daniel is such a short read! Hmm...if the bishop of the Philippines and the little praying president were to follow the literature then the punishment for the priests' deceit and glutton would be the death penalty. They also killed the family members who indulged in the people's tithe.

Unknown said...

I am constantly amazed by how well many Filipinos know the Bible -- which is a compilation of the oral history of the Jewish people -- but know little of their own history. I hope this isn't the case here.

Anonymous said...

Dare I say...some hegemony could be at work severing Filipinos from their own history. I find it strange that in Russia they have Filipino studies as a program yet I have not heard of any in the U.S. or Canada. Yet the Filipino diaspora is certainly growing in North America.