PJ: Politically unsound

CEBU, Philippines - It is “politically unsound” to attend the distribution of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), said third district Rep. Pablo John Garcia.

Garcia was reacting to report that their family was behind the transfer of venue of the distribution from a gym in Poblacion, Barili to Barangay Guibuwangan Gym for political purposes.

Garcia said that he was also invited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to attend the distribution but he never did.

“I have misgivings about the program, I do not fully agree with the objectives of the program nga mag sige ta og doleout and there is no productivity involved,” he said.

Another reason Garcia cited for not attending is, politically the event is “no win situation.”

Garcia explained that when a thousand of beneficiaries received, there are still more who were not listed and might complain.

He also denied report that the transfer of venue in Guibuwangan was set up by them since they were having distribution of financial assistance to barangay captains.

The distribution of 4Ps was done in the morning last Friday while the Garcias were still in Dumanjug and their schedule in Barili was in the afternoon.

“How can we attend both events at the same time, it is just speculations,” Garcia said.

The distribution was finally transferred to the Poblacion Gym where a stampede occurred.

Garcia welcomed the investigation to be conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation on the incident.

“The NBI should investigate and they should take everything into consideration,” he said.

Lawyer Lito Astillero, member of the board of directors of the Cebu CFI Community Cooperative, suspected that the incident was planned when some members of the media were already in the area when the incident broke out.

“Sukad naghimo mi aning distribution of 4Ps, smooth man ang among operation. (since we started the distribution of 4Ps the operation was smooth) It was only in Barili that certain kind of incident happened,” said Astillero.

The incident triggered by someone who shouted there was bomb while the distribution was on-going.

The political differences between Mayor Teresito Mariñas and Vice Mayor Marlon Garcia were also blamed of the incident.

“Mura’g naa gyuy plano nga mo-create og chaos, mo-create og issue. Mau ra pod among pangagpas, though wala mi evidence, kung basahon ang nahitabo, possible nga mao gyud ang hinungdan (it seems there was really a plan to create chaos and issue out of it. Although we do not have evidence but we believe it to be the motive behind,” Astillero said.

Mariñas expressed doubt why the payout was held at Barangay Guibuwangan, giving confusion to the beneficiaries and suspected somebody gave the orders to CFI which is chaired by the Vice Mayor’s mother.

Astillero said that the original venue was really in Giubuwangan, they even started distributing the pay-outs at 7:00 o’clock on that day and successfully distributed it to four barangays, when they were forced to stop given the information that the venue will be transferred to Poblacion.

“We were in Guibuwangan because that was agreed and that was the scheduled venue told to us by the DSWD,” Astillero said.

The cooperative brought P5-6 million and distributed it to the 3,000 beneficiaries in Barili. When the incident happened cooperative personnel were on their guard because they were bringing a huge amount of money, said Astillero.

Out of 37 towns they now have two more towns left for distribution. They already distributed over 30 million to over 35,000 beneficiaries which is yet to be refunded by the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The CFI Cooperative was commissioned by DSWD and Land Bank of the Philippines to do the distribution of cash grant to beneficiaries.

Astillero said that before using the money of the cooperative in the 4Ps they informed the members about it. A CFI member who requested anonymity said she was not informed about it.

Astillero stated that they did not volunteer to the Land Bank of the Philippines to do the distribution. CFI Founder and chair, Judge Esperanza Fiel Garcia, also made the same claim earlier.

Esperanza said that they did not volunteer to join the bidding but it was through the initiative of Land Bank because of the assets that the cooperative have as well as the personnel who could finish the distribution to 3,000 beneficiaries in four hours and most importantly the efficiency of their distribution.    - THE FREEMAN