Palace: Cotabato City mayor lying about relief goods

Malacañang on Thursday accused Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. of telling lies and “passing the buck" when he said that the national government did not send any relief or aid to the flood-stricken southern Philippine city. “The Mayor of Cotabato City has done his constituents a disservice. Instead of attending to their needs, he chose to tell lies and pass the buck," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a press statement. On Wednesday — the same day President Benigno Aquino III visited flood victims in Cotabato City — Guiani told reporters that the relief goods so far distributed to the affected residents did not come from the national government but from the city government. He also expressed disappointment over Aquino’s visit. “I think he just came to visit," Guiani said in an interview aired over “24 Oras" on Wednesday. “There was no immediate answer dun sa mga pinresent na problema. The problem was only noted."

Lacierda said Aquino went to Cotabato City to oversee relief operations and to inspect the progress of efforts to assist the city's residents. He added that the administration has a coordinated system for the sending of relief and assistance, including pre-positioning equipment and materials so that these can be dispatched efficiently and promptly as soon as conditions permit. Lacierda, meanwhile, lamented that some officials chose to “politicize relief efforts" at a time when solidarity is needed to effectively assist people. “When Cotabato City Mayor Guiani goes before national media to tell lies, your government is obligated to tell the truth. There is no basis to Mayor Guiani's prevarication that the national government has not sent relief or aid to Cotabato City, going as far as accusing the President of not bringing relief goods," he said. Lacierda said the national government had already spent P12 million for relief operations, of which P7 million came from the Department of Social Welfare and Development. He said in Cotabato City alone, the DSWD has provided P7,799,260 worth of food and non-food items (relief goods) to affected families. The Department of Education (DepEd) had also agreed to open up schools for the evacuees in order to decongest some of the evacuation centers, Lacierda said. Donations like clothing, mats and food have also been distributed to the families in the evacuation centers. “The DSWD is managing the evacuation centers to ensure that the centers are up to standards in terms of sanitation and for the proper distribution of relief goods. With respect to those who are not in evacuation centers, relief goods will be distributed by civil society organizations and through the office of Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema," Lacierda said. He said the Department of Health (DOH) has already provided medicines worth P70,000, and that equipment has also been deployed for the clearing of Delta bridge, and two Watermaster dredgers, one backhoe on barge and almost 500 workers are working round-the-clock and chainsaws provided by DENR are being used to clear debris. “All these equipment from the national government have reduced water lily infestation from 20 hectares to 1 hectare," he said. “Your national government is attending to the needs of our countrymen in Mindanao. We reiterate that solidarity and not self-promotion is what is called for in times when natural disasters strike." — KBK, GMA News