City has no plan laid for disaster preparedness
Cebu City has had no local disaster plan for the past several years.
State auditors found that the Cebu City government underutilized its Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (LDRRM) funds.
In its Annual Audit Report (AAR), the Commission on Audit (COA) said that the city only used 58 percent of its total LDDRM funds since 2011 and concluded that this was due to “poor planning” since the city had also not prepared any LDRRM plan.
“Funds were not optimally utilized for reducing disaster risk and disaster preparedness and response capabilities of the City to achieve desirable results,” the COA report reads.
City Hall records show that the city government had a total of P428.3 million in unexpended LDRRM funds from 2011 until 2015.
Only P249.4 million was utilized by the city as of the end of 2016. This means P178.8 million still remains unused from these years.
At the same time, COA also discovered that under the city’s approved budget for Capital Outlay in 2016, a total of P113.5 million was not utilized.
The funds were supposed to be used for disaster response and rescue equipment (P47.5 million), preparedness equipment and other equipment for flooding, earthquake, fire and landslides (P30 million), evacuation facilities (P30 million), and for medical equipment, life saving and monitor (P6 million).
“As a probable outcome of the poor planning for the utilization of LDRRMF, the non-utilization and under-utilization of the funds set forth for disaster risk reduction and management deprived its constituents of the readiness of resources in times of disaster,” the report said.
No LDDRM plan was also formulated for the use of the disaster funds for 2016.
Because of this, COA recommended that the city formulate and implement a comprehensive and integrated LDRRM plan for the city.
The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) should also prepare and submit to the City Council their annual plan and budget.
Cebu Daily News tried to get the comment of CCDRRMO head Nagiel Bañacia regarding the observations of COA but multiple calls to his cellphone number were not answered.
In its report, COA said that the city government committed to comply with the observations of the state auditors.
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