COA: Housing agency left P10.4-M fund for typhoon victims unused for years

State auditors have flagged the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) for failing to utilize P10.4 million worth of funds for typhoon victims from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for nearly five years.

In a report, the Commission on Audit (COA) said SHFC received a trust fund from the DSWD in 2016 to help relocate and build new houses for 148 informal settler families in Cagayan de Oro who lost their homes to Typhoon Sendong in 2011.

In September last year, the DSWD requested that the SHFC return the P10.4 million to avoid facing a complaint before the Office of Solicitor General.

However, the SHFC president requested “that the amount be retained by SHFC as it will go a long way in partially unburdening the 148 beneficiary families as they start paying for the housing loan amortizations with SHFC and finally rebuilding their lives.”

COA said that in January 2021, a certification was issued by the Corporate Accounting Finance and Comptrollership stating that the trust fund remained intact and “did not incur any transactions or movements as [of] December 31, 2020.”

State auditors said the SHFC’s inaction on the funds indicated that the money was no longer needed.

COA added that the SHFC failed to "address the immediate needs for decent housing of family-victims” and “deprived” the national government of cash reserves to finance other projects.

The SHFC management said that out of the P10.4-million trust fund, only P7.7 million had been used as financial assistance for 110 families affected by Sendong while the remaining funds are “for immediate refund to or liquidation with DSWD.”—LDF, GMA News