DSWD : Unkempt warehouse in Tacloban not ours

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development on Friday denied that video of a TV station showing an unkempt warehouse in Tacloban City is  a DSWD relief hub.

In a statement, DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman said the warehouse shown in a video clip on  March 27 is not operated by the department. 

"Our hubs, especially the one in Tacloban City, are not in disarray. I know this because I was there on March 25 to accompany Australian Ambassador Bill Tweddell and Spanish Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo," Soliman said.

She even recalled that they even repacked goods at the hub.

"The next day, representatives of the United Nations World Food Programme (UN-WFP) likewise visited there. Hence, it is impossible that you will find our hub to be disorderly. We in fact have Cash-for-Work (CFW) program for locals in the area to keep the hubs clean," Soliman said.

The video footages showed the ‘Yolanda‘ relief hub in Tacloban and then segued to snapshots of scattered and unkempt relief goods.

The DSWD has already requested the TV network to provide more information on where the warehouse is located so that the agency can probe the matter.

"For the sake of truth and our own information, we insist that they let us know where this is, so our Department can act on their allegations of mishandling of relief goods," Soliman said.

She reiterated that DSWD has been conducting investigations on all reports about the relief goods distributed to "Yolanda" survivors and the warehouses that it maintains.