HOUSE leaders led by Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt-Romualdez on Thursday urged the Commission on Audit to name contractors involved in the P1.5-billion alleged anomalies it discovered under the Yolanda Permanent Housing Program implemented by the National Housing Authority.
Romualdez, Reps. Alfredo Benitez of Negros Occidental and Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar said CoA must be able to identify the contractors involved in the irregularities for the sake of transparency and accountability.
“We appeal to CoA to identify the contractors and hold accountable the parties involved in the alleged anomalies uncovered by their auditors and even the results of a House congressional investigation conducted by the Benitez panel [House committee on housing and urban development],” Romualdez, chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on accounts, said.
“Since it involves people’s money, we really need to get to the bottom of these controversies,” said Romualdez, who represents Tacloban City or the so-called Yolanda Ground Zero, after CoA claimed it found evidence of alleged irregularities in 18 housing projects in Eastern Samar.
Benitez, for his part, broached the idea of filing appropriate plunder charges against contractors and officials and personnel of the National Housing Authority involved in the allegedly anomalous P54.59-million housing development program for victims of the Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
Benitez, chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on housing and urban development, was mulling plunder charges against the individuals responsible for the construction of substandard houses intended for “Yolanda” victims in three municipalities of Eastern Samar.
“Contractors and government personnel involved in this con game that struck Yolanda victims twice over should be dealt with the full measure of the law,” said Benitez.
Benitez said his committee would furnish the Commission on Audit a report of its congressional inquiry conducted in 2017 on the “Yolanda” housing controversy.
He also praised CoA for the conduct of an audit examination that confirmed the House panel’s suspicions of a collusion between contractors and NHA personnel in committing fraud in the implementation of the Yolanda housing projects.
Evardone, who earlier sought investigations into alleged anomalies in the implementation of government resettlement projects in his district, said all involved public officials and contractors should be held liable.
“I welcome the CoA report on Yolanda housing projects which showed irregularities and anomalies. However, I cannot understand why the contractors and the NHA officials involved were not named in the report,” said Evardone, chairman of the House committee on public information.
“It is really totally lamentable and unacceptable that these anomalies happened to the detriment of the typhoon victims. We can only give justice to the victims if the those responsible are put behind bars.”
In a 2017 annual audit report, Benitez said CoA recommended the filing of charges against a contractor and NHA personnel involved in the alleged contract irregularities.
CoA disclosed the unnamed contractor of eight housing projects in the towns of Balangiga, Hernani and Quinapondan had been awarded contracts beyond the firm’s capacity to implement.
State auditors there said there had been a clear violation of procurement laws and other regulations when the contracts were awarded to the unqualified infrastructure contractor.