Transportation woes blamed for spoilage of food packs for Yolanda victims

Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman has admitted that some food packs intended for the victims of super typhoon Yolanda went to waste due to improper handling while being transported to affected areas.

“Nandoon 'yon sa barge, traveling from Cebu to Tacloban. Nabasa iyon, hindi natakpan ng trapal, at dahil nabasa, nabulok,” she said in an interview on GMA News TV's “Balitanghali” on Wednesday.

The incident was reported to the Commission on Audit (COA), she said.

In its recently released Special Audit Report on Yolanda relief operations, the COA noted that some 7,527 family food packs worth P2.7 million; 95,472 assorted canned goods; 81 packs of noodles; and, 21 sacks of rice went to waste due to improper handling in Yolanda devastated areas, particularly in Central and Eastern Visayas.

The COA report blamed the losses on the lack of coordination between government agencies, which caused delays in the distribution of goods.

“Procured supplies intended for relief operations have not been fully delivered by the suppliers due to logistical gaps, such as lack of storage facility while awaiting repacking and eventual transport to affected areas and lack of delivery trucks,” the report read.

The report also said P736 million of funds from local and foreign donors were left unutilized as of December 31, 2013.

However, Soliman, in the same television report, denied this, saying 90 percent of about P1.121 billion of local and foreign donations to the victims of the super typhoon has been utilized.

“Ninety percent of that has been utilized, including the P736 million na nakita nila noong December 2013,” she said.

Typhoon Yolanda barreled across the central Philippines on November 8, 2013, killing 6,300 people, leaving thousands homeless, and millions displaced. —Amanda Fernandez/KBK, GMA News