Over 71,000 Odette victims in Cebu failed to receive ₱10K aid due to disagreements between NHA-7 and former Gov. Garcia; ₱712M returned to the national treasury.
CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES — Over 71,000 victims of Typhoon Odette in Cebu Province failed to receive their P10,000 financial assistance from the national government after disagreements between the National Housing Authority (NHA) in Central Visayas and then Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia.
The conflict led to the return of P712 million to the national treasury after the cash aid was not distributed to the intended beneficiaries.
NHA-7 regional manager Hermes Jude D. Juntilo said they were supposed to distribute the assistance to 71,209 validated beneficiaries in Cebu Province but were prevented from doing so because of disagreements with the Capitol.
Juntilo said Garcia wanted the amount downloaded to the provincial government so it could manage the distribution through a QR-coded card system. He added that another source of conflict was the discrepancy in the number of beneficiaries: the Capitol listed 400,000, far higher than the 72,209 listed by NHA based on official data from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and local government units.
Juntilo said Garcia feared confusion might arise if the NHA figures were followed. “Muingon unya kuno ang uban nga wala lagi mi nga nalista man mi,” he said.
Conflicting figures
NHA Community Support Services Officer Jube Kathreen Obido explained that the NHA’s figures were based on lists from LGUs, consolidated by the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Offices (DRRMOs), the OCD, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
She said the OCD and DSWD had earlier agreed on the distribution process. Initially, both totally and partially damaged houses were included, but due to limited funds in 2022, only households with totally damaged houses were prioritized.
“In Cebu Province, the numbers ballooned to 400,000 because even partially and slightly damaged houses were included, which explains why their figures were higher than ours,” Obido said.
Of the 72,209 NHA-validated beneficiaries, at least 1,000 received assistance in November 2022—555 in Carcar City and 445 in Naga City, the only LGUs that submitted complete and validated master lists.
Obido said 71,209 beneficiaries in Cebu Province remain without aid.
Juntilo added that negotiations with the Capitol went back and forth, with the provincial government requesting that the P712 million be prorated among 400,000 beneficiaries instead of strictly giving P10,000 each, as stated in program guidelines.
He said the NHA General Manager did not agree to let the province handle the implementation, which resulted in the funds being returned to the treasury.
“It’s beyond me,” Juntilo said, admitting he is unsure whether the money can still be retrieved. He noted, however, that the current administration may still file a request for reversion, subject to higher approval.
Juntilo also stressed that their list was always based on government records. “We have basis…among basis is always the government records,” he said.
While aid intended for Cebu Province remains in limbo, the NHA said it had fully distributed assistance in other areas: 22,640 beneficiaries in Lapu-Lapu City (2024), 12,256 in Mandaue City (2023), and 11,009 in Cebu City.
Garcia’s side
In a phone interview, Garcia disputed Juntilo’s account.
“I don’t think he was entirely forthright or totally accurate in his statements. By the time the P712 million was presented to us, we had already distributed over P1.8 billion all over the affected LGUs through the Dasig Sugbo Cards,” Garcia said.
She said the NHA in 2022 initially planned to extend aid to only a limited number of LGUs. As governor, she requested that the P712 million be equitably distributed among all affected LGUs, even if it meant smaller amounts per household, using the Dasig Sugbo cards—QR-coded cards that could be presented in supermarkets and hardware stores to ensure aid is used properly.
Garcia said she consistently appealed for the NHA to adopt the Capitol’s system and release the P10,000 allocation in a way that would allow everyone to receive some assistance.
However, she claimed the NHA insisted on working only with LGUs it had identified, which, according to her, were not necessarily the hardest-hit areas.
Garcia added that if the P712 million had been distributed only to NHA’s chosen beneficiaries, she would have been held accountable by other victims, including mayors and barangay officials.
“He was not very honest about why the P712 million was returned. Magubot, magubot,” Garcia said.
She warned that the NHA’s proposed scheme could cause conflict, saying LGU officials risked being accused of favoritism if many residents were left out.
“I was speaking from the point of view of the LGUs that would be affected,” Garcia said.
“I was deciding always in favor of the province and of course our towns and cities. I wanted to avoid another gubot na pod… kay wa man sila mailhi sa publiko pero magpagwapo sila, even though that money would only have caused chaos and confusion and at the same time wouldn’t have been spent for the purpose intended,” she added.
Garcia maintained that through the Dasig Sugbo program, the provincial government distributed around P1.8 billion worth of food and materials to more than 300,000 people across 38 LGUs, with varying amounts depending on whether homes were totally, moderately, or slightly damaged.
| Written by Kristin de Dios
