ILOILO City – Repacking the food packs intended for residents of the city and province of Iloilo which are both under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is prohibited by law, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Western Visayas said.
Regional Director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre said they received reports that barangay officials were opening and repacking the food packs to share the contents to more families.
“We would like to emphasize that the family food packs is an augmentation to the existing resources of the requesting LGU (local government unit),” Macapobre said. “The localities remain as the first responder in times of calamities and emergencies. The DSWD is an additional resource to the local goods of the respective towns.”
Macapobre added that while the regional office understands the gravity of the needs, tampering of the food packs is a violation of Republic Act No. 10121, or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010.
Section 19 of the law prohibits the repacking of the goods to make it appear that the goods came from another agency or persons or was released upon the instance of a particular agency or persons.
The law further provides that any individual, corporation, partnership, association, or other juridical entity that commits any of the prohibited acts provided for in Section 19 of this Act shall be prosecuted and upon conviction shall suffer a fine of not less than P50,000 or any amount not to exceed P500,000 or imprisonment of not less than six years and one day or more than 12 years, or both, at the discretion of the court, including perpetual disqualification from public office if the offender is a public officer, and confiscation or forfeiture in favor of the government of the objects and the instrumentalities used in committing any of herein prohibited acts.
Macapobre said the DSWD regional office trust that LGUs would exercise their best judgment in the provision of goods to those who are most affected by the ECQ.
As of July 21, the regional office was able to release 13,300 family food packs amounting to P6.3 million to Iloilo city and province.
Iloilo City received a total of 5, 000 family food packs.
In Iloilo province, the towns that have so far received relief augmentation are Cabatuan, Leon, Tubungan and Oton with 500 food packs each; Concepcion and San Dionisio with 1,000 each; Tigbauan – 800; Sara – 2,000; and Miag-ao – 1, 500./PN
