Legislative committee flags gaps in accountability
By Jayvee Vallejera
More than three years after Super Typhoon Mawar wrecked Guam, no storm-related action report has been published and no oversight has been held to determine what happened to the $50 million appropriation for recovery efforts.
The missing report was one of several accountability gaps identified Monday at an oversight hearing examining Guam’s storm spending, damage assessments and the status of federal assistance in the wake of Typhoon Mawar.
Sen. Shawn Gumataotao, who presided over the hearing, was taken aback that the legislature had held no oversight hearings since the legislature allocated $50 million to fix the island post-Mawar.
The Office of Homeland Security–Office of Civil Defense said no report has been published other than the summaries submitted between 2023 and 2024, which itemize expenditures on contracts, salaries and miscellaneous costs.
“An after-action report was never provided to policymakers. Zero. Typhoon Mawar has been merely referenced in impacts across agency operations, notations and a handful of audits and the implementation of the [Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery] effort at the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority,” Gumataotao said.
Lucia Perez, special projects coordinator at the OHS-OCD, said the office would transmit a report and improvement plan to Gumataotao’s Committee on Public Safety, Emergency Management and Guam National Guard by Oct. 19.
Since 2023, Guam has experienced two more devastating typhoons, Sinlaku and Bavi, and the Guam legislature has allocated close to $90 million to fund Guam’s response and recovery efforts, Gumataotao said.
He added that recovery efforts provided a rare opportunity for the local government to make critical investments to help reduce the impacts of future disasters on families and the public services they depend on.
A cascade of issues overwhelmed Guam after Mawar, with water pumps, cell sites and fuel delivery all failing at the same time due to widespread power outage, Perez said.
Perez identified two other unresolved challenges: Guam’s limited capacity to handle storm debris due to the lack of an option to ship typhoon debris off-island, and the Guam Power Authority's $262 million hardening projects still awaiting funding.
ADVERTISEMENT
She acknowledged that typhoons after Mawar tested the many changes Guam has implemented to better handle storm disasters, including pre-designated debris disposal sites and finance and procurement staff working inside the Emergency Operations Center.
But since Sinlaku and Bavi were not as devastating as Mawar, Perez said the resilience of the newly implemented systems has yet to be assessed.
“The real test is still ahead—a Mawar-class storm striking Guam directly,” she said.
Regarding emergency expenses, Perez could not confirm whether the required reports have been filed with the legislature and the public auditor. She said she would check with the finance team and, if needed, gather and validate the records dating to 2023. She estimates this task to take about 15 working days.
The committee did not receive immediate information on the completion of closeout reports for individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and on how Guam covered the local match for the federal grants.
ADVERTISEMENT
Regarding public assistance, roughly 20 to 25 projects may have used local Mawar funds to meet the required cost share, according to Joseph Cabana, director of the Guam Recovery Office.
He said the Guam Power Authority had been awarded about $16.7 million, but only about $700,000 had been drawn down. Documentation for the remaining amounts had not yet been submitted to his office.
Similarly, the Guam Visitors Bureau had an obligation of about $497,000, but had not supplied documentation for validation, he said.
Budget Director Lester Carlson said that of the $50 million emergency funding, approximately $45.47 million had been earmarked for the Mawar response.
Guam’s mayors received $100,000 each, for a total of 1.9 million.
A balance of about $3.9 million had just been approved for a mold-mitigation contract for the Guam Department of Education. Carlson said he just signed off on this last Friday.
“I would suggest that we keep the balance of funding. Since we're still working through the FEMA process and it does take a really, really long time. I would suggest that those monies still remain available,” he said.
Carlson said Guam has yet to receive FEMA reimbursements for Mawar-related expenses.
The Guam International Airport used $2.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover some of the costs of Mawar, Dafne Shimizu, deputy executive manager, said.
She explained that the airport authority agency had not yet received its insurance or FEMA funds at the time and thus needed help with storm repairs.
Shimizu said the costs paid with ARP funds must be identified and excluded from FEMA reimbursement requests to avoid double-counting the same expense.
Sen. Chris Duenas urged officials to publish the after-action report online once it becomes available. He said its promised delivery next week would help Guam residents see what the government has learned from Mawar and what remains to be fixed.
Subscribe to
our digital
monthly issue