Politics hampers relief aid?

Politics allegedly has its hands on the distribution of relief goods to thousands of victims of super typhoon “Yolanda” in Aklan.

Some of the victims told said that their barangay officials refused to accommodate them and list them as beneficiaries because they are “not [their] political allies.”

Because of this, they turned to the offices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to report their plight.

But DSWD officials advised them to return to their respective barangays, said the victims who refused to be identified. “We do not have a choice but to wait,” one of them said.

Some of the victims in far-flung areas of the province were also unable to receive relief goods because they are far from distribution centers.

They said barangay officials reported to their municipal governments only the damage they saw in villages near the town proper and did not reach out to the hinterlands to provide the necessary aid.

Members of the media in the province are also reeling from the effects of “Yolanda.”

More than 30 of them have lost their homes. One of them is Arnel Vicente of Todo Radyo Informer. Vicente hopes that they could also be given relief goods./