Several officials of the Bicol Region were criticized on social media after photos of them distributing relief goods to the affected families of Typhoon Kristine went viral.
Photos showed Albay Governor Joey Salceda distributing sacks of rice, which included a portrait of AKO-BICOL party-list Rep. Zaldy Co.
Netizens questioned why the relief goods included a photo of the said public official.
Some of them suspected that the officials were using the Typhoon relief operations to promote themselves for the upcoming elections.
“Cringe ng may mukha yung mga sako ng bigas. Jusko. Sana yung funds for campaign, ipondo na lang nila sa pump boats. Hayst,” a netizen said.
“Yung gastos nila sa pagpaprint ng mga mukha nila sa repack, dapat additional nalang for actual relief goods. Itatapon lang naman yang packaging na may mukha nila sa basurahan,” another netizen commented.
“Kung sariling pera ni Mr. Co ang ibinili ng bigas walang problima pero kung galing sa taxpayers na kagaya ko ang ibinili ng bigas kapal naman ng pagmumukha nya,” netizen Feliciano remarked.
As of writing, Bicol officials have yet to respond to the criticism they received from the netizens.
It can be recalled that ‘Anti-Epal Bill’ was proposed several times in Congress to prevent public officials from including their names, initials, logos, or images in any operations or projects funded by taxpayers’ money.