Govt must act now vs corruption at NHA
IN a forthcoming report of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, the National Housing Authority (NHA) is urged to file charges against current and former officials of the agency, as well as erring contractors for a host of violations revealed during previous committee hearings. A better question the committee led by Sen. JV Ejercito might have asked is why the NHA has not done so already.
The senator told the media on Thursday his committee had heard testimony that established collusion between mid-level NHA officials and building contractors in the Visayas region. The committee also heard that a vast number of housing units built primarily for victims of various calamities dating all the way back to 2011 were of substandard construction, with some even built in danger zones.
The senator estimated the waste in public funds for housing projects intended for disaster victims could be as high as P30 billion.
None of this, however, should have been news to the NHA. As far back as the first week of May, the agency announced it had uncovered widespread anomalies in its projects and was taking appropriate action. Contracts for not fewer than 20 substandard construction projects were terminated, and the NHA issued notices of termination to 33 contractors, effectively banning them from any future government work. The NHA also said that it had launched an internal investigation to identify and file appropriate administrative or criminal charges against NHA personnel responsible for accrediting and supervising substandard housing projects.
That investigation, however, has apparently made little progress, despite the NHA’s having enough information to take positive administration action against its contractors and halt work on questionable projects.
The problems at the NHA go much deeper than its poor record in providing housing for the victims of major calamities. Even before the Senate committee hearings, the NHA released figures showing that some 55,000 of 72,000 housing units built under its supervision during the term of former president Benigno S. Aquino 3rd have yet to be distributed. These housing units were intended for the poor and for families of military and police personnel, teachers, and other government workers. Part of the reason why they have not been distributed is that many of the units, built in apparent haste, show the same problems of substandard construction and poor location plaguing the relief housing built by the NHA. These unoccupied and largely unusable housing units represent billions of pesos more in public funds wasted.
Whether entirely deserved or not, the NHA for years has had a reputation as an agency compromised by corruption and inefficiency. The recent revelations reveal a pervasiveness of dysfunction that may not be cured by simply punishing a few errant officials or blacklisting some poorly performing contractors.
Senator Ejercito was, indeed, correct when he stressed that the government needs to send a strong message against corruption. The correct way to do that, however, is to critically examine the entire NHA from top to bottom: From its mandate, its direction, strategy and planning, procurement and contracting processes, financial management, oversight procedures, to design and construction standards.
Housing is one of the most fundamental human needs, and thus, the role of the NHA is to help meet one of the most fundamental responsibilities of the government to its citizens, to ensure that every person has access to adequate housing. In its current state, the NHA is largely failing to fill this vital role, and the blame for it cannot possibly be attributed simply to a few bad employees in one part of the country. To rebuild public confidence, and more importantly, to ensure that the NHA can provide cost-effective and safe housing for those who need it, immediate and comprehensive action should be taken to improve the agency and its performance results.
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