Nearly P65 million worth of food items distributed by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in 2023 have been flagged over lack of documentation and post-activity reports (PAR).

Vice President Sara Duterte’s office launched the distribution of welfare goods program to address three crucial social problems, such as malnutrition, poverty, and calamity response.

During the second round of deliberation on the OVP’s proposed P2.037 billion allocation for fiscal year 2025 on Tuesday, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro cited a 2023 Commission on Audit report showing that P64.44 million spent under the program was improperly liquidated.

The OVP used the funds to distribute welfare goods including rice sacks, PanSarap Buns, and other food packs for its relief operations.

The documents required for the proper liquidation include the distribution of goods, distribution list, property acknowledgment receipt, request and issue slips, and deed of donation. CoA said said the OVP did not submit any of these.

The audit findings, which have yet to be uploaded to the CoA website, showed that P62,774,996.60 worth of food packs supposedly distributed by year-end of 2023 lack PAR.

According to CoA representative Fajad Tomawis, PAR “serves as proof” that there is indeed distribution or activity happened.

The OVP spent a total of P992,059.20 on the pilot testing of PanSarap Buns in two elementary schools in Davao City and Maguindanao. However, CoA said the OVP did not submit a PAR and proof of acknowledgment that the schools indeed received the goods. 

Rice supplies totalling P678,570 were likewise lacking PAR. 

“In other words, madam chair, this is almost P65 million, which was not properly liquidated with the CoA,” Luistro said.

Meanwhile, CoA also flagged the OVP’s Kalusugan Food Truck, a six-wheeler truck serving as a mobile kitchen in response to calamities, over deficiencies in inventory management.

The audit report revealed that the food stocks under this program were nearly expired, not found in storage, and placed in unventilated storage. The cost of remaining stocks amounted to P148,422.

“Madam chair, I understand that is not a huge amount. However, I wish to invite the attention of the committee that this is the same observation that we had in the budget of the Department of Education,” said Luistro referring to the P5.6 billion in food supplies that allegedly went to waste under DepEd’s school-based feeding program.

Duterte headed DepEd for nearly two years until her abrupt resignation on 19 June. 

“I’m afraid that this might be another case of ghost delivery,” Luistro lamented.

Given the glaring lapses in OVP’s inventory management, Luistro stressed it’s more prudent to leave the management and implementation of the Kalusugan Food Truck to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the agency specialized in catering community service. 

Non-compliant

Tamawis confirmed that the OVP did not strictly comply with the provisions of Presidential Decree 1445 or the State Audit Code of the Philippines in practicing internal control when it implemented the two projects.

Section 123 defines internal control as the plan of the agency to safeguard its assets, check the accuracy and reliability of its accounting data, and encourage adherence to prescribed managerial policies.

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

“In other words, there’s no sufficient internal control,” Luistro lamented.

It was the CoA that responded to the queries of lawmakers on behalf of Vice President Sara Duterte, who skipped the continuation of her office’s budget hearing.

Duterte’s absence prompted the House Committee on Appropriations to defer—for the second time—the deliberations on her office’s proposed allocation.