OVP faces scrutiny over P65M in ‘ghost’ food deliveries

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

Vice President Sara Duterte’s office launched the distribution of welfare goods program to address malnutrition, poverty and calamity response.

During the second round of deliberations on the OVP’s proposed P2.037 billion allocation for fiscal year 2025 on Tuesday, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro cited a 2023 report from the Commission on Audit (CoA), 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 relief operations.

The required documents for proper liquidation include a distribution list, property acknowledgment receipt, request and issue slips, and a deed of donation. CoA 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 the end of 2023 lacked post-activity reports.

According to CoA representative Fajad Tomawis, post-activity reports “serve as proof” that the distribution or activity took place.

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 post-activity report or proof of acknowledgment that the schools received the goods.

Rice supplies totaling P678,570 were also lacking post-activity reports, it added.

“In other words, this is almost P65 million that was not properly liquidated with 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, for deficiencies in inventory management.

The audit report revealed that food stocks under this program were nearly expired, not found in storage, and placed in unventilated areas. The remaining stock was valued at P148,422.

“I understand that this is not a huge amount. However, I wish to bring the committee’s attention to the fact that this is the same observation we had with the Department of Education’s budget,” Luistro said, 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 resignation on 19 June this year.

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

Given the inventory management lapses, Luistro stressed it would be more prudent to leave the management and implementation of the food truck program to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the agency specialized in community service.

Tomawis confirmed that the OVP did not strictly comply with the provisions of Presidential Decree 1445, the State Audit Code of the Philippines, in practicing internal control when implementing the two projects.

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

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

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

It was CoA that responded to lawmakers’ queries 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.