The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reiterated today that the audit observations cited by the Commission on Audit (COA) in its 2014 Consolidated Annual Audit Report have already been responded to during the exit conference between the Department and the COA in July this year.
“The COA audit observations do not mean that there were actual irregularities but that they were part of the government routine to provide a check-and-balance mechanism and to enhance operations,” DSWD Sec. Corazon Juliano-Soliman pointed out.
She also clarified that she was not blaming the COA for doing its job.
However, she expressed disappointment that some media groups are sensationalizing the issues in their media reports, and are attributing to COA statements which they did not say in the report.
Also, DSWD’s responses were already embedded in the same audit report and the Department intends to provide more information regarding these answers.
On undistributed, expired, and about-to-expire goods
Sec. Soliman said that, “there were no rotten goods in DSWD warehouses as these were all distributed to families needing assistance. The goods were not wasted and did not expire at all because these were distributed before the expiration date.”
In its management response, DSWD said that the goods being referred to were those prepositioned at the National Resource Operations Center (NROC), the Department’s main warehouse located in Pasay City, intended to replenish family food packs for families affected by the eruption of Mayon Volcano in 2014. The early decampment of the Legazpi evacuation center before the original 90-day projection led to the early termination of family food packs for the evacuees. The extra family food packs were then distributed to various DSWD centers and institutions.
“Responding to the needs of disaster victims is of primary importance to us and that since we take this responsibility seriously, we ensure that goods are not wasted and that they benefit the people,” Sec. Soliman continued.
In compliance to the recommendation of the COA to look into the inclusion of goods that have short shelf-life, DSWD declared that it will no longer procure noodles for the family food packs.
Improvement of warehouses
The Department is currently working with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) for the construction of island cluster warehouses to serve as storage warehouses as well as training centers for logistics and warehouse management. The target locations for said warehouses cum training centers are Clark Air Base (for Luzon), Cebu (for Visayas), and Davao (for Mindanao).
This includes the plan to construct and/or rent other warehouses for use during large-scale disaster operations.
“We have also partnered with WFP for the setting up of a mechanized repacking system which will be inaugurated this month,” Sec. Soliman said.
DSWD is also in the process of training personnel to help them gain skills in disaster response including proper warehouse operations and recording of all relief goods. ###
