CoA flags P397M AICS beneficiary payments

The Commission on Audit (CoA) observed deficiencies in the payments received by beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Assistance to Individuals and Crisis Situation (AICS) amounting to P397.45 million.

State auditors said that it had found “discrepancies in beneficiary records, referral-based beneficiary selection, inconsistent documentation, inadequate monitoring, and deficiencies in beneficiary validation, deduplication, and accountability controls.”

CoA further stated that the existence of such deficiencies raised questions pertaining to the “integrity, transparency, reliability, and propriety of financial assistant grants” under the AICS program.

The annual audit report of the agency had found lapses particularly when it came to the master-list that was used for the distribution of assistance, noting that there was a weakness when it came to how the lists were verified.

At DSWD’s Field Office in Region XI, state auditors found that there was a deviation from the P5,000 beneficiary allocation for individuals–with some receiving disbursements ranging from P800 to P10,000.

It was further uncovered that the field office had left the selection of beneficiaries for the offsite implementation of the AICS program to a referral based system for cash assistance amounting to P2.67 billion.

CoA likewise found that there was insufficient monitoring of fund transfers for AICS funds to local government units (LGUs), also highlighting an inadequate oversight when it came to the mechanism that was utilized in selecting recipient LGUs.

Still on Field Office XI, the report detailed how there was a seeming concentration of payouts when it came to the election period along with political visibility when the distributions were conducted at the payout sites.

CoA stressed that the findings detailed how the program was subject to various issues, particularly when it came to setting aside political gatekeeping. It said that such issues posed risks to the equitable access of the public to cash assistance.

“Collectively, these deficiencies highlight a material threat to the transparency, accountability, and lawful administration of AICS funds under the Offsite Implementation framework,” the report read.

Duplicate, overlapping payments from AICS/AKAP

Aside from identifying issues pertaining to the direct implementation of the AICS funds, state auditors had also identified overlapping and duplicating payments when it came to the beneficiaries who were enrolled under a different program of the DSWD.

The payments reportedly amounted to a total of P397.45 million, coming as a direct result of “deficiencies in data integrity, beneficiary validation and assessment processes, deduplication measures, and accountability controls.”

State auditors found that of the stated amount P366 million was distributed to AICS beneficiaries who were also registered under the DSWD’s Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP).

“These issues exposed flaws in beneficiary validation and cross-matching processes, notably the lack of an effective system to quickly identify prior assistance receipts,” CoA said.

“This gap allows beneficiaries to receive duplicate or inappropriate aid within a limited period, compromising fair resource distribution, reducing operational efficiency and accountability, and heightening the risk of unnoticed duplicate disbursements,” it added.

In light of the findings, the audit agency urged the management of the DSWD to establish a “strict, time-bound schedule” for field offices that were identified to have deficiencies to validate their records and prevent further exposure of public funds to irregular disbursements.