Bohol gov asks for aid for food, water amid reported looting post-Odette

Bohol Governor Arthur Yap on Tuesday raised the alarm on possible looting incidents as he appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to send financial assistance to help the local government purchase food in the aftermath of the devastation brought by Typhoon Odette.

"Iyong DSWD, hinihingian namin ng pondo kasi ubos na ubos na kami...Padalhan [sana] kami para makabili kami sa supermarket, grocery. May mga 100 na volunteers na magre-repack," Yap said in a Super Radyo DZBB interview.

(We are asking DSWD for fund, to send us fund so we can buy food in groceries. There are 100 volunteers who will repack).

"If the DSWD cannot give us financial support right now...Mr. President, I don't know how to reach you...Thank you very much for coming to Bohol...Please send troops and police kung hindi kayo magpapadala ng pera para sa pagkain. Magpadala kayo ng sundalo, magpadala kayo ng pulis, dahil kung hindi, maglu-looting po rito," he added.

(Please send troops and police if you will not be able to send money for food. Please send troops, send police, because if not, there will be looting here.)

Yap said he received reports of small-scale looting incidents and expressed frustration at the DSWD whom he said was not hearing their plea for additional financial aid.

"I have a confidential report but I cannot divulge it kasi nako-control pa (it is still under control)," the governor pointed out.

"Ito ang sinasabi ko sa DSWD. Meron pang pondo diyan at the end of the year. Naging miyembro rin ako ng Gabinete. May savings. Ang absorptive capacity ng gobyerno is not 100%," Yap, who served as Agriculture Secretary during the Arroyo administration, said.

(This is what I am saying to DSWD. There are funds at the end of the year. I have been a Cabinet secretary myself. There's savings [at the end of the year]. The government's absorptive capacity is not 100%.) 

"Please don't tell me the absorptive capacity is 100%. Definitely, not 100%. Let the LGUs help in securing food and water. We are undergoing a Yolanda-like situation," the Bohol official added.

He was referring to super typhoon Yolanda which battered the country in November 2013, killing around 6,000 people.

Duterte visited Bohol over the weekend.

In his speech before Odette victims, he said the government is in deep debt but he will look for funds to help those affected by Odette.

In the same speech, he also said he will distribute sacks of money to Bohol households when the campaign period comes. —KG, GMA News