HUDCC chief urges COA to allow fund diversion

Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chairman Eduardo del Rosario said Wednesday that he would appeal to the Commission on Audit to allow the transfer of P5 million worth of Marawi rehabilitation funds to pay for a 2018 Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Del Rosario, who also chairs Task Force Bangon Marawi, made this remark after the COA tagged the fund transfer as “not among the authorized expenses” in the agreement signed between the Office of the President and the HUDCC.

In its audit report, COA said the HUDCC diverted the P5 million worth of Marawi rehabilitation funds to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos.

The amount was taken from the P500-million fund of the OP, which it allocated to HUDCC for Marawi City rehabilitation projects, it added.

“We are writing an appeal to COA not to disallow this vital transaction, and besides, the P5 million was properly dispensed by NCMF,” Del Rosario said in a message to reporters.

He insisted that the Hajj pilgrimage, which he described as “part of the social healing process,” is also part of the over-all rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City.

“Hajj is a solemn obligation and wish of every Muslim. It is so important to them that social healing is envisioned in the process,” he said.

Del Rosario noted that a raffle was conducted to select internally displaced persons (IDPs) who were “luckily picked” to join the Hajj pilgrimage.

“We sponsored IDPs who were then living in the evacuation centers and transitional shelter,” he added.

Under the deal, he said the NCMF will facilitate the processing of travel documents, payment of airfares and billeting while the IDPs stay in Saudi Arabia for a month.

Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which every adult Muslim must make at least once in his or her lifetime.

On Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said he may consider asking the HUDCC to explain the P5 million it diverted to NCMF.

Panelo warned that if the COA audit report is true, then HUDCC could face raps for technical malversation.