Who took relief goods? GK Cebu tags a volunteer

TWO months after the ransacking of boxes of relief goods in a storage room of Gawad Kalinga (GK), the non-government organization said they identified a “long-time volunteer” in one incident of unauthorized withdrawal of used clothes on June 18.

Antonio “Toby” Florendo, GK Cebu Province head, said the volunteer was reprimanded and told to stop rendering services but no charges would be filed against him.

Florendo said this volunteer had brought eight to nine “beneficiaries” from a depressed community to enter the basement of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) and select some used clothes as “payment for their volunteer work” during typhoon Yolanda.

However, Florendo said GK “ran out of leads” to explain the ransacking of dozens of relief boxes in the storage hall or whether a large hole in the ceiling was the entry point of looters.

“After weeks of interviewing several people and pursuing a lot of leads, we finally came up with a resolution,” he told a press conference, the third time GK Cebu officially spoke about the looting which made headlines last month.

Florendo said they reviewed partial footage of June 17 and 18 taken by closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) in the government building.

GK identified their own volunteer in scenes taken in the evening of June 17, with eight to nine other individuals.

The second incident took place June 18 where four still unidentified people took away some items.

“As to the second video, we ask anyone who can help us to come forward. As of now, there is no actual resolution for that particular incident,” said Florendo.

He said GK talked to the “long time volunteer” in the June 17 episode and reprimanded him.

“He knows the consequences of his actions. We also asked him to make his own report because apparently he has done this several times before where he brings a community and also to do restitution as to the items taken during the period,” Florendo said.

Unauthorized

He explained that during relief operations, “in several of our own communities, we would ask them to go to CICC to help us sort and pack (relief goods) and since we do not have any funding to pay them, we would allow them to take a few pieces of clothing for their services,” he explained.

He said the “long-time vounteer” approached one beneficiary community and told them to come to the CICC with him to get clothing “but this person had no permission from us to have them do that.”

GK Cebu Area Coordinator Chinkee Sabanpan said the volunteer was one of the few people who knew the numeric code to open the combination lock of the door.

This explains the apparent “normal” movements of the persons seen in the CCTV video as they brought out bags, even using a trolley cart to transport the sacks.

Florendo said they approached the community members who identified the GK volunteer. The missing items, mostly clothes, were still with the residents, who offered to return them.

Florendo said GK let them keep the clothes and won’t file charges against them.

“They did not sell it. The items are there. It’s just that they’ve already worn it, so we’d rather have them do restitution or other forms of volunteer work. They are willing to do that,” said Florendo.

“Considering the situation where they were just told by our volunteer to gather the items, it’s not appropriate to file criminal charges against these people. We consider this an internal matter,” he added.

Until now, GK could not quantify the value of missing items or the extent of the stolen goods.

Florendo said it would be difficult to estimate the value since most of the relief goods were used clothes from donors here and abroad.

The CICC had only civilian watchmen on duty at the time of the theft since private security guards were pulled out in June pending a final bidding for the security contract by Capitol officials.

No sentry men were held liable for the loss.

Capitol Chief Security Loy Madrigal yesterday said security was bolstered in the CICC with 12 guards taking turns in three shifts guarding the facility after the province finalized its new security services contract a few weeks ago.

Florendo said with the “resolution” of the case, GK will move forward and focus on plans to rebuild typhoon-ravaged areas in northern Cebu.

He said GK would adopt a new system of monitoring people who go in and out of the storage area and keep an internal log aside from the one employed by Capitol security.

“It’s a very hard lesson because in Gawad Kalinga, when you volunteer, we presume that everybody is there to help, to do good. If somebody fails along the way, it’s already a failure on our part,” he said.

GK, with 16 coordination teams cross the country, was one of the NGOs that steered a massive relief and rehabilitation operation in northern Cebu and neighboring provinces in the wake of supertyphoon “Yolanda”.

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