MANILA, Philippines (Updated 7 p.m.) — The Commission on Audit has flagged the Office of Civil Defense’s “poor utilization” of donations for the victims of Marawi siege, saying the agency only spent P10,000 out of almost P37 million aid received.

In its 2018 report, COA said a balance of P36,910,725 was left unspent out of P36,920,725 total donations received as of end-December last year.

State auditors added that out of nearly P37 million funds, the OCD only spent P10,000 as “financial assistance” for a sole beneficiary of a dead victim of the Marawi battle.

“Clearly, the donations were not utilized to provide for the much needed support of the Marawi siege victims,” COA said.

President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law in the restive southern region of Mindanao on the day the principal Islamic city of Marawi was stormed by heavily-armed homegrown extremists who pledged allegiance to ISIS in May 2017.

In a rousing address to troops in October 2017, Duterte declared Marawi liberated from pro-ISIS extremists after five months of fighting that gave state forces their first taste of urban warfare, and eerily brought to mind the bombed-out cities of Raqqa or Mosul in the Middle East.

Fixing the city has been repeatedly delayed. A Chinese-led consortium initially tapped to spearhead the rehabilitation plan was disqualified over legal and financial issues.

The clearing of debris, the first step before the actual construction, also hit a snag due to legal problems and the government hopes it will finally be finished in November.

Task Force Bangon Marawi Chairperson Eduardo Del Rosario reportedly told a recent House committee hearing that the rebuilding effort was hindered by the failure of agencies to submit project proposals.

Another reason for the unspent funds was the problem of validating the list of families entitled to assistance, Del Rosario added.

'Good intention of donors not fully served'

According to a June 23, 1998 memorandum order, financial assistance amounting to P10,000 must be granted to the families of dead disaster victims and P5,000 for the injured. The funding for the assistance will be sourced from donations.

The financial aid can only be availed if claims are filed and are supported by documents — a process that COA said “could be very burdensome for some victims” and “could be one of the causes of low utilization of the donated funds.”

“The poor utilization of the donated funds defeated the purpose of donation and that the good intention of the donors for human consideration was not fully served,” COA said. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral with reports from AFP, BusinessWorld