Metro Manila, Philippines – The Office of the Vice President said no funds were lost and all amounts were accounted for in the 2025 relief operations flagged by the Commission on Audit.
The agency said the deficiencies involved some pre-operation documents required under its internal procedures, not requirements imposed by law or audit regulations.
“The discrepancies arose from changes in circumstances and field conditions that became apparent as the operations were carried out,” the OVP said in a statement Friday, Sept. 25.
“No funds were lost, and all funds are accounted for,” it added.
The OVP said the relief operations were conducted and their beneficiaries were recorded and validated using available supporting documents and field records submitted to the COA team.
The COA had flagged a number of deficiencies in the OVP implementation of relief operations of around ₱168 million.
In its 2025 Consolidated Report on the Audit of Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Funds, the audit body cited inconsistent reports, deviations from approved mission orders and incomplete beneficiary documentation.
Auditors found inconsistencies between reports submitted by government agencies and local governments and those prepared by the OVP for relief operations involving ₱19.67 million in welfare goods.
The COA also found that 24 relief operations involving ₱39 million in goods deviated from approved mission orders without documented authorization.
The changes covered distribution schedules and locations, quantities of relief items and the amount of rice distributed.
Eight mission orders covering ₱84.12 million in relief distributions did not identify specific target beneficiaries.
Instead, the orders broadly directed the distribution of goods to affected or displaced families.
COA recommended that the OVP strengthen its review procedures and require complete documentation and authorization for adjustments made during relief operations.
The OVP said it was continuing to improve its documentation, validation and monitoring processes.
With reports from Chim Cantos
