Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 9) — State auditors scored the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for sluggish progress in offering livelihood projects in war-torn Marawi City, with ₱647.26 million left untouched in 2018.
In its annual audit report on the DTI, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the agency was slow to disburse funds worth nearly ₱1 billion, which was meant to provide new jobs and livelihood to families displaced by the five-month war in Mindanao.
The COA said that of the ₱925.74 million given to DTI’s central and Northern Mindanao offices by the Task Force Bangon Marawi, only ₱278.48 million has been earmarked as of last year. “Only 30.08 percent of the allotments received were obligated, thus, affecting the provision of services to the beneficiaries and hamper the rehabilitation process in the city,” auditors said.
Based on records, DTI received the funds in two tranches in 2017 and 2018, with the bulk granted through the Sub-Committee on Business and Livelihood of the task force last year. The money is meant for the “immediate revival of businesses and livelihood projects in the city.”
DTI’s central office received ₱877.53 million, while the regional unit got ₱48.21 million, data showed. The central office used up ₱20.66 million from the ₱50.79 million it got in 2017. Broken down, ₱17.89 million was spent to buy 11 delivery trucks, five rice mill and generator sets, and 20 high-speed sewing machines. The agency also acquired 180 ordinary sewing machines for ₱1.58 million, which were sent to the DTI’s Lanao del Norte office, and spent ₱223,085 for travel expenses, COA said.
In 2018, DTI only obligated ₱215.73 million and actually spent a mere ₱31,560.70 coming from an ₱826.74-million budget, and had to send back the remainder of the funds to the Treasury because they were unused.
“This deprived the intended beneficiaries of the benefits of the project,” auditors said in the report published Monday.
In contrast, DTI Northern Mindanao was almost fully able to utilize its funds, having obligated ₱39.87 million out of the ₱46 million it received for Marawi rehabilitation projects last year.
COA told the agency to fast-track the deployment of funds to assist efforts to rehabilitate the war-torn city. The DTI agreed, according to its reply stated in the audit report.
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Auditors have also called out the Office of Civil Defense for releasing only ₱10,000 out of ₱36.92 million in donations to the benefit of just one person who died during the Marawi siege.
Pressed further, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the agency is continuing its procurement and bidding processes at the moment, with its Regional Operations Group crafting a disbursement plan for the remaining funds. “We hope to obligate all funds this September and all projects to be distributed before December,” Lopez said in a text message to CNN Philippines.
DTI is part of the inter-agency Task Force Bangon Marawi, which was created to reconstruct the city after it became the battleground of government forces and terrorists from May to October 2017. Over 300,000 residents were displaced, while houses and buildings were turned to rubble. More than 900 terrorists, 165 government troops, and 47 civilians were killed.
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The Philippines has received roughly ₱35 billion worth of grants and pledges on top of ₱42 billion already earmarked by the national government to rebuild Marawi, the Department of Finance said.
