PACC recommends raps vs. 12 NHA execs over Yolanda housing 'anomaly'

Twelve former and incumbent officials of the National Housing Authority (NHA) should face formal charges for the anomalous Typhoon Yolanda Permanent Housing Program (YPHP), according to the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) on Wednesday.

Photo by Sandra Aguinaldo

“We are filing before the Ombudsman our recommendation against 12 Housing officials... Ang Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, one month before the [Yolanda] anniversary, has completed its six-month investigation on this housing projects which the previous administration promised and up to now eh hindi pa po naaayos ‘yung projects of P4 billion for the whole Region VIII victims,” PACC Chairman Dante Jimenez said in a press conference.

“Itong ipa-file namin ngayon is regarding only one province, Eastern Samar [in] which the government allocated almost P800 million,” he added.

Jimenez said the PACC’s investigation revealed that the contracts for the construction of over 2,500 units in four municipalities of Eastern Samar have been awarded to a sole contractor.

He said the contractor was only able to complete 36 housing units, two years after the Notice to Proceed was released, despite receiving P111 million.

“The case of J.C. Tayag Builders, Inc. was also uncovered in a public hearing of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development in September 2017. In spite of this, no legal actions have been taken to bring them to account,” Jimenez said.

J.C. Tayag Builders, Inc., during a House hearing in September 2017, has already denied the accusations against it regarding the implementation of the project.

The PACC did not disclose the names of the implicated NHA officials yet as part of the due process, but bared that they were members of the Bids and Awards Committee at the regional office of the agency in the Eastern Visayas.

Typhoon Yolanda wreaked havoc over Eastern Visayas in November 2013 and claimed at least 6,000 lives.

The Commission on Audit also flagged NHA last year for the delay in the completion of the housing units in 10 project sites under the YPHP due to a contractor’s lack of equipment and manpower.

"The NHA has issued deadlines for the completion of all the existing Yolanda projects and placed a completion date of December 2020 of all remaining Yolanda projects," NHA had said in response to COA.

The government has already completed 70% of the housing project for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said last August. —KBK, GMA News