City welfare officer irked by City Council
City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) chief Claire Dignadice will not appear today before the Sangguniang Panlungsod to present her report on the number of families affected and the extent of damage on houses in the different barangays in the city.
Dignadice, in a chance interview with the members of the Iloilo City Hall Press Corps said she will no longer appear in today's regular session of the city as she is described as 'incompetent" by members of the council. The irritated Dignadice refused to elaborate more and refused to provide copies of the current number of families affected and the number of houses totally destroyed or partially damaged.
Dignadice was grilled by Councilor Perla Zulueta and several councilors during last Monday's special session called for by Mayor Jerry Treñas. The session was called for the supposed approval of the P1.3 million calamity fund for the families affected by heavy rains and strong winds brought by stormy weather.
The council decided to adjourn the session without approving the release of the P1.3 million calamity fund after Dignadice failed to satisfy the councilors about her report.
During the special session, Dignadice presented the figures they gathered from August 10 until 12, 2006. She did not update her records and failed to include the figures they gathered the day before she was called to attend the session.
Based on the records of the city social welfare office, there are 846 families who are affected, 29 houses were totally destroyed and 734 were partially damaged. The victims came from the 12 barangays in the city. The affected families live in the near the coastal barangays.
Mayor Jerry Treñas confirmed that Dignadice will not appear in the session. Instead, City Disaster and Coordinating Council chair Jose Papa will be the one to attend the session.
He said the list of affected families will increase as there are additional families in Jaro and Lapaz who were affected by the floods. There are 2,899 families affected in Jaro and 1,160 families affected in La Paz.
The chief executive added that there are also eight houses in Little Janiuay which were destroyed. With the additional number of affected families, the mayor is confident that the council will approve the release of the calamity fund.
Under the guidelines of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, a city can be declared under the state of calamity if two or more barangays are affected and 20 percent of the total population of each barangays is affected.