COA flags DepEd for ‘ghost students’ in voucher program

The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged deficiencies in the implementation of the Department of Education (DepEd) of its Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) program in 2025.

State auditors found that there were a total of 58 “unverifiable” Voucher Program Beneficiaries (VPBs) from senior high school for the school year 2025-2026.

The lack of verification for beneficiaries reportedly led to an overpayment of nearly P1 million.

In a separate finding, COA found that there were five other voucher recipients that were “misclassified under incorrect voucher categories” that led to the loss of P14,700.

“These lapses expose the program to the risk of erroneous billing and overpayment, compromise the reliability of beneficiary validation, and may result in the disbursement of funds to ineligible beneficiaries,” the report stated.

Despite the discrepancies, the auditing agency indicated that the program had an overall compliance rate of 96.48 percent.

COA, however, still recommended for DepEd to strengthen its “post-billing validation and reconciliation procedures” through ensuring that senior high schools were updating information that was indicated in the Learner Information System in a timely and accurate manner.

Ghost projects

Under the same audit report, state auditors also found that there was a deficiency when it came to three separate projects in schools at Davao del Norte.

Two projects amounting to P36.35 million intended for one-storey school buildings in Talaingod were paid up despite no structure being found upon inspection.

The buildings were meant to be built in Kamingawan Elementary School and Dulyan Integrated School.

Both projects were meant to include solar power systems, school furniture, rainwater collector systems, and water systems.

A two-storey school building project in Dugayan National High School in Kapalong, meanwhile, was likewise flagged, having been paid up 98.90 percent despite only the structural frame being constructed.

State auditors recommended for the School Division Office of Davao del Norte to “issue formal notices of termination of all contracts and initiate blacklisting proceedings against the erring contractors.”

It likewise sought for a fact-finding investigation “to determine the accountability of concerned officials” and to recover the funds that were paid to the contractors despite the incomplete projects.