Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 17) — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said the findings of state auditors regarding the procurement of food packs in Caraga, and relief goods distributed in Zamboanga that included rice with poor quality, were already “rectified.”
In its 2022 report for the agency, the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the DSWD for entering into a ₱173.8 million contract for the procurement of family food packs in the Caraga regional office with Bodequita Enterprises & Services, which state auditors found as a company that was \”not engaged in the trade of food products but in non-food items and services.\”
On Thursday, DSWD Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez said this was done through emergency procurement due to the onslaught of Typhoon Odette in December 2021, adding it was justified and has been corrected.
\”It must be noted that the supplier is engaged in the food business and has been providing services for years, notably in the provision of family food packs, raw materials, and goods for the supplementary feeding program in the Caraga Region,\” Lopez said.
He added that the supplier has already submitted its Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) certificate of registration to the audit team in March, while the Bids and Awards Committee of the Caraga field office gave assurance that \”all succeeding bidding projects will require the prospective bidders to submit and attach their BIR certificate of registration for further evaluation.\”
COA also included in its report that there were relief goods distributed by the Zamboanga Peninsula regional office found to be not halal-certified, including a brand of canned tuna flakes that appeared to be an imitation product.
The audit team said random inspection of food boxes revealed that four products of canned tuna flakes were not labeled halal-certified, or safe for consumption for Muslims, and had conflicting information with other goods.
The team also found that six kilos of rice in the food boxes appeared \”of poor quality, with lots of broken kernels, aged in appearance, and dull in color.\”
Lopez said the concerned field office \”has already been doing corrective measures,\” with the DSWD management directing regional offices to replace poor quality rice and issuing a memorandum to put a \”halal certified\” sticker and a list of goods in the family food packs.
\”Based on DSWD records the previous administration of Secretary Rolando Bautista has already addressed the issue by returning the questioned rice to the National Food Authority (NFA) last January 2022 due to discolored grain with quality not fit for human consumption,\” he added.
