Sec. Taguiwalo Apologizes for Disposal of Expired Relief Goods in Dumaguete City

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo expressed her deepest apologies to the public in the wake of reports that DSWD Negros Island Region (DSWD-NIR) disposed spoiled relief goods by burying them in an open dumpsite in Brgy. Candauay in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.

In reports to the media, Regional Director of DSWD-NIR Shalaine Marie Lucero admitted that the disposal was administered by the Field Office. The goods had already expired earlier in June, but the FO disposed of them only last September 2 in coordination with Department of Health (DOH), the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Dumaguete City’s Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO).  It was only reported to the Secretary on October 2.

The Secretary said,  “I was greatly disturbed by these reports and I apologize to the public that this has happened. We have been trying the last three months under the new administration to assure people that what happened in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda — when rice meant for the typhoon survivors were allowed to spoil and then had to be buried secretly – would never happen again. So it is very disappointing that this happened.”

In the feedback report submitted by the FO, it was stated that 22,310 pieces of 3-in-1 coffee 20 gram-packs (worth P100,395.00); 45 pcs of  instant noodles 55 g packs (P225); 821 kilos of rice (P20,525); 484 cans of beef loaf (P7,139.00); and 4,186 cans of sardines (P42,697.20) were either damaged, spoiled, or expired.

The total cost of all the disposed of goods has been pegged at P170,981.20

Sec. Taguiwalo already asked   RD Lucero to give a formal and comprehensive explanation on how the goods were allowed to spoil and why the Central Office was not informed regarding the matter. She also instructed concerned offices in the CO to coordinate and provide concrete measures to ensure that this should not happen again.

The Secretary reiterated ,  “These relief goods were purchased using government funds, and this immediately means that they are property of the Filipino people. I have been previously assured that the DSWD and all its units that are responsible for stockpiling relief goods have established safeguards to prevent a repeat of what happened in the aftermath of ‘Yolanda’, but now it is evident that we need to take a closer look at the safeguards to ensure that they are working.”

Currently, there are new food and non-food items stored by the DSWD-NIR in warehouses in Bacolod and Dumaguete City. These are standby stocks for disaster relief augmentation for LGUs.

New steps are also going to be undertaken so that no more goods will be spoiled or have to be thrown away:

1.The DSWD will provide regular guidance to LGUs on warehousing and inventory management
2.Spot checks will be conducted in the LGUs to examine the prepositioned goods
3.The DSWD will refrain from accepting about-to-expire goods from donor organizations or other units with a shelf life less than six months
The DSWD will consider using stored goods with a remaining shelf life of six months for distribution to beneficiaries of the food-for-work scheme.