P709M in DOTr fuel subsidy funds remain undistributed – COA

A report from the Commission on Audit (COA) found that P709.88 million in funds allocated for the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) fuel subsidy program were left undistributed due to deficiencies in the data that were meant for the payments.

“Fuel Subsidy totaling P709,880,800.00 remained undistributed to the intended beneficiaries due to rejection of transactions by the bank arising from incorrect data required for the release payments,” the report stated.

State auditors said that the failure to distribute the funds conflicted with the provisions indicated in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that was signed on 28 June 2024.

The said MOA required the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) “to coordinate and facilitate the effective distribution of the fuel subsidy.”

COA further identified that there was P2.85 million in overpayments that have yet to be refunded because of duplicate submissions of Authority to Debit.

“These deficiencies undermine the objective of the Government to provide assistance to qualified beneficiaries as mandated under General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2022, 2023, and 2024,” state auditors said.

In lieu of the findings, the auditing agency urged the LTFRB and the DILG to ensure that masterlists were properly verified and to reconcile the “outstanding, rejected and unrefunded” amounts.

The P709.88 million in funds that were left undistributed were just a small portion of the P58.84 billion in funds that remain undisbursed at the transportation agency due to similar issues found in the distribution of fuel subsidy.

State auditors likewise expressed the need to resolve issues pertaining to P1.06 billion in unliquidated fund transfers that were caused by “delay in the release of fund transfers and the continued transfer of funds to projects that were not implementation ready.”

COA said that the development “exposed government resources to risk of prolonged non-utilization.”

In spite of its findings, the agency still issued an unmodified audit opinion on the amounts.

“These misstatements were considered immaterial to the financial statements,” it stated.