Millions Worth Of Expired Yolanda Relief Goods, School Supplies Discovered In Leyte

Millions worth of relief goods that were supposed to be distributed to super typhoon “Yolanda” victims, as well as school supplies, were discovered in the Municipal Gymnasium of Kananga, Leyte.

According to the municipal administrator, Atty. Adelito Solibaga, they were shocked when they found canned goods, medicines, GI sheets, plywood, tiles, doors, cement, and other relief goods that were left undistributed.

Atty. Solibaga said that a truckload of canned goods was also left to rot in 2014 because some were damaged while being transported and there was no proper inventory.


He added that there were also T-shirts, notebooks, plastic envelopes, and pencils printed with the municipality of Kananga, which probably came from the Special Education Fund worth P8.3 million in 2012.

“The school supplies were procured in 2012 and were paid in 2013 intended for the schools. Based on the accounting records, everything was supposed to be dropped and liquidated, but about 5,752 pencils labeled with the ‘Municipality of Kananga,’ 10,000 notebooks and 1,300 shirts were not distributed to the elementary and high school students,” Atty. Solibaga disclosed.

It was learned that the items were procured during the administration of Former Mayor Elmer Codilla, but were not distributed even during his wife’s term in 2016.

“We didn’t expect such discovery because the room where the items were found was sealed. It’s really such a waste because a lot of people needed it after Yolanda,” Atty. Solibaga said.

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The municipal administrator said that they have specified the inventory to identify its worth and determine if they can still be distributed to the intended recipients.

“We’re going to notify the Commission on Audit first on what we have discovered, and ask for guidance on how they can be disposed of,” Atty. Solibaga said.

He also said they would coordinate with the Department of Health on how to dispose of the discovered expired medicines in 2016 and 2017 because there were regulated drugs that may affect the health of their employees.

Meanwhile, the local government unit could not yet determine the worth of items discovered as they are still conducting an inventory.

Source: MB