IN DEFENSE OF DSWD

In the past few days, the whole DSWD warehouse issue had erupted like wildfire! It is still being passed around but the controversy has died down considerably over the weekend as well.

Incidents of people from the media were reported, trying to get into the DSWD warehouse only to be turned away by the guards at the gates. Blog discussions became violent, as they tarried from issues like jumping the gun, jumping the bandwagon, mass corruption in government.

The whole thing , frankly, became one convoluted mess, and I guess I was glad I was extremely busy and out of town (well, away from my apt/computer) that whole time. This gave me a clearer perspective on things.

Especially after a very detailed email correspondence from a very good friend whose mom works for the DSWD. She was devastated to say the least, as she can attest to her mom working 24/7 for two weeks after Ondoy/Pepeng typhoons. I’m sure her mom is still working her bones out because rescue, relocation and relief good delivery operations are still in effect to this day.

EXCERPTS FROM MY FRIEND’S EMAIL, AS SHE COMMENTS IN DEFENSE OF DSWD (TO ELLA’S BLOG):

It’s really the manner siguro of some govt. officials (like Gibo and Arroyo and the secretary of Cabral) answer the questions thrown at them. Plus of course, the pictures, which most people, magrereact instead of verifying what it’s doing there. Di lang well informed lahat, and hindi ANNOUNCED kung asan na ang mga bagay bagay, kaya nagkakamisunderstanding. As much as DSWD, and other NGOs, private people and institutions are doing what’s needed, the people are craving for real time information na di na  matuunan lagi ng pansin, because of the overwhelming task at hand by the mandated people and the volunteers.

I still believe in the efforts of DSWD, I dont want to lambast them without getting their side as deep as I can. Siguro because I’m a witness to what they’re doing, Ondoy man or kahit anong klaseng sakuna na dumaan sa Pinas. Nakikita ko kasi since I was young how my parents worked. How they would go and be out of the house for 24 hours or more para magduty. Di sila tanga. At di sila hindi iimik na lang. You know my Mom. She’s a fighter. You know my Dad. He’s an honorable man.

Pero maybe a call for more volunteers would help. Massive announcements of what particularly is needed, like people to pack, people to distribute, from MM, to GMMA, to Northern Luzon. If they [had] MORE HANDS, then maybe people wouldnt’ react this way.

SEVERAL QUESTIONS WERE ANSWERED

1. Transparency in the government -
THIS WAS EASILY REMEDIED BY A LINK TO THEIR DSWD PAGE.

2. clarification in response to walang volunteers

3. solid suggestions

-FOR THE GOVT- TO MANDATE  PRIVATE CITIZENS TO HELP WITH PACKING/DISTRIBUTION

-PROPER BRIEFING AND TRAIN MANAGERS WITH LINE PACKING

-VOLUNTEER THRU GANG BADOY & ROCKED’S VOLUNTEER MISSION

After our email exchange, I heaved a big sigh of relief. The only thing I had to say was, I wish Sec Cabral had responded to the media differently. Dodging media calls , nor telling a secretary to say “Walang Volunteers” is just outrageous. Not briefing guards and other DSWD workers reeks of disorganization within their department. Giving a press release that dodges the issues/questions raised in a volunteers blog is a bit patronizing. Even if she is a non-corrupt government worker, I kind of wish she had someone else speak to the press in a more empathetic manner and offered timely proactive solutions. Her defense to the “rotting” goods issue was just totally off to what the blogger meant — and everybody knew that. What a waste of a perfectly good press release.

If only politicos acted without the photo-op, if only our dealings with various sectors of the govt were hassle-free and timely, if only the heads of diff govt branches DPWH BIR GSIS CAR DENR etc etc were not corrupt, we wouldn’t jump the gun, so to speak, so quickly regarding this whole so-called DSWD hoarding issue.

What this incident did was give me hope that the filipino youth (and maybe the older ones too) are not as apathetic as we thought.

Many reacted quickly and gave their two cents about it. Many were compelled to investigate this claim, and volunteer at the DSWD. Youth groups like RockEd, headed by Gang Badoy, sprang to action and called for volunteers publicly on  social networking sites etc.

At this time, I believe the guards are briefed, volunteers are more welcome (although I suppose they still are a bit more discriminating with their volunteers.) I just really hope people will remain to be as vigilant with such issues for the people/ victims to obtain what they should.

The government works for the people, not the other way around.

Tags: DSWD, Philippines, typhoon

DSWD Withholding Donated Goods in DSWD Warehouses?

[I copied this from a friend online who sent me the text in Tag-lish (mixed Tagalog & English) and decided to translate it directly to English for the sake of nonFilipino/nonfluent speaking friends. It is really shocking that it has been one month and lack of government response is merely shrugged off by the officials. What is going on here? From the taxation of relief goods, to the withholding of said goods that are already addressed to DSWD (Department of Social Welfare & Development) for proper province/relief center distribution, to frozen PAYPAL charity accounts, it is appalling how these people can call themselves human beings by blocking help given. How can they sleep at night?]

***

I’m asking your help to spread the word. Beyond this, we should also demand action. I disabled a plugin so you can copy the photos of relief goods rotting in DSWD warehouses. You can link this post to your blogs, facebook, websites etc. You can also email the photos.

Philippine News (US based Philippine newspaper) will use this as its front page story this week. Every Filipino has the right to know where the tons of donations from the UN and other counties go. Even if its embarrassing for the ones who’ve donated. If this is the only way we can release those goods to go to the victims, then by all means, let’s do it.

For those who have the time, please try to volunteer at the DSWD warehouses. Getting in was not easy. A friend had to put in a word for us. Let’s see how easy it really is for volunteers to get in the DSWD warehouse.

Please read on and good luck to us.

Ella

(This post was last edited Oct 22, 12:30 pm)

From Stella Arnaldo’s blog:

“At the offices of many civic groups and private organizations, hundreds of people showed up to volunteer in packing relief goods.

At the Tulong Bayan center at the Expo Centro in Cubao, Most of the volunteers were adolescents as young as 10 years old, along with their kuya or ate in high school and college.

They came in huge numbers, many of them barkadas, classmates or siblings, dressed just in their tees and shorts, wearing their Havaianas. All were just enthusiastic to do their share!”

Photos by Leah Navarro

Even grade school kids pitched in to help!

Youth volunteers repack detergents for distribution, making beds

GMA asked World for Donations

Our government begged the world for more donations. And the rest of the world replied to our call. In less than three weeks, the ships came, dropping off goods from cargo planes, relief delivered by trucks and container vans. Cash donations were in millions of dollars.

These donations, of course, had to be coursed through DSWD. President GMA herself gave the directive. Individuals, private companies and other nations were ENCOURAGED to send their donations to DSWD.

This PGMA directive sounded suspicious to me then. Now I know why. Here’s the story:

A group of eight people, one of the writers of this article included, went to one of DSWD warehouses to help in repacking relief goods. We knew they needed volunteers but little did we know that  THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO ONE INSIDE THE WAREHOUSE!

It’s a  humungous warehouse (1000++ sq.m) FILLED WITH RELIEF GOODS UP TO THE ROOFTOP, with only ONE DSWD employee and ONE security guard in the area.

It was required to register and schedule to volunteer in this prestigious warehouse.

1) UNICEF Registration (as a volunteer)

The warehouse can only take as much as 50 volunteers at a time or per shift. Here you will find that there is a 4-hour shift, and an option for a 6-hour shift for the volunteers to indicate their availability.

What “volunteers”? Where are they?

Aside from the 8 of us? Nope, there was nobody there. Why the need for scheduling?
I know somebody who wanted to volunteer many times. She was always bumped off, they kept on rescheduling because “there were too many volunteers”. And volunteering can only be done on a Sunday, they said. What the hell is going on here?

The local and international donations from UNICEF are just in that warehouse, rotting away.
There should at least be straw/bamboo mats that the victims could be sleeping on now. Imported camp beds that the victims probably won’t even get to see. Bedsheets and blankets that won’t ever warm their bodies. And food that will never reach their stomachs.

The relief goods are not going anywhere.

We arrived at about 8 am and left by midafternoon and yes, you guessed it right. Aside from that one DSWD employee, the eight of us were the only volunteers in that warehouse all afternoon. No one else came.

The relief goods are not moving. By the way things look, they are not going anywhere. These relief goods won’t be walking by themselves to evacuation centers.

LET THE PICTURES DO THE TALKING

Note: They actually told us not to take any pictures in the warehouse. I wonder why.

“Not a creature was moving, not even a mouse.”

The warehouse looks haunted. A ghost possibly lurks in the shadows.

With all the stacked up woks, it looks even better than Divisoria [Metro Manila central market]

And the neverending pots…

Boxes stacked up so high they cover all the windows…

Boxes reaching the ceiling

(Close up of Coleman camp beds in previous photo) These weren’t included in the repacked goods.

Are these for the “special victims” , you think???Will these “imported” camp pads ever be repacked at all?

After all, these are the straw/bamboo mats for the “ordinary victims”.  These we did repack.

And what are these? Are these going to special victims as well? We did not get to open these.

Magic boxes from Japan Aid.

(close up of magic box from japan) These were not included, of course. “Imported” are not included, we have concluded.

There are a lot of these giant toys that we weren’t able to take pictures of because they were right next to the security guard.

PORK AND BEANS? Yup, you’d think we’d be including this in the relief bag. It’s just Pork and beans, we can give that away!

Naaah! These are “imported” pork and beans from Spain. So, sorry, these are still not included!

Now let’s take a look at what a victim will get from DSWD

Look Ma, ten cans of sardines! How generous! In the first sack went the big pot. Laundry soap and 10 cans of sardines underneath.

9 bars of bath soap were positioned to the side of the pot. All local goods, OF COURSE.

They were topped off with a towel and a pack of sanitary napkin.

Then  3 pieces of blankets(?) were rolled into the blue water jug which  then went on top of the pot and into the sack.

Last but not the least,  2 bamboo/straw mats.

then  the sacks were sewn shut. Now, doesn’t it feel like you’ve thrown those flood victims a bone?? Wou

ldn’t they get so full from all those sardines!!!!!!

DO NOT DELAY

YOU THINK?? WTF is the matter with these people? It’s been a month since the tragedy with all the victims still not recovered and will possibly take years to recover from this. They have NOTHING. ONE MONTH. Do these people mean “do not delay the stuff thats already BEEN DELAYED?? Shet.

What are these donations still doing in the warehouse?? There were FOUR WAREHOUSES in that compound. FOUR WAREHOUSES filled to the brim with relief goods gathering dust! Relief goods that they refuse to give to the victims. Gosh, can they be any more obvious??

Even more things to come (and rot)

Wow! Another shipment? At the rate DSWD is moving, it’ll be the year 2010 before we find out what’s inside all those boxes.

“The first of two of the largest high-energy food shipments from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) arrived in the country two days ago for victims of storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng.”

The biscuits were fortified with essential vitamins and minerals for supplementary feeding to children, pregnant women and the elderly in evacuation camps. Another 100 tons of biscuits will arrive on Oct. 24, in a continuing effort to provide food assistance to flood victims.

Fine, bring it straight to the DSWD warehouse. So that the biscuits will get all moldy… and gather cobwebs.

Conclusion

For that whole afternoon that we spent in the warehouse, we were able to complete 150 sacks of relief goods. That’s 150 bags of relief goods that went out of the warehouse that day. The rest, including the magical imported relief goods remained safe , sound and packed as the day they arrived.

We hitched a ride from one of the DSWD delivery vans  coming out of the compound. The driver wanted to drive us all the way to Makati but he said he didn’t have enough gas. There were millions of dollars in donations, and not a single peso for gasoline.

Maybe… just maybe we’ll find out what are in those magical imported boxes… maybe the mystery will unravel… come ELECTION DAY. OR those very same goods would be mysteriously disappear, to be looted and appear in the streets of Divisoria and Quiapo… for sale.

A few suggestions to the DSWD:

# You very well know that you lack manpower/volunteers, so why don’t you hire people? Hire them to repack. There are so many people who are jobless, homeless, even. You’ll be doing them a favor. It would barely touch the billions donated that was received through your office.

# How many soldiers do we have? Can’t they do work like this? With that much manpower, it may only take one day, and your problems are solved.

# Why don’t you give the work to the NGOs, chuches, private charities, TV stations?  I’m sure they are more than willing to help. Time is of the essence. Don’t be greedy. Obviously, you can’t handle the work.

If you truly wanted those donations to reach the victims, you’d have done something already. There are so many ways that you could’ve remedied this lack-of-manpower situation…that is, if you wanted to remedy it.

You are the government. You have the power, the resources and the money. You just have to really care.

A Call for Photographs of Yourselves (US based pinoys)

Shey, who wrote this email, is a friend from high school. Deadline is October 19, 2009. You can email her direct, but if you can CC me at kitiwiti@gmail.com , just so i can see your pretty mugs, and i can make sure shey receives it. Thanks!

—–

Dear All,

A celeb friend in Manila is asking for a favor. They need photos of people who can photograph themselves doing the same pose as seen here:

They are planning a benefit concert for typhoon victims, and part of that concert is an MTV with these photos from people around the world.

Their concert will be at the Araneta Coliseum, and several big celebs have pledged to help by waiving their fees and generate money for the Ondoy Victims.

It would be great if you can send me your photo by Monday morning so i can forward them to Manila before their editing deadline.

If possible, have a background that clearly shows where you live (Shanghai, NYC, Toronto, etc.)– or show the country’s flag or even snow.

Email me if you have questions.

Thank you!
Shey – sheysb@yahoo.com

——

OPLAN: BALIK PAARALAN

[OPLAN BALIK PAARALAN or Operation: Back to School is formed by Rye Berico and her friends in Manila. She is also a friend from college so I put a lot of trust in them and this endeavor. This was reposted from Rye's FB notes a week ago.]

Since the havoc that Ondoy wreaked on the metro on September 26 2009, the outpouring of help, support and love amongst Filipinos here and abroad have been overwhelming. Most communities have received food, clothing and many of their basic needs. Clean-ups have started and through the efforts of many private sectors, the military and some government agencies, the clean-ups have continued. And many are still trying to reach out to communities who have not received any kind of aid. At this point, many non-government organizations have started on plans to help individuals and families rebuild their lives.

One important aspect, in the midst of rebuilding their homes and their lives, is for children to be able to go back to school. But much like furniture, appliances and homes, their school supplies were destroyed by the floods. As some communities begin to see hope in this dire situation, the need to start living again becomes urgent and in this, the need to continue to give their children better futures live on.

Currently thousands of children are going  back to school with no implements.

To help them get back on track, one child will need:

1 school bag
10 notebooks
1 pad paper
2 pencils
1 pen
1 sharpener
1 eraser

Oplan: Balik Paaralan has one goal: to help these children acquire the school supplies they need for the rest of the school year.

How do we hope to do this?:

- By coordinating with barangays and schools regarding the school supplies needed by children whose homes were flooded.
- By initially gathering school supplies for 500 children affected by the floods.
- By then deploying these supplies before the end of October 2009.
- And by doing it again and again until these needs have been met in other schools and barangays.

OPLAN: BALIK PAARALAN is the combined efforts of friends (tayo yun) who believe in the value of education.

If you are interested in making a donation of school supplies, please contact 4146411. or email princess_noway@yahoo.com.

Friends — if you can please collect stuff and store them at your places (drop off points muna kayo), then let us repack them by October 23, 2009 then give away by the 24th or 25th.

Tags: ondoy, relief, typhoon

Let’s Help Benguet and Baguio!!!

Reposted from Fifi Lim-Perez, from multiply,  Oct 11, ‘09 1:30 AM

Internet is back on and we are OKAY. We are fortunate that we were not directly affected by the typhoon. But now the storm has cleared and we are left with all the chaos. All access roads to Baguio are still closed but I know the workers are working as fast as they can to clear the roads. Supplies are beginning to run low but we have enough.

We are doing our best to help those around us pick up the pieces of their lives. The landslides have devastated many areas of Benguet taking entire barangays down. The rescue efforts have changed from RESCUE to RETRIEVAL. The We are running a soup kitchen and relief center out of the Cafe by the Ruins. As of 12:00 PM today we’ve served close to 2,000 packed meals and we are still cooking. We are trying to get this food to the evacuee centers that have not been reach by other relief efforts. The Cafe by the Ruins and Cafe Sabel staff (a total of 40 employees) cook and pack the food and we have a group of about 15 volunteers that help distribute the food. They take a jeep we borrowed to the evacuation centers to bring the food and water. We are also providing some of the recuers that are digging up the landslides with snacks of bananas and camote.

So many families in Benguet province are in need of supplies such as blankets, sleeping mats, candles (many areas have no electricity yet), slippers, boots, clothes, diapers, sanitary napkins and other toiletries. We are accepting such donations from the citizens of Baguio but are focusing more on food. We have received so much rice, monggo and beans. We are also buying vegetables and cooking it here.

The access roads are still closed driving the prices of food higher and higher everyday. We are accepting cash donations to buy the food, containers and relief goods that are needed to help. We will be feeding people for as long as its needed and we would like to give money to the family of the ones that have passed away to help with burial expenses. Many families have also lost everything own and we hope to be able to give them some basic things such as pots, pans and utensils to start life anew. If you would like to help us help the people of Benguet you can deposit into

Accnt: Ruins Inc.
Accnt #: 940060574
Banco de Oro Legarda Branch, Yandoc Street, Baguio City
(for those donating from abroad)
Swift Code: BNORPHMM
Routing #: 0210-0001-8

I will personally assure you that your money will go to a good cause. I can even show you the breakdown of what I will spend your money on. You will be helping the Baguio economy as well by sending your money. We will also be looking for long term solutions such as livelihood projects. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Thank you very much!

Tags: Philippines, typhoon