Abra quake aid hoarders warned

BAGUIO CITY -- The Cordillera office of the Dept. of the Interior and Local Government warned barangay (village), municipal and provincial officials of Abra against hoarding relief supplies from the government and private sectors and admonished to ensure that the food packs will be fairly distributed to victims of the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck the province and other parts of Northern Luzon last week.
    DILG-CAR Regional Director Aracely San Jose on Wednesday said reports on the alleged hoarding is being validated by the department's field personnel and law enforcement agencies to identify the local officials who are impeding delivery of assistance to calamity-stricken residents.
    She urged the officials to be fair in distributing the relief supplies even as social welfare authorities had assured that the packs are sufficient for the victims.
    Earlier, other reports reached DILG-CAR that some of the local officials are giving out the supplies to their political supporters.
    San Jose said these "hoarders" will be appropriately charged once the reports are validated.
    According to her, the elections are over and the local officials should not politicize the delivery of the relief supplies, noting that Abra and other parts of the Ilocos Region are fighting for survival.
    San Jose said the agency will immediately make appropriate recommendations to higher authorities on actions that will be undertaken against the alleged hoarders.
    Of the more than P60 million in relief goods already distributed to the earthquake victims, more than 55 percent came from available supplies of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), more than 40 percent from concerned local government units and less than 5 percent from the private sector.
    The DSWD is constantly repositioning relief goods from its regional warehouse to the provincial office in Abra where the goods will be shipped to various municipalities for subsequent distribution to recipients who have been identified by the barangay officials.
    It has always been the practice of the local government, in countless occasions in the past, of extending financial assistance to cities, municipalities or provinces which had been struck by natural or man-made calamities, a tradition of support and thoughtfulness and reciprocation of what other local governments from various parts of the country had extended to the city when it was hit by the intensity 7.9 killer earthquake on July 16, 1990 and other calamities.
    On July 7, 2022, heavy rains with strong winds caused by the prevailing southwest monsoon were experienced in Banaue, Ifugao that caused flash flood and massive landslide incidents that resulted in the loss of properties, housing, agricultural crops, and support facilities as well as infrastructure in the said locality.
    Abra had been heavily impacted by the massive earthquake.