The Commission on Audit has flagged the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) over P780.71 million that were not used amid the COVID-19 lockdowns.
According to COA’s 2020 annual report, DSWD Field Offices in the Cordillera region and Regions 2, 7, 8, and 11 had unutilized cash aid “due to the inclusion of unqualified beneficiaries in the master list, and consequentially, depriving at least 139,300 families who are qualified for the program.”
The unused funds would have been given to 14,200 families in the Cordillera region, 4,762 families in Region 2, 28,978 families in Region 7, 45,609 families in Region 8, and 45,751 families in Region 11 of cash aid.
“Given the scarcity of government resources for COVID-19 expenses, there is a dire need to evaluate targeted beneficiaries through proper coordination and monitoring properly and proper and efficient validation that could maximize the number of qualified beneficiaries who could benefit from the SAP,” state auditors said.
DSWD Field Office 2 answered and said the unused funds were due to listed beneficiaries who were disqualified upon validation.
DSWD Field Office 8 said, “the reason for the big refunds was due to the bloated numbers of the classified poor families.” It noted the basis of the DSWD Central Office was the Philippine Statistics Authority’s 2015 classified lists report.
COA: DSWD has P780.71-million unused cash aid
Meanwhile, DSWD Field Office 7 said the amount returned by local governments amounting to P173.87 million “represents the excess of funds versus the actual number of eligible beneficiaries after the conduct of the validation.”
COA said in a rejoinder that the verification of disbursement and liquidation reports from DSWD Field Office 7 showed that refunds “were from individuals who earlier received the assistance and later have returned/refunded the same to the LGUs.”
“Thus, the Audit Team disagrees with Management’s comment that the returned/refunded amount of P173,870,460.00 represents the excess of funds versus the number of eligible beneficiaries after the conduct of the validation,” COA said.
COA also flagged P4.36 billion in unliquidated fund transfers to local governments for cash aid.
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