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Ironically, this story was filed by a government-run agency.
“Around 500 pump boats worth PHP1 million donated by David M. Consunji Incorporated (DMCI) for fishing and coastal communities devastated by 2013’s Typhoon Yolanda in Leyte are now rotting,” reports the Philippines News Agency (PNA).
The report noted: “The wooden boats are now stockpiled at the vicinity of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources (PENRO) at the Government Center. In 2014, DMCI turned over the boats to Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional office in Leyte.”
However, according to Leyte PENRO officer Ranulfo Q. Arbiol, since then “nobody from DILG has come to get and distribute the boats to the beneficiaries.”
Arbiol stated: “I am afraid that the boats will not be of use because of too much exposure from sunlight and rain.”
Meanwhile, DILG Regional Director Pedro Noval said the “distribution to beneficiaries has been delayed because they are still waiting for the list of beneficiaries from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).”
If the boats go to waste, it would be a shame, as they are the centerpiece of the project that’s “designed to address the livelihood concerns of coastal communities in Leyte and Samar provinces badly hit by the 2013 catastrophe.” When Typhoon Yolanda hit the region, more than 30,000 boats have been damaged and destroyed.
Photo: News clip
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