Hundreds leave empty-handed after long queues for aid in Cagayan de Oro

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Hundreds of impoverished people queued outside a state university in Cagayan de Oro under the scorching sun for hours, hoping to receive government cash aid and a few kilos of rice. They went home empty-handed.

Tension gripped the area fronting the state-run University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) on Friday, May 17, where people lined up, waiting to get in to collect aid promised during the two-day Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair.