OVP improperly liquidated nearly P65 million worth of welfare goods — COA

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly P65 million worth of funds spent to distribute welfare goods under the Office of the Vice President (OVP) were improperly liquidated, the state auditors said on Tuesday, September 10. 

During the second round of the House appropriations panel’s deliberation on the OVP’s proposed 2025 budget, Rep. Gerville “Jinky” Luistro (Batangas, 2nd District) raised concerns over the vice president’s expenditure on projects that aim to address the problem of malnutrition, calamity and hunger in 2023. This includes the deployment of Kalusugan Food Trucks and the distribution of welfare goods such as rice sacks, food packs and PanSarap Buns. 

What was spent? The OVP had spent P992,059.20 on the pilot testing of PanSarap Buns in Davao City and Maguindanao, and disbursed P678,750 for rice distribution during disaster relief operations. 

The largest portion of the improperly liquidated funds is the P62.774 million spent on distributing relief packs in 2023.

For the Kalusugan Food Trucks program, the COA found mismanagement of inventory where foods were about to expire, were not found in storage or were stored in unventilated storage. The total cost of the remaining stock is P148,422,000. 

All of these amount to almost P65 million worth of welfare goods.

Luistro asked the Commission on Audit (COA) if the OVP followed the mandate to install “internal control” in implementing these projects and programs as instructed by Presidential Decree 1445 or the State Audit Code of the Philippines. COA said the agency had not. 

Luistro highlighted this because the OVP's liquidation of welfare goods in 2023 was inadequately documented. 

Internal control is defined under Section 123 as the agency’s plan to ensure the “accuracy and reliability” of financial information. It also emphasizes the need for an agency to have a structured plan coordinating the methods and measures to protect its assets.  

Meanwhile, Section 124 states that “it shall be the direct responsibility of the agency head to install, implement, and monitor a sound system of internal control.” 

Among the documents needed to submit are distribution lists, property acknowledgment receipts or