‘Impractical’: For COA, cost of Defense department’s toilet improvement stinks

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has questioned the allotment of over P6.38 million for the “renovation” of toilets, including the installation of air conditioners, showers and water heaters, at the main building of the Department of National Defense (DND).

In a report released on July 24, state auditors cited the cost of improvements on the toilets at the basement, ground floor and third floor of the DND main building’s south wing inside Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

“Based on the foregoing information, each male and female comfort room may cost up to P1,582,727.05, while each PWD (person with disability) comfort room may also cost up to P176,322.66, which in our view is deemed impractical and uneconomical, and considered unnecessary expenditures,” COA said.

Discontinued

The agency also took note of the installation of six units of air conditioners costing over P301,000, and nine sets of hot and cold showers to the tune of more than P200,000.

In response to the COA report, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has ordered the improvements discontinued, according to DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong.

Andolong said: “The department has taken note of the COA findings on the renovation of comfort rooms in the DND main building, which were presented and discussed by the COA during a mandatory exit interview held on Feb. 26.”

“In response to the said findings, Secretary Lorenzana has ordered the discontinuance of the renovation project and removal from the said comfort rooms of the air conditioning units in question, which will instead be used in other approved facilities,” he added.

In a text message to reporters, Lorenzana said “it does not mean that if a project has been approved by Congress, the COA can no longer audit it according to its mandate. It can disallow it, or it can raise a red flag that the money has not been used properly.”

‘Second home’

Still, the DND defended the expenses, saying the main office is like “a second home [for the staff] which should encourage productivity and inspire creativity.”

It explained that its employees work 24-hour shifts while other staff members are obliged to stay in the premises for any contingencies.

The installation of air conditioners, it said, also improves indoor air quality and provides a “mold-free environment.”

“The department is trying to improve its facilities to catch up with the fast pace of modernization, to cope with [international] standards, and in consideration [of] all foreign and local dignitaries visiting the department,” the DND said.

The DND said it would submit a “legal justification’’ for the cost, as it cited a labor department regulation calling for quality and sanitary workplaces.

‘Dawdle’

For state auditors, however, “the inclusion of hot/cold showers, moreso air conditioning units in comfort rooms, are undoubtedly unnecessary since most of the employees or the general public… consider [these] as luxuries or privileges in any common Filipino household.”

“It is beyond comprehension that an employee, especially one that is involved in defense and security, would elect to dawdle inside these common comfort rooms…for longer than necessary. If an employee is burdened with arduous tasks, that person could surely relax for a while in his desk, office, or outside of the same, but never in a comfort room.”