RELATED: OVP gets highest COA rating for fourth straight year
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 18) — State auditors questioned the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for using its Survey, Research, Exploration and Development (SRED) fund for COVID-19 related projects last year when VP Leni Robredo was still leading the office.
In its 2021 report uploaded to its website on July 15, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the ₱25 million budget was not utilized for its intended purpose.
Last month, Robredo ended her term on a high note after her office received the highest audit rating from COA. She announced that COA granted the OVP an unqualified opinion for the fourth straight year (2018-2021).
The COA gives an “unqualified opinion” to a government office if it fairly presented its financial report. The rating means that an entity’s financial statements adhere to generally accepted accounting principles, and fairly represent the entity’s financial account.
“Per review of transactions, it was disclosed that the SRED budget was realigned and utilized for OVP’s regular social services, COVID-19 projects and other purposes,” COA said in its latest report.
The budget was supposed to be used to assess the impact and success of the OVP’s Angat Buhay program in addressing poverty in community beneficiaries.
The OVP explained it was unable to obtain feasible proposals from service providers that match the requirements for survey and research activities.
“While the budget may not have been utilized for its original intended purpose, its actual utilization has achieved a substantial and far more reaching benefit during the pandemic,” OVP management said.
COA, however, said the OVP should have offered the budget for discontinuance to fund other priority projects.
Auditors also pointed out deficiencies in the OVP’s emergency purchase of COVID-19 antigen test kits.
Based on the report, the OVP purchased 22,000 antigen test kits worth ₱9.9 million.
Auditors said there was apparently no urgent reason for the emergency purchase as over 17,000 test kits were used two to eight months from their deliveries.
They said the OVP could have saved a lot of money considering the decrease in price of antigen test kits amid an increase of supply in the market.
OVP management said the test kits were intended for the roll out of its Swab Cab project.
It explained the DOH changed the guidelines on the use of antigen test kits after the items had already been procured. The new guidelines recommended the use of antigen test kits for targeted screening and diagnosis of probable cases, which meant adjustments in the selection of sites for the Swab Cab.
The OVP was not a recipient of the Duterte administration’s COVID-19 funds.
Robredo’s office also received a recertification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) last year after a successful audit of its quality management system.
