The Commission on Audit recently called out the Department of Social Welfare and Development over its procurement of P11.10 million worth of load cards contrary to its administrative order.

In its 2022 report, state auditors found that DSWD Field Office XI allocated and procured mobile load cards amounting to P11,097,149.75 to various personnel of the agency but stressed that the means of procurement were not among the modes for Mobile Communications and Data Service allocations mandated under DSWD Administrative Order 19, Series of 2019.

Under Section IV of the AO, the DSWD can resort to four modes of Mobile Communication and Data Service allocation which includes an official post-paid line with a Subscriber Identification Module under a corporate plan of DSWD.

It also included monthly reimbursement for individual post plans, prepaid load allocation through an autoloading system and communication load allocation through payroll.

"It has been observed that allocation of the FO's mobile load cards is not among the modes cited above wherein, as practiced, the FO provides mobile prepaid load cards to the DSWD employees, through procurement of mobile load cards from the different network providers and issues these to employees monthly through the assigned Supply Officer under each program," CoA said.

The audit findings also revealed that the DSWD had initially considered the prepaid load allocation through the auto-loading system, citing the testimony of the agency's procurement staff.

"However, it was not pursued due to limited manpower, since the said modality entails workforce to carry out the loading among the registered pre-paid lines of various employees, which prompted the FO to just distribute Mobile Load Cards to the employees and have them utilized accordingly for means of communication," CoA said.

According to the auditing body, the current mode of providing means of communication to the FO's employees through the distribution of mobile load cards may not be beneficial to the DSWD since these load cards may not be utilized according to their purpose by the employees.

Moreover, it may be susceptible to any unauthorized use, given that internal controls are not properly in place compared to the modes provided under AO, where means of verification are present and the trail of expenses is properly supported.