COA flags DND for spending over P500K on air-conditioned comfort rooms

The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Department of National Defense (DND) for unnecessarily spending P553,000 on air-conditioned comfort rooms.

In its Annual Audit Report (AAR), state auditors said such expenses for the renovation/remodeling of the comfort rooms violated the procurement law, among others, which requires that government resources be “safeguarded against loss or wastage through illegal or improper disposition, with a view to ensuring efficiency, economy and effectiveness in the operations of government.”

The restrooms renovated were the common male and female comfort rooms as well as the ones for persons with disability located in the basement as well as ground floor to third floor in the South Wing area of the DND building.

“We noted that in addition to the basic items inside the facilities, shower with heater was installed in the PWD Rooms, while air conditioning unit and shower with heater were installed in the Male and Female Rooms totaling P553,807.62,” COA said. 

“Based on the foregoing information, each Male and Female Comfort Room may cost up to P1,582,727.05, while each PWD Comfort Room may also cost up to P176,322.66 which in our view is deemed impractical and uneconomical and considered unnecessary expenditures,” state auditors added. 

In response to COA’s findings, the DND justified such expenses for hot and cold showers, as well as the air-conditioned comfort rooms. The DND said having such comfort rooms promotes a healthy working environment for around 700-strong civilian and military employees and is an effort towards modernization.

“The Office is like a second home and it should be a place where people can be comfortable. It is also a place which should encourage productivity and inspire creativity, thus reflecting the Department’s culture,” the DND said in the same COA report.

“Air conditioning units’ installation inside public or common toilets improves the indoor air quality and provides a mold-free environment, which has a big impact on health and comfort to all users. In addition, the Department is trying to improve its facilities to catch up with the fast pace of modernization, to cope with ISO standards, and in consideration to all foreign and local dignitaries visiting the Department,” the DND added.

COA dismissed DND’s argument, citing that government offices are unlike private companies that have full discretion on how to use their respective funds.

“We are called to serve, and one way of serving the public is by making sure that government funds were allotted and disbursed accordingly, or modestly, in prevailing practices. The inclusion of hot/cold showers, more so air conditioning units, in comfort rooms for that matter, are undoubtedly unnecessary, since most of the employees, or the general public for that matter, consider this as luxuries
or privileges in any common Filipino household,”  COA said. 

“Aside from being unnecessary, employees deployed during operations are on shifting basis, who mostly prefer the comforts of their own homes for cleansing or freshening up. The fact that the renovations were made on common comfort rooms, clearly shows that security/privacy is somehow compromised,” COA added.

State auditors also said the DND failed to present any study or information on the number of employees who opt to avail of these comfort rooms at night, or on any other day, that could justify the excessive renovations.

“It is beyond comprehension that an employee, especially one that is involved in defense and security, would elect to dawdle inside these common comfort rooms, or any comfort rooms for that matter, for longer than necessary,” COA said. 

“If an employee is burdened with arduous tasks, that person could surely relax for a while in his desk, office, or outside of the same, but never in a comfort room,” COA added.

During the exit conference, the DND invoked the provision under the Labor department’s regulation on providing quality and sanitary working environment for the employees and agreed to submit a justification with legal bases for the inclusion of the said facilities. —KG, GMA News