$144,251 worth of snacks to boost kids' energy in conflict areas

DAVAO CITY – At least $144,251 worth of high energy biscuits are expected to boost the energy of the thousands of hungry children in the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.

Wurie Algahassim, United Nations-World Food Program acting country director in the Philippines, said the high energy biscuits were meant to give people energy especially in evacuation camps where there is no access to food.

Algahassim said there were 40 tons of biscuits that arrived in Manila from Turkey before these were shipped to Davao City and later brought to the UN-WFP warehouse at the Polloc Port in Shariff Kabunsuan.

However, the off-loading of the goods encountered some problems as Bureau of Customs personnel here at the Davao International Airport briefly held Sunday morning the release of the first tranche that arrived via Philippine Airlines.

Southern Mindanao Customs District Collector Ronnie Silvestre told The STAR that the UN-WFP personnel were not able to present the original documents for the tax exemption in the shipment of the high energy biscuits.

“They were not able to present to us the original documents for the tax exemption and other necessary clearance. So, I had to put the release on hold because the documents they presented were only photocopies that were not even clear copies,” Silvestre said.

He said that he had to ask for the original documents because the Customs Davao office is the releasing point for the said shipment.

Silvestre also said that as early as last Friday he instructed his personnel at the Davao International Airport to assist in the offloading of the high energy biscuits.

“Until that problem on the original document cropped up. But later in the morning I eventually allowed the release of the biscuits after the UN-WFP wrote me a letter promising they would submit the soonest the necessary documents for the shipment,” Silvestre told The STAR.

He said that should the UN-WFP fail to submit the original documents, then it shall be forced to pay the corresponding taxes for the entire amount of the shipment of the high-energy biscuits.

Algahassim, on the other hand, assured that the Customs Davao office shall receive the required documents through DHL, an international courier service.

“The Customs clearance was done in Manila. The documents and clearances regarding the procurement, shipment and customs clearance were done in Manila,” Algahassim said.

Algahassim said that the distribution of the high energy biscuits shall only start once the UN-WFP shall be in receipt of the entire shipment of 40 tons.

Algahassim said the UN-WFP shall first meet with representatives of the different provincial health offices, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Health and the International Center for the Red Cross on how the goods shall be distributed to the different internally displaced peoples in the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.