CoA flags DMW’s P1.2-B aid program
The Commission on Audit (CoA) flagged documentation and monitoring gaps in the Department of Migrant Workers’ (DMW) distribution of P1.2 billion in financial, legal and medical assistance to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in 2025.
In its audit report, CoA questioned the release of funds under the Agarang Kalinga at Saklolo para sa mga OFWs na Nangangailangan (AKSYON) Fund, citing missing beneficiary acknowledgment receipts, recommendation reports and supporting documents.
Among the findings were deficiencies in disbursements totaling P100.99 million involving 444 beneficiaries in DMW Region VIII and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
Some offices relied on signed payrolls for assistance distributed in batches, while other acknowledgment receipts lacked information needed to validate the releases.
“The absence of a properly accomplished AR secured from each AKSYON Fund beneficiary casts doubts as to whether the assistance was released to the intended recipient,” the report said.
CoA also found that transactions involving P74.42 million in grants to 2,138 beneficiaries in CAR, Region VIII and Region IV-A lacked recommendation reports from welfare officers.
Self-serving targets
Auditors said the missing reports raised questions about compliance with due process and internal controls, as well as the timeliness and accountability of the grants.
The audit also faulted the DMW for failing to standardize documentary requirements for OFWs seeking assistance after alleged maltreatment, abuse, contract violations and illegal dismissal.
Twenty-one individuals received aid under these circumstances. In seven cases, the grants were supported only by certifications from Migrant Workers Offices stating that the OFWs were distressed, based on requests for assistance personally submitted by the workers.
CoA described the requests as “self-serving,” saying the documents alone did not establish the truth of the claims.
“The inability to standardize the documentary requirements for each type of assistance may result in payment of doubtful claims and grants of assistance to ineligible beneficiaries,” the audit report said.
Fund exhausted
CoA also noted that the DMW had no centralized database covering its offices nationwide to track applications and pending claims. The absence of such a system exposed the agency to the risk of beneficiaries receiving duplicate assistance for the same purpose.
Auditors further questioned the DMW’s monitoring of reimbursements for repatriation expenses that should be shouldered by licensed recruitment agencies or employers.
Without adequate records, CoA said, verifying reimbursement claims had become difficult, hindering the imposition of appropriate sanctions.
The DMW nearly exhausted its AKSYON Fund allocation in 2025, which auditors attributed partly to heightened demand amid tensions in the Middle East.