P2.4B budget for 4,000 ISFs gone but only 741 families relocated: COA

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STATE auditors have revealed that the P2.42 billion funding for the National Housing Authority (NHA) to relocate and resettle 4,000 informal settler families (ISFs) has been depleted as of December 31, 2023, but only 741 families or a measly 18.53 percent have benefited from the project.

The 2023 audit of the NHA released on December 1, 2024 showed the project had a negative fund balance of P57.175 million, meaning the NHA’s disbursements even exceeded the available budget.

Based on the April 25, 2018 memorandum of agreement between the NHA and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the shelter agency agreed to “undertake the relocation and resettlement and the provision of adequate and basic services and community facilities the estimated 4,000 ISFs.”

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The beneficiaries of the project were households affected by the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway (NLEX-SLEX) Connector Road Project with 3,500 families coming from the Manila section and another 500 families from the Caloocan City section.

According to the plan, 1,200 ISFs would be given a housing unit each in the in-city resettlement projects consisting of several five-story low-rise residential structures.

The remaining 2,800 families would be housed in “single-storey loftable row houses” in off-city resettlement sites.

According to the breakdown of the house and lot packages, the budget for each in-city housing unit was P726,000 while the off-city ones have a P397,000 price tag for a total relocation cost of P1.983 billion.

However, auditors found that at yearend 2023, the NHA had already spent P2.416 billion for the low-rise buildings and row houses, P48.449 million as “program administration” which went to the agency as project administrator, and P9.75 million as “relocation costs.”

The NHA received a total of P2.417 billion from the DPWH on November 16, 2018.

Under the 2018 MOA, the NHA made a commitment to “undertake the relocation and resettlement of affected families therein within twenty-four (24) months, inclusive of bidding process after receiving the actual fund release and availability and readiness of identified relocation sites.”

“Despite the contract date for the above projects which commenced on September 25, 2020, the qualified ISFs were not yet relocated to the aforementioned sites due to the numerous suspensions and time extensions,” the Commission on Audit noted.

There were still no occupants of the housing units during the inspection conducted by the Audit Team in September 2023 but officers from the North and West Sector Offices told auditors that the “relocation and resettlement of affected families of NLEX-SLEX Connector Road Project were already finished.”

“The actual relocated beneficiaries, comprised of 645 relocatees to the readily available LRBs and rowhouses and 96 families who availed of the Balik Probinsya Program, corresponds only to the 18.53 percent of the expected 4,000 ISFs to be relocated and resettled within 24 months,” the audit team said.

STIPULATIONS VIOLATED

From these findings, auditors said the NHA violated stipulations in the MOA specifically regarding the number of relocatees from in-city and off-city resettlement sites as well as the allocated budget for the housing packages.

“The contract cost for the five-story LRBs In-city resettlement exceeded by P1.326 billion from the allotted budget of P1.051 billion (inclusive of the land acquisition cost for the In-city resettlement). Likewise, the cost per unit charged for the readily available resettlement sites, exclusive of other relocation costs, exceeded the allocated amount stipulated in the MOA by P194,000,” they added.

The COA reminded the NHA that the MOA also provided for the construction of community facilities including markets, elementary and high schools, health centers, daycare centers, tricycle terminals, and multi-purpose covered courts with a combined budget of P107.41 million.

No disbursement has been made regarding these support facilities for the relocation projects.

“The fund will be insufficient to cover the relocation and resettlement of the remaining affected ISFs and the construction of the community facilities. As at December 31, 2023, the fund is at a negative balance of P57.175 million,” the Commission said.

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