Thursday, August 26, 2004 Cebu City Hall suspends stockpiling of food By Rene H. Martel
CEBU CITY -- The Cebu City Council asked the City Attorney's Office Wednesday to immediately find out why relief goods were allegedly buried in secret, instead of being distributed to the needy victims of calamities.
The items were found stashed in the Social Development Center (SDC) office stockroom, where poor ventilation led to the food getting spoiled.
Since there are still rotten goods and supplies in the SDC in Barangay Labangon, the City Council also ordered the segregation of those that are still fit for consumption.
The Internal Control Office and City Health Office were told to do the inventory.
Councilor Gerardo Carillo, chairman of the committee on social services, pointed out these stockpiled goods were already liquidated, which means these were supposed to have been distributed.
Carillo also suggested that the practice of stockpiling be avoided.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama agreed it should be stopped, but just "for the moment" while the investigation is ongoing.
Last March, the 9th City Council approved the allocation of around P600,000 for the stockpiling of rice and canned goods. These were to be used as immediate incentives to drivers who would not participate in transport strikes.
Rama defended the move, saying it was deemed necessary at that time.
Food buried
In a privilege speech Wednesday, Carillo said Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS) officer-in-charge Nida Sistona admitted burying the rotten cans of sardines.
Sistona, in a telephone interview, confirmed burying last July 7 one and a half boxes of sardines that were already rotten. A box of sardines contains 48 cans.
Rather than just throwing the cans as garbage, she opted to bury them, she said.
Told that she was supposed to inform City Hall auditors, she added she was just exercising her discretion given the situation.
Sistona, though, denied ordering the disposal of at least 200 cans last Nov. 21, 2003, as alleged by Virginia Piccio, an employee currently detailed at the Vicente Sotto Psychiatric Ward.
Piccio, a former DSWS worker, blamed her transfer to the ward last Aug. 12 on her disclosure of the spoiled food.
Sistona said they stockpiled goods so DSWS can immediately assist victims when disaster strikes.
COA inspection
But Piccio, in her letter antedated Nov. 21, 2003, alleged that Sistona would turn down those who visit their office, begging for food, and would tell them none was available.
By her own estimate, she said, almost P400,000 worth of goods were stocked aside from construction materials in the SDC kitchen.
But Sistona said Piccio was just "sour graping" because she was transferred.
In his speech, Carillo pointed to provisions of the Local Government Code on property disposal and Commission on Audit rules that Sistona most likely violated.
Section 379, in particular, states that "property of any local government (that) has become unserviceable...(shall) be inspected and appraised by the city auditor or his duly authorized representative or that of the COA, and if found valueless, shall be destroyed in the presence of the inspecting officer."
The City Council ordered that the City Attorney's Office submit to the local lawmakers a weekly progress report.
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