THE DAILY Mail, Britain’s iconic tabloid, reported that food aid from the United Kingdom are being sold by corrupt local offi cials in Manila malls, furthest from their intended benefi ciaries in the Yolanda-torn Visayas.
An absolute untruth. So quickly denied Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, most certain that the Philippine government had not received any food donations from the UK: “Ang aming natanggap mula sa Britanya mula nang nagsimulang magdatingan ang relief goods, November 11, lahat po na natanggap namin, una wala pong pagkain. Iyon pong lahat ng non-food items kung tawagin, ito po ay mga tents, communication materials.”
Soliman went even to the extent of writing the paper to right the wrong report. Just a few days back, the royal crownbearing www.gov.uk, where “the websites of all government departments and many other agencies and public bodies (of the kingdom) are merged” came out with this press release putting the lie to Soliman’s denial, to wit:
Organisation Department for International Development Page history: Updated 9 December 2013 Policy:
Helping developing countries deal with humanitarian emergencies Topic: International aid and development Minister: The Rt Hon Justine Greening MP World location: Philippines Collections: Typhoon Haiyan news archive UK government food, shelter, clean water, medicine and other supplies is reaching up to 800,000 victims of Typhoon Haiyan.
Based on the latest information from the Department for International Development (DFID) fi eld team in the Philippines, released for the first time, the UK government relief efforts has so far delivered the following:
eight UK government commercial and military flights have delivered 17,488 shelter kits, 38,569 tarpaulins, 16,230 hygiene kits, 5,925 jerry cans, 9 4x4s and 3 rough-terrain fork-lifts DFID is helping 130,000 people construct emergency shelter, feeding more than 175,000 people, giving 250,000 people clean water or basic hygiene and helping deliver millions of pounds worth of essential medicines The UK’s support to the UN and Red Cross appeals is also delivering vital supplies to more than 500,000 victims of the typhoon and helping teams on the ground to coordinate relief efforts.
No food there? So where’s the UK sourcing what they feed to 175,000 people? Some political incorrectness here but I just can’t see how Dinky’s diminutive credibility can stand against The Daily Mail’s 117-year history.
Moreso with this buttressing by the Crown’s own website. And then there’s the United Nations’ investigation that over a month since Yolanda’s landfall, aid has yet to reach some devastated areas.
No less than Valerie Amos, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said she had expected that aid had been delivered by to survivors even in the most remote outlying
islands, given the time lapsed, the amount of aid that poured in and the delivery facilities in place.
Said she: “Although we’ve got significant aid now coming in to the major centers, we still have a little bit of a worry that in a couple of the smaller islands there may be needs there that we haven’t managed to meet yet.”
Lamenting: “I’m still hearing worrying reports in the media – indeed I heard one this morning – where people said they hadn’t received any aid as yet, and we’re looking into that.” So what was Soliman again saying that there was not any Yolanda-hit area that her department had not reached?
As much vertically-challenged as truthchallenged, this Soliman really. And no political incorrectness there.
