COA: DSWD Failed To Build Homes For Typhoon Victims, Account For DAP Marlon Ramos, Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 25, 2014 Where’s the roof? Hundreds of thousands of typhoon survivors spent the past two Christmases without roof above their heads due to the failure of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to build permanent shelters for them despite the release of P2.57 billion for the project, state auditors said. The Commission on Audit (COA), in its appraisal of the DSWD’s financial standing, disclosed that a portion of the cash assistance for the victims of Tropical Storm “Sendong” in Mindanao in 2011 was used “for other purposes not directly related” to helping them recover from the disaster. The COA also discovered that more than P1.8 billion in Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) funds allocated to the department in 2013 had remained unliquidated. These were among the adverse findings of the COA audit team, which conducted the annual scrutiny of all the financial transactions of the DSWD, the primary government agency tasked to deliver basic social services to poor Filipinos. The audit team, led by state auditor Marieta Andoy, had also reported that the DSWD gave out more than P1 billion to overseas Filipino workers, government employees, middle income earners and other families not included in its database of beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program. In addition, the state auditors noted that the return of almost P2.5 billion in unused CCT funds to the Land Bank of the Philippines was not properly documented. The 135-page report was received by the office of Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman on Dec. 15. “We request a status report on the actions taken on the audit recommendations within 60 days from date of receipt thereof …,” read the letter to Soliman signed by COA Director Cora Lea de la Cruz. In an earlier interview, Soliman said she and the other concerned DSWD officials had already given explanations to the COA auditors during the exit audit interview. In a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Thursday, the social welfare secretary said she would answer the issues regarding the COA report in a news briefing at the DSWD headquarters on Friday (Dec. 26). The COA said the construction of 30,438 housing units with an approved budget of P2.131 billion had yet to be “started and/or (the) funds (had remained) unutilized due to varying constraints and problems.” It said the DSWD was supposed to build a total of 36,399 housing units worth P2.571 billion in areas ravaged by violent weather disturbances since 2011. State auditors said the failure of the DSWD to promptly start the shelter program was “denying the disaster victims/beneficiaries of the immediate access to decent shelters.” They said it might also lead “construction materials/resources to possible misuse, losses and wastage.” “(The delay in the) completion of the core shelter units is tantamount to failure to address the immediate needs of family-victims of disaster, thus, defeating the very purpose of the program,” the COA said. Under its Core Shelter Assistance Project, the DSWD provides P70,000 in cash grants to families whose houses were totally destroyed by natural calamities. The houses, however, should be environment-friendly and should withstand winds of up to 220 kph and Intensity IV earthquakes. The permanent shelters must be built in relocation sites identified by the national or local government units “using locally available materials to revitalize local economy,” the COA said. The DSWD also distributes cash aids amounting to up to P7,000 to residents whose houses were partially damaged by storms and P10,000 to owners of totally destroyed houses. The department may also provide P30,000 in cash assistance “to augment resources of families in constructing houses in relocation sites provided for the purposes and using locally available materials.” Problems regarding the titles of relocation sites, bad weather conditions, lack of support from the local government units, feuding local politicians and the failure to closely monitor the status of the project were among the reasons cited by the COA auditors why the DSWD failed to complete its shelter program. For instance, the mayor of Boac, Marinduque, “was not interested in implementing” the government’s housing program for typhoon survivors. There were also cases wherein the beneficiaries failed to construct their houses after the financial assistance were given to them. In some areas, typhoon victims opted to move in to their partially finished houses without windows and doors, exposing them to danger. “Some construction materials were abandoned, destroyed (or) deteriorating. (W)ork delays in some areas are due to scarcity of materials,” the COA said. To avoid these problems, the COA urged the DSWD to carry out “regular ocular inspection to determine whether project funds are utilized according to the objectives of the program.” It also asked the DSWD officials to submit reports “duly supported with actual accomplishments as well as the status of unoccupied shelters.” The audit team also asked Soliman to order the DSWD’s field officers not to release the cash assistance until the identification and availability of the relocation sites for development. “Supervise and monitor the proper implementation of the (housing) program to enable the completion and proper utilization of core shelter units,” the COA said. “In the case of unfinished/ unconstructed units reported in current/ prior years, demand from (local government units) concerned to comply with their obligations as agreed upon in the MOA (memorandum of agreement) with the DSWD,” it added. In its scrutiny of the P449.4-million in trust funds for Sendong victims, the state audit agency found out that P3 million was used for the construction of the Disaster Relief Operation building, also called the Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU) building. “The construction of (the) CIU building was not one of the prioritized items identified in the Notice of Transfer of Funds,” the COA said. It reminded the DSWD that the financial aid for the typhoon victims was intended “purely and solely for the welfare of the immediate victims.” “(U)sing such fund for the construction of the CIU building, which generally caters not only to the direct victims but to anybody under crisis situation, is contrary to the purpose of the creation of trust funds,” it added. While it noted its importance in providing psychosocial help to residents in times of crisis, the COA said the construction of the CIU building might be done using other funds. As of Dec. 31, 2013, or more than two years after Sendong ravaged several provinces in Mindanao, the COA said only P346.895 million—about 77 percent of the budget—had been actually released. In its report, the COA also called the attention of the DSWD for its failure to properly report the use of P1.815 billion in DAP funds released to the department. The Supreme Court had already struck down as unconstitutional the savings-impounding mechanism introduced by the Aquino administration to bankroll several big-ticket projects such as road construction in the provinces. State auditors said P1.315 billion of the DSWD’s DAP funds went to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for its Government Internship Program while the other P500 million was transferred to the Commission on Higher Education to finance its cash assistance program for students of state universities and colleges. “To date, the amounts remained unliquidated without any recorded liquidation to document disbursements of the funds transferred,” the COA said. It said more than P110 million of the department’s DAP allocation was used for 108 day care centers built by the Armed Forces and for the “cash-for-work” program for the construction of 100 housing units. newsinfo.inquirer.net/…/coa-dswd-failed-to-build-hom…
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 12:34:10 +0000