As public outrage continues to mount over the attachment of what appears to be propaganda stickers on plastic bags containing relief goods for earthquake victims in Negros Oriental, a provincial government official has denied that Capitol was behind it.
Arnel Francisco, provincial administrator of Negros Oriental, on Saturday, in a telephone interview denied that it was Governor Roel Degamo or any official of the provincial government who ordered the attachment of such stickers to the plastic bags.
Photos of repacked relief goods in white plastic bags with stickers that read “DSWD”, “MagDegamo”, “rescue,” and the logos of the DSWD and the provincial government of Negros Oriental were posted on the social networking site, Facebook, a few days ago. The photos also showed people in Guihulngan City lining up for relief distribution with police personnel deployed for security purposes.
Francisco said reports that reached his office said the plastic bags bore stickers marked “PDSWD,” and not “DSWD”. He said the acronym “PDSWD” is already a blunder because if it stands for Provincial Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the correct term is Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office or PSWDO.
Francisco said there is nothing wrong with putting the donor’s name for identification purposes. In fact at the height of Tropical Storm Sendong, the Negros Oriental government had ordered the printing of stickers to be attached to the bags.
Francisco said this is being done only with relief goods purchased by provincial government funds not of donations from private and individual or group donors.
Francisco said he will investigate the incident and is also looking into the possibility that the governor’s detractors could be behind this.
A news item in a national daily had reported that Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo has said he “will advise Governor Degamo to refrain from using the calamity for political purposes”.*
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