DILG says 85% of Yolanda funds already liquidated

Eighty-five percent or P3.455 billion of the total P4.055 billion under the Recovery Assistance for Yolanda (RAY) has already been liquidated by concerned local government units (LGUs) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Friday.

According to DILG Secretary Eduardo Año, the remaining 15 percent (P600.67 million), which remains unliquidated, "mostly represents ongoing projects currently being implemented by the LGUs."

"There have been significant accomplishment in the implementation of the Yolanda projects in the concerned LGUs from January to June this year that were not captured in the Commission on Audit (COA) report whose cut-off date is December 31, 2018,” Año said.

In its latest report, state auditors flagged the DILG for its failure to liquidate P1.059 billion Yolanda funds as of December 2018. This covered P219 million RAY funds transferred to the DPWH and P839.877 million funds transferred to LGUs. 

At a press conference, DILG spokesman Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said there has been a significant implementation of the RAY projects from January to June of this year.

''Yung pondo po although nakalagay sa DILG appropriated by Congress, ito po ay binigay namin sa DPWH kasi sila naman ang talagang sa construction at ibinigay din namin sa local government units para mas mabilis 'yung expenditure ng mga pondo," Malaya said.

"From January to June this year, there has been significant implementation of the projects na hindi lang po na-capture doon sa December 31 cut-off ng COA. 'Yung report sa amin ng DPWH, fully-completed na po sila... 'yung mga LGUs naman, may mga undergoing implementation," he added.

Año, meanwhile, said the task of liquidating the funds already lies on the shoulders of the implementing agencies DPWH and LGUs as the DILG already transferred the funds to them.

"Nevertheless, we are still actively and continuously monitoring and coordinating with the DPWH and LGUs to fast track the liquidation of the funds entrusted to them,” the DILG chief said.

The RAY project covers the repair, rehabilitation and reconstruction of government facilities damaged by Typhoon Yolanda such as municipal halls, public markets, civic centers, barangay facilities, and similar infrastructure using the Build Back Better designs.

The DILG said the DPWH has completed all of their 25 RAY projects, while the LGUs have completed a total of 4,403 projects.

It added that a total of 370 projects are undergoing implementation, 25 are on procurement process and six projects are being prepared of documentary requirements.

Año also acknowledged the fact that the process of liquidation takes time and there are times when the implementing LGUs have already submitted their liquidation reports to their respective COAs, however, they could have failed to forward a copy of the report to the DILG for reconciling of accounts.

Año said the DILG would send finance monitoring and tracking teams together with engineers and accounting staff to Yolanda-affected LGUs which have already completed the repair, rehabilitation or reconstruction of RAY projects in their respective jurisdictions. — MDM, GMA News