CONCERNS OVER SPOILAGE The Commission on Audit took 238 pages to report how relief goods stored by the Department of Social Welfare Development (DSWD) have become highly exposed to rats, cockroaches and large-scale spoilage. Pictured here is the DSWD’s National Resource Operations Center in Pasay City during a calamity response operation on Jan. 12 this year. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Thursday said it had already acted on most of the recommendations made by the Commission on Audit (COA), which recently reported the sorry state of the agency’s Metro Manila warehouse, including the exposure of the stored relief goods to rats and cockroaches.
DSWD spokesperson Romel Lopez clarified that the facility cited in the COA’s special audit report was only a “temporary warehouse,” one located near the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) which serves as the main DSWD depot.
Both are located in Pasay City and managed by the department’s office for the National Capital Region. The temporary warehouse used to be the main office of the National Council of Women of the Philippines.
Ongoing for a month
According to Lopez, the DSWD has already initiated regular pest-control measures to address the concerns raised by the commission.
In a 238-page report, state auditors noted that the pest problem had been so bad that the warehouse staff had to transfer some of the goods in storage, especially coffee and cereals, to another area.
Lopez also said proper pallet systems were now in place for a more organized stacking of the food items.
“We have been implementing these measures for more than a month (to) clean up our temporary warehouse,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
Already for disposal
As to the food items nearing spoilage or past their expiration dates, Lopez said what the COA report cited were probably batches that had already been segregated for disposal.
Repairs will also be done soon, the official said, in response to the COA findings about the broken windows and damaged roofing of the warehouse.
The goods currently in storage at the warehouse will be moved to the NROC while these improvements are being made, Lopez said.
“The words ‘state of disrepair’ and ‘lack of cleanliness and organization’ are not acceptable to the DSWD’s manual of housing relief items in any of our warehouses or facilities,” he said in a separate statement also issued on Thursday.