Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday, October 21 urged the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) to “put your house in order” as she inquired into the status of the agency’s funds, particularly the balanced housing fund mess which involved former undersecretary Christopher Lloyd Lao.
Lao, the former officer-in-charge of the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Services (DBM-PS), has been dragged in several procurement controversies such as the purchase of alleged overpriced COVID-19 supplies for the Department of Health (DoH) and the pricey but outdated laptops for teachers for the Department of Education (DepEd). But prior to his stint at the DBM, Lao served as commissioner and chief executive officer of the Housing Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).
Back then, a complaint accusing Lao of extorting from developers of social housing had been filed at the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission in August 2019. Lao had previously told senators during a Senate probe that he did not know about the complaint as he had already left the HLURB in August 2017 and transferred to the DBM-PS.
Hontiveros, during the Senate Finance sub-committee hearing on the DHSUD and its attached agences and corporations’ budget for 2023, asked about the progress of the case and asked what steps had the DHSUD has taken to ensure proper governance of the government’s balanced housing program.
In 2021, the senator called for an audit of the P1.8-billion funds under the housing department which was placed in escrow accounts under various names by Lao during his stint in 2018 to 2019 at the HLURB.
“Another anomaly, was that the interest also became theirs, and in a way this cash, because it was in the escrow account, was placed beyond the reach of the department for the core programs and was only there for the past many months or a few years, within the reach of a certain former undersecretary.
“We tracked at the DSHUD hearing in the (Lower) House: it’s P6.5-billion in total amount in escrow, and still growing, with the interest. And the P3-billion that has been allocated to the LGUs (local government units). That's good but we want to see, as I said in the opening remarks, that everything that was appropriated will be spent,” Hontiveros said.
DHSUD Undersecretary Garry De Guzman assured the Senate panel that the agency’s new set of officers are making sure that disbursements made under the previous administration are accounted for and are compliant to the implementing rules and regulations establishing the Balanced Housing Act.
De Guzman said they are adhering to DHSUD Secretary Jose “Jerry” Acuzar’s directive to get the Commission on Audit’s (COA) opinion on all proposed memorandum of agreement (MOA), or contracts that may be outside of the menu of activities allowed under the IRR.
“Kukuha kami ng COA opinion para po once and for all, malaman ano ba yung pwede, ano ba talaga yung pwede naming menu of activities under that program, para maiwasan natin ang paggastos ng hindi tama (We will get a COA opinion so that, once and for all, to know what is possible, what is the menu of activities that we can really do under that program, so that we can avoid spending incorrectly),” De Guzman said.
“Kasi hindi naman po pera ng gobyerno yan, pera ng developer, pero ang objective po natin is to produce socialized housing projects. So yan po yung direksyon na pupuntahan namin under this administration (Because that's not the government's money, it's the developer's money, but our objective is to produce socialized housing projects. So that's the direction we're going to go under this administration),” he added.
Hontiveros lauded the DSHUD for proactively pursuing the matter and said that the Senate, through the Blue Ribbon Committee, can help look into the matter anytime so that the missing funds can be accounted for.
“Mabuti na may mga steps na kayong ginagawa and if ever makaramdam kayo na kulang yung urgency upon which napapayagan kayo to act on this matter or any other matters, sabihan niyo lang kami kasi nandito naman ang Senate Blue Ribbon Committee kung kailangan ng ganong klaseng tulak para i-account talaga yung mga dating nakabalot sa misteryo (It is good that you are taking steps and if you ever feel that the urgency upon which you are allowed to act on this matter or any other matters is lacking, just tell us because the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is here if that kind of push is needed, so we can really account for those issues that’s supposed to be wrapped in mystery),” the senator said.
To which de Guzman replied: “That's appreciated, Madam Chair.”
Hontiveros, during the hearing, noted that the agency’s National Expenditure Program for next year is 48 percent lower than last year’s budget. The DHSUD is asking for a P95-billion appropriation for 2023 but the DBM-approved budget of the agency is only at P3.95-billion which is at most only half of its approved budget in 2022 which is P7.613-billion.
Aside from the DHSUD, the proposed budget also covers the National Housing Authority (NHA), Human Settlements Adjudication Commission (HSAC), Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC), and the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC).