“It was not intentional.”
Department of Social Services Department head Pacit Tero apologized for the supposedly stinky rice, and expired noodles that her office distributed.
Earlier, members of an activist transport group here have been complaining over food packs distributed by City Hall, which they claimed, contained “stinky” low-cost rice and expired instant noodles.
“We were glad the city government distributed food but we never expected that it would contain expired food and rice that stinks,” secretary general of the United Negros Drivers and Operators Center Diego Malacad had told DNX.
Tero, for her part, said that the oversight is “not intentional”, saying that in their rush to distribute the goods, they were not able to check the state of the food packs.
She also clarified that only portions of the rice that was distributed were smelly. Those that smelled probably came from the bottom of the containers that have come in contact with hot cement floors.
The National Food Authority has assured that the rice distributed were “newly-milled from Iloilo” and this is the same rice given to Aklan, Capiz, Negros Occidental.
Tero added that “a lot of people availed of the Social Amelioration Program” last June and July, “but we opted to stop for a while”. The remaining food packs were stored in case there is a need for a new round of distribution.
She also appealed to constituents to raise the issue to their barangay if a similar concern happens “so we can make necessary steps to address it”.
