TWO officials from the Municipalities of Quezon, Bukidnon and Ubay, Bohol have testified that Congressman Aris Aumentado of the Second District is saying the truth about the origins of the damaged rice in the latter town.
It can be remembered the Aumentado spoke to the program “Inyong Alagad” of radio station DYRD last January that “according to LGU Ubay, (the rice) came from the province of Bukidnon”.
The already-dormant issue was raised once again when Kevin Damalerio, propagandist of the Governor of Bohol, posted an image of a certification from the Provincial Government of Bukidnon thru its LDDRM Officer IV Israel Johan M. Damasco, Jr. stating that the said entity never sent any rice to the province to help those affected by typhoon Odette.
Using the said certification, Damalerio then accused Aumentado of lying by saying that the sacks of rice came from the province of Bukidnon.
In an interview with the said program on DYRD last Tuesday, March 15, both Jehd Stephen Cutamora, Municipal Nutrition Action Officer (MNAO) of Ubay and Paul Abalde, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Officer of Quezon, Bukidnon, cleared the issue of the rice’s origin, saying that the sacks did not came from the Provincial Government of Bohol, but rather from the Municipality of Quezon, Bukidnon, and that some of it were spoiled while heading to Ubay.
According to Cutamora, who is given the responsibility to receive the said rice from Quezon, Bukidnon, they were initially informed of the said relief from the said town after an employee of the PDRRMO (Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office) approached them while submitting some documents at the Capitol last December 23 of the preceding year.
“Naay ni-approach namo nga miyembro o empleyado sa Kapitolyo, sa PDRRMO, nga nay nitawag nila from Quezon, Bukidnon nga directly mu-communicate sa LGU Ubay kay nay nihatag nga relief (A member or employee of the Capitol, from PDRRMO, approached us and informed (us) that someone from Quezon, Bukidnon is calling them to directly communicate with LGU Ubay regarding the relief),” said Cutamora.
They found out that they were speaking to Abalde. Through text and call, they decided to meet the relief on December 27 at the Port of Jagna, but due to bad weather, the vessel instead docked at the Port of Loay at around nine in the morning on the same day. With this journey are Abalde, the MDRRMO team of Quezon, Bukidnon, and the ABC President of the same town, who is in Bohol at that time.
He explained that not all rice got wet, with only 15-17 sacks getting wet from the said journey. Additionally, he said that the Provincial Government of Bukidnon is right in saying that it did not gave any help for Ubay, but it did not include the fact that a certain municipality from the said town donated relief on the said town.
On the allegation that Cong. Aumentado was caught red-handed on his earlier statement regarding the origins of the rice, Cutamora uttered that this is incorrect and that the solon has no part whatsoever in its relief operations.
“Actually, si Cong. Aris wala juy labot ani, kay ang ni-directly gyud og contact is between us, the LGU. Luoy pud atong kongresista nga ilang giingon-ana kay wala man gyud puy labot si Congressman, it’s between us, the LGU… Kung naa man sila’y i-isyu, ilang i-question sa mga hintungdan, dili kay Congressman nga wala man puy labot in the first place.. (Actually, Cong. Aris was never part of any of this, because the contact is between us, the LGU. It would be pity for the congressman to be treated like that because he doesn’t have any involvement in this, it’s between us, the LGU… If they have any issues, they can question the authorities, not the Congressman who is not included in any of this in the first place),” he added.
On the other hand, Abalde proved that the Municipality of Quezon, Bukidnon did delivered assistance to Ubay because of its devastation after the onslaught of Typhoon Odette.
“Nakita sa atong assessment nga ang Ubay, medyo critical ang status after the storm so nagdecide ang among mayor, Mayor Pablo Lorenzo III, nga mag-extend ug tabang didto, ug secondly pud, nakita pud namo nga daghang taga-Quezon nga gikan pud diri sa Ubay, Bohol, so we have decided og muhatag og gamayng assistance (We have seen in our assessment that Ubay has a quite critical status after the storm so our mayor, Mayor Pablo Lorenzo III, decided to extend help on that town, and second, we have seen that many of our residents are also from Ubay, Bohol, so we have decided to give some small assistance,” Abalde said.
He also said that due to the absence of available vessel that they can load their relief in Cagayan de Oro due to full capacity, they instead used a fishing vessel that they negotiated in the Port of Jasaan, and while at sea, they experienced strong waves, which caused the spoilage of some sacks of rice and instead in Jagna, they decided to dock at the Port of Loay, where Cutamora was already waiting.
According to him, they delivered 1,000 sacks of relief goods (and in each relief pack, there are 8-10 kilos of rice, sardine cans and noodles), another 300 sacks of rice, 76 boxes of mineral water, and one generator set. From the 300 sacks of rice, there are 16-17 sacks of rice that were spoiled.
Congressman Aris Aumentado also gave his statement, in which the legislator was the one targeted by the post of Damalerio, in which he stated that the solon was said to be “caught red-handed”. According to him, he received incomplete information for the local government unit regarding the origin of the said rice sacks, therefore stating itself that Bukidnon gave the said assistance.
“Ang information gikan lang pud sa LGU, kuwang lang sila nagpahibaw nako nga gikan diay sa usa ka lungsod, Quezon, Municipality of Quezon, Bukidnon. So ako, in good faith gyud ko nga nihatag og information tungod kay nagka-init naman ang maong istorya na amo kunong gibinuangan ang hinatag sa taga-province (The information came from the LGU, only that they did not indicate that it was from a town, Quezon, Municipality of Quezon, Bukidnon. So as for me, in good faith did I say that information because the issue regarding my involvement in the distribution of relief goods from the province is heating up),” the representative said. (PR/jja)
