COA says P1-M goods at OCD warehouse may go to waste; flags 'unlawful' meal allowance

More than P1 million in public funds may go to waste as the Office of Civil Defense has yet to distribute hundreds of thousands of posters and non-food items (NFI) procured by the agency for distribution to calamity-hit areas, the Commission on Audit (COA) said in a report.

The COA said P300,495 worth of information education communication (IEC) materials were undistributed as of December 31, 2017. This amount was part of the P813,000 budget allotted for 120,000 pieces of IECs that provide information on safety measures for Filipinos during times of natural disasters.

The IECs include posters for flooding, landslides, fire, earthquakes, tropical cyclones, and volcanic eruptions.

"It appears that based on the above data, there was no immediate need for procuring such huge number of posters," state auditors said in the report.

"To be able to fully realize its mandate and in order to assist the government in promoting public awareness and enhancing capabilities of stakeholders in disaster preparedness and risk reduction, it is but imperative that the information materials be widely disseminated," they added.

The COA also said its auditors found NFIs worth P746,069, which should have been distributed to local government units, are still kept inside the warehouse of the OCD for more than two years.

The idle NFIs purchased in 2012 include 52 plastic pallets worth P405,600, 147 five-gallon water containers worth P102,900, and 10 megaphones valued at P65,000.

Unnecessary expenses

Other NFIs detailed in the audit report are luggage bags, mosquito nets, reflector vests, portable emergency lights, heavy duty lamps, plastic crates, plus one unit of helmet with head lamp, rescue rope, ring buoy, and flashlight. Only the luggage bags were purchased in 2008.

The COA said 400 pieces of latex surgical gloves and eight pieces of all-purpose rescue gloves donated to OCD in 2012 have remained "undistributed and are near to deterioration."

"The purpose of procuring the NFIs was not satisfactorily achieved as manifested by the length of time they had been stored. Had the agency considered first and prioritized the purchase of a much needed supplies items, unnecessary expenses could have avoided," COA said.

The COA said the OCD management agreed to adhere to its recommendation of distributing the IECs and NFIs to needy local government units to avoid the deterioration of the items.

Unlawful meal allowance

Meanwhile, the COA disallowed the P47,700 worth of meal allowances given to 14 personnel of the OCD-National Capital Region Operations Center.

The 14 personnel manned the operations center during their days of duty from August to December 2016. Their tasks include the monitoring of situations for all types of disasters and weather conditions.

The COA said the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of its COA Circular No. 2012-003 dated October 29, 2012 that food allowances, rice subsidies, and health care allowances except those granted by local government units are declared as unlawful expenditures.

The COA, however, said the 14 personnel still received their meal allowances despite the compensatory time-off (CTO) in lieu of overtime pay given to them.

The CTO is in compliance with the joint circular of the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Budget and Management, according to COA.

The COA said OCD management agreed to require the concerned personnel to refund their meal allowances and exercise prudence on the management of government funds. —ALG, GMA News