Sick man doing steam inhalation (tuob in Cebuano) at night in home in this file photo. | INQUIRER.NET STOCK PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon said the city government has to prove that there were no funds used in the distribution of 2,000 tuob kits to the isolation centers.
Dizon filed a resolution in the council on August 5, 2020 asking the City Treasurer’s Office and the City Accountant to certify that the city did not spend money on the tuob kits. The City Council approved Dizon’s resolution.
The tuob kits became controversial after Councilor Jerry Guardo, one of the sponsors of the council resolution asking the city government to study “tuob” as an alternative remedy to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), said that tuob kits worth P2.5 million were distributed to the isolation centers.
The tuob kits consisted of an electric kettle, a small basin, two hand towels, a bath towel, a plastic chair and a steam gown.
Read more: Tuob kits worth P2.5M distributed to isolated patients
“The purchase of tuob kits was made despite repeated warnings from the Department of Health and a group of 13 medical societies that tuob was not a cure to COVID-19. Even Mayor Edgardo Labella said he was not aware of the purchase and that he did not sign any purchase request for the kits,” said Dizon on Saturday, August 8, 2020.
City Legal Officer Rey Gealon already clarified that the city did not spend on the tuob kits because the supplier decided to donate these instead.
The procurement papers were prepared but the purchase did not proceed because the supplier wanted to donate the kits. The total donations reached 3,000 kits as another 1,000 kits were donated for the police.
Read more: Cebu City: Tuob kits are donations, no public funds spent
“We request the Cebu City Accountant and Treasurer to issue a certification that the city government did not use public funds in acquiring for ‘tuob’ or steam inhalation kits that were distributed to COVID-19 patients in barangay isolation centers,” said Dizon.
The City Council also wants a copy of the deed of donation, that is a protocol when the city accepts donation in cash or in kind.
In a previous statement, Councilor Nestor Archival, who co-authored the tuob resolution with Guardo, said that their resolution did not demand the city to provide tuob kits to the patients.
Instead, he said the resolution was supposed to study the effect of tuob as an alternative remedy to COVID-19.
However, he said the resolution was not completely acted upon because even after the tuob kits were distributed, no study and no findings were taken out of it. /dbs