Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 3) — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) bungled the use of the 20% discounts and value-added tax (VAT) exemptions available to senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) who purchased medicines and food through its Medical Assistance Program, resulting in an inefficient use of funds, state auditors said.
In its 2022 report on the OVP, the Commission on Audit (COA) said that out of 1,083 randomly selected medical assistance program clients, 471 or nearly half (43.39%) did not receive their senior citizen or PWD discounts.
Under Republic Acts (RA) 9994 and 10754, senior citizens and PWDs, respectively, are entitled to 20% discounts and VAT-exemptions for generic and branded medicines, including influenza and pneumococcal vaccines, as well as \”foods for special medical purposes in all drugstores.\”
The auditors noted low discount availment rate in the OVP program was a result of the following:
-Clients did not bring their senior citizen, PWD IDs, or booklets to avail themselves of the discount;
-The medicines prescribed to the clients exceeded one-month’s supply allowed in the discount, resulting in the discount not being fully maximized;
-Some clients chose not to avail of their discounts because the amount of their requested medicine \”does not exceed the maximum amount of OVP’s medical assistance\”;
-Some clients were also not informed that they can use their discounts.
\”The non-availment of the authorized discount impedes the efficient utilization of OVP funds, which could have further used to assist more clients in need,\” the COA said.
To address the issue, the agency recommended the following to the OVP: include senior citizen and PWD booklets as part of the program’s requirements; list price quotations at the discounted price; and inform clients about the use of the discount during the eligibility interview stage.
Meanwhile, in the same audit, the COA flagged the OVP over its establishment of satellite offices without complying with procurement rules and processes when it purchased property worth over ₱668,000.
It also noted that last year the office spent ₱125 million in confidential funds, which did not exist in the agency’s budget in the past five years.
