MANILA, Philippines – Given a loophole in tracking donations for Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) survivors, the national government is finalizing a centralized bank account for all disaster-related aid, an official said Tuesday, May 13.

Budget Undersecretary Richard Moya said guidelines for this have been drafted, but not yet implemented.

This comes as the national government, Moya said, remains blind to Yolanda donations made directly to local government units (LGUs).

“We feel that we should also monitor those because those are still public funds,” said Moya, his agency’s chief information officer, in a technical working group meeting at the Senate on Tuesday.

To address this situation, Moya said a multi-currency singular account will be managed by the national treasurer once approved. The account is meant to streamline donations that used to be coursed through various agencies.

“Hopefully with the central trust account by the treasurer, the communication becomes better and… if you want it monitored, if you want to get a receipt, you can donate to this account,” he said in an interview after the meeting.

Rehabilitation Secretary Panfilo Lacson introduced a similar move in January – a multi-donor trust fund for Yolanda survivors – but Moya is “not familiar” with this. 

Despite these initiatives, the budget official said the government “cannot stop the donors” from giving their donations straight to LGUs.

He said he also feels the national government “is not yet in a position to require those because first, we need to show that the national government is declaring everything.”

Huge turnout but…

Moya said these as the national government – through its official monitoring website, the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAITH) – said it got more Yolanda donations than the world promised.

Records from FAITH show the Philippines has received at least 135% of the international community’s cash pledges for Yolanda survivors.

Despite this huge turnout, an international aid group said money is not reaching LGUs.

Many Yolanda survivors fear fund misuse.

In an earlier forum organized by Rappler and the Open Budget Partnership, Moya said up to 98% of Yolanda donations go directly not to the government but to non-governmental organizations. He said “we should have the same level of standards” for donations to the private sector. (Watch more in the video below)

Transparency, after all, plays a role in ensuring fulfilled pledges. Diplomacy is also key.

Indonesia saw this in its own rehabilitation efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated Aceh and Nias.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Indonesia’s rehabilitation czari, even “went out of his way to meet donors, sometimes in their home countries.” He did this “to ensure that their efforts are acknowledged and praised,” according to the report by his team.

In the Philippines, Lacson earlier said the government will appoint “evangelists” to follow up on unfulfilled pledges. “We cannot force them because they are donors, in the first place, so we can just appeal to them to make good on their pledges,” Lacson said. – Rappler.com