DAVAO CITY (PIA) - Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said that the fifth distribution of rice to the communities will be handled beginning now by the Lesbian. Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community instead of the political structure.

Speaking at the Davao City Disaster Radio, she said the decision is aimed to do away with complaints from various sectors in the community, accusing the barangays particularly on the part of the purok leaders of making preferential option only to their friends and not to their political enemies.

Duterte-Carpio said the LGBT community avoids discrimination and they are told to find critical residents in the community.

"I already talked about this to Commissioner Norman Baloro, asking him to use their structure to find those who need further augmentation on rice for the fifth round," she said.

Duterte-Carpio stressed that the group must not favor the LGBT group only as they need to find the people who really need to receive rice rations from the government.

The critical residents are those who never received the assistance from food rations of the City Social Services and Development, porridge, rice from the barangay to subsidies in form of social amelioration from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Dole Camp and Dole Tupad.

The distribution of rice is taken away from the political structure because of complaints involving purok leaders.

She said an entrapment operation conducted by members of the Davao City Police Office yielded respondents allegedly involved in the anomaly in distribution of the SAP subsidy in Barangay Binugao, Toril.

Duterte-Carpio said the respondent revealed that she was in cahoots with the purok leader who divided the subsidy with her.

The City Mayor reminded the purok leaders to be trustworthy in doing their responsibility because the city government relies on them that they know the people in the community.

"The purok leadership has guidelines and criteria how to select beneficiaries for every government assistance we give," Duterte-Carpio said.

She stressed that this is not the time to make it hard to people in the community who experience hardship because of the pandemic. (PIA XI-Joey Sem G. Dalumpines)