A Facebook page set out to correct several Facebook posts thanking President Rodrigo Duterte for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Mobile Kitchen sent to the soldiers in Marawi City.
Philippines Defense Forces Forum said that the mobile kitchen was donated by the South Korean Army to the AFP after Yolanda, not acquired by the President.
[ads2]
“Correction, the AFP Mobile Kitchen was not acquired by Duterte but donated to the AFP by South Korea in the aftermath of Yolanda,” the FB page wrote on July 15, 6:34 pm.
We checked relevant information about the AFP Mobile Kitchen and found a December 27, 2016 article from the Philippine Information Agency’s blog about the mobile kitchen truck. The report covered the event about how the mobile kitchen was brought to Batangas Port on December 27 to help people who were stranded in the pier due to Typhoon Nina. We also confirmed what the Philippines Defense Forces Forum said since the report said that a staff officer in charge of supplies in the army gave credit to the South Korean army for donating the mobile truck.
[ads1]
“Ayon kay Captain Michelle Paranga ng Office of the Quarter Master General, ang trak ay dating pagmamay-ari ng South Korean Airforce na isa sa mga grupong nag-responde sa mga survivor ng Yolanda,” the PIA report said.
According to the report, the mobile kitchen has 15 large rice cookers, two large cooking pots for soup, and a burner. The large truck’s sole purpose is to cook and feed a lot of people, which is what it is doing now in Marawi. The report also detained the transfer of the truck’s ownership, from when it was donated by the South Korean Airforce to the Department of National Defense (DND) after their relief operation and was eventually donated by the DND to the AFP in February 2016.
Paranga added that the mobile kitchen was also used during earthquake drills and was paraded during special occasions.
And just to further verify that the PIA report was indeed referring to the AFP Mobile Kitchen, we found this post by the Department of Social Welfare and Development FB page on December 28 showing the distribution of food from the AFP Mobile Kitchen at the Batangas Pier.
Philippines Defense Forces Forum’s correction also came with a screenshot of a post by the page “Legal Army Wives” thanking Duterte for the mobile kitchen, which kept the Marawi soldiers fed.
“Bagting na! Tara na mga ka Tropa pila na tayo! Gyera naman mamaya. Salamat sa AFP mobile kitchen ni Pres Duterte. Salamat sa pagmamahal sa iyong mga Kawal Sir. Busog lagi ang mga sundalo ditto sa Marawi,” the post read.
But when we checked the Legal Army Wives’ post, it was already edited with a “Thank you South Korea.” We checked the edit history of the post and found out that the page corrected its post on July 16, after the Philippines Defense Forces Forum’s correction was posted on Facebook.
See? Legal Army Wives’ first post was on July 15, 12:02pm. It was edited two times 18 hours ago, yesterday, July 16, thanking South Korea.
However, there were other pages that picked up Legal Army Wives’ original post, such as “Pres Rody Duterte Effect – The Peacemaker” and a netizen, among others. As of writing, they have not corrected their post with proper credit to the South Korean Army, unlike what the Legal Army Wives’ FB page did.
Last December, President Duterte himself checked out the AFP Mobile Kitchen.
Pres Duterte checks out AFP’s new mobile kitchen/caneen pic.twitter.com/5awg1ZActD
— Frances Mangosing (@FMangosingINQ) December 21, 2016
According to a post by NowPinas, Paranga said that the AFP Mobile Kitchen can cook food for hundreds of soldiers daily. It can cook around three sacks of rice and serve 1,500 liters of purified water for the troops daily.
Volunteer mobile kitchen for evacuees
Aside from the AFP Mobile Kitchen feeding the Marawi soldiers, a mobile kitchen organized by volunteers also went to Marawi City to feed the evacuees. The Art Relief Mobile Kitchen was founded by photographer and volunteer Alex Baluyut.
On July 11, The ARMK has already been in Marawi for “24 feeding days” and has served over 21,000 hot Halal meals.
On July 14, the ARMK FB page reposted Baluyut’s post about how the ARMK is in its Level 3 food aid for the displaced people from Marawi City, which meant the “distribution of basic kitchen needs” for them to be able to cook for themselves. The ARMK will also supply them with fresh uncooked food and fruits, as well as firewood.
Sources: ( blog.pia.gov.ph , newsinfo.inquirer.net )
[ads3]
