TACLOBAN City – Millions worth of expired relief goods supposed to be distributed for victims of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” and school supplies were discovered in the municipal gymnasium of Kananga, Leyte.
Lawyer Adelito Solibaga, the municipal administrator, said they were saddened when they found canned goods, medicines, GI sheets, plywood, tiles, doors, cement, and other relief goods left undistributed.
Solibaga said that a truckload of canned goods were also left to rot in 2014 because some were damaged while being transported.
He added that there were also t-shirts, notebooks, plastic envelopes, and pencils, which probably came from their Special Education Fund worth P8.3 million in 2012.
“The school supplies were procured in 2012 and were paid in 2013 intended for the schools. Based on the accounting records, everything was supposed to be dropped and liquidated, but about 5,752 pencils labeled with the ” Municipality of Kananga”, 10,000 notebooks, and 1,300 shirts were not yet distributed for elementary and high school students,” he disclosed.
It was learned that the items were procured during the administration of former Mayor Elmer Codilla but were not distributed even during his wife’s term in 2016.
“We didn’t expect such discovery because there was a room sealed where the items were found. It’s really such a waste because a lot of people needed help after Yolanda,” he lamented.
Solibaga said that they have specified the inventory to identify its worth and determine if they can still be distributed to the intended recipients.
“We’re going to notify the Commission on Audit first of what we have discovered, and ask for guidance on how they can be disposed of,” the administrator said.
As to the medicines that expired in 2016 and 2017, he said they would coordinate with the Department of Health on how to dispose them.
The local government unit could not determine yet the worth of items discovered as they are still conducting an inventory. (Marie Tonette Marticio)
