As thousands of victims of tropical storm “Ondoy” scramble for scarce relief goods, some bogus victims are also lining up in evacuation centers to take advantage of the free food and other supplies being distributed by concerned agencies and private donors.

in an interview after a Senate budgetThis was disclosed by Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Esperanza Cabral hearing Thursday.

Cabral said the incident is nothing new but nevertheless, the department is implementing a new strategy to ensure that those who are truly affected by the storm would benefit from the donations.

“Ang problema maraming gustong makinabang sa relief goods maski hindi naman sila naging victims ng bagyo o maski pwede naman sila bumili ng pagkain nila; gusto nila bigyan din sila ng relief goods,” she said. “In the first 48 hours, basta bigay lang nang bigay, kahit sino na di bale na may mabigyan na hindi dapat bigyan; basta lahat nang dapat bigyan ay nabibigyan.”

“But now we are in the process of registering the victims of the disaster because we are looking forward for the recovery and rehabilitation ng mga nawalan ng bahay, nangangailangan ng tulong para mapa-repair yung kanilang bahay,” she added. Cabral said the registration of flood victims is now ongoing.

“Nagsisimula na. Nagre-register na ng mga tao sa evacuation centers and the local social welfare and development workers will also start registering iyong mga community-based victims,” she said.

On top of this, Cabral said they have also asked President Arroyo for an additional R100 million to augment the agency’s scarce funds.

“We have written her a letter asking for P100 million to deal with this calamity,” she said.

Currently, the DSWD only has a budget of R24 million, but Cabral said donations from foreign organizations and business groups are pouring in, “some in cash, some in kind.”

“Yesterday, I received check for $50,000 from the Taiwan Economic Cooperation Office. We also received P20 million from the Federation of Filipino Chinese businessmen, dalawang federations iyon. And in the evening, I received donation from the Japanese government of approximately R10 million worth of emergency supplies.”

The Social Security System has also approved the release of R60 million as part of the government aid efforts.

“Yes, si Secretary (Romulo) Neri called me up to say that the Board of SSS had a meeting and approved the release of P60 million to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) through the DSWD as aid for disaster victims and P30 million to the operations,” said Cabral.