P28.45M unused funds Loot to file raps; Corro cites poll ban, lack of council support for the delay

MAYOR Vicente Loot of Daanbantayan, Cebu vowed to file charges against those who failed to distribute the P28.45 million emergency shelter assistance (ESA) to the “qualified” survivors of typhoon Yolanda.

Of the P28.45 million, the Commission on Audit (COA) said in its August 2016 report, that P22.63 million was unspent, while the remaining P5.82 million were issued checks but these were not released to beneficiaries.

The state audit report further showed that of the total P425.87 million for ESA projects earmarked for Daanbantayan, only P403.24 million was issued, which showed the undistributed amount of P22.63 million.

“And come to think of it, P28.45 million of ESA funds gibalik, giapil og balik ang kadtong obligated na nga checke, buot pasabot approved na, may checke na, wa lang gihatag,” said Loot, referring to the funds returned to the National Government.

Loot said that these obligated checks were already assessed by the joint assessment team and the listed beneficiaries were found to be qualified to receive the assistance.

Loot said that many of the beneficiaries whose houses were destroyed were downgraded to only “damaged.” Instead of getting a check worth P30,000, Loot said, the beneficiaries only received P10,000.

“From P30,000 gihimo nga P10,000 way mga pirma, tapos gipugos lang ba nga ‘dili gani ka modawat wa na kay madawat nga lain,’ (From P30,000, it was reduced to P10,000 without any signature, and they were allegedly forced and told that if they will not claim the assistance they can no longer receive anything),” Loot told Sun.Star Cebu.

Election ban

Sought for comment, former mayor Augusto Corro said that the obligated checks are still at the Municipal Treasury.

He said that he can no longer distribute the checks because an election ban was imposed at that time.

He also cited the lack of support from the town council as the reason for the delay. He said he only had two allies in the council.

On the P22.63-million unexpended fund, Corro said he had sought the permission of then DSWD 7 director Merceditas Jabagat to revalidate the list of beneficiaries before distributing the help.

He denied forcing beneficia- ries to accept the downgraded level of damage.

Corro said that Jabagat approved the revalidation of the list of beneficiaries.

He said that the fund release was made through checks for proper tracking from its release to encashment.

Corro said he donated 1.3-hectare of lot for the housing relocation site of Yolanda survivors in Barangay Paypay.

He said that through his efforts, he established three Yolanda relocation sites with help from local and international relief agencies.

Corro said he cannot answer the COA report because he is no longer the mayor when the audit observation was sent to Daanbantayan.

He said that he expects that Loot will not answer the audit observation.