P70M sa COVID-19 funds napunta sa ‘ineligible’ beneficiaries-COA

TINATAYANG P70 milyong piso ng  COVID-19 response funds ng gobyerno ang hindi napunta sa mga eligible beneficiary.

Ito ang nakasaad sa ilalim ng Performance Audit Report sa COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) ng Commission on Audit (COA), isang government program na nagbibigay ng financial support sa mga apektadong manggagawa sa panahon ng pandemya.

Sinabi ng COA na P70.26 million CAMP fund ay ibinigay sa 14,052 benepisaryo  kung saan  6,214 ang  “ineligible” habang  7,838 naman ay “probably ineligible beneficiaries” dahil nakatanggap na ang mga ito ng financial assistance mula sa ibang financial support programs ng gobyerno gaya ng Small Business Wage Subsidy Program ng Social Security System (SSS) at Social Amelioration Program ng Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) at ang kanilang monthly gross salary  ay “above the P40,000 threshold.”

“Based on the interview, DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) only relied on applicants’ self-declaration since there was no available and complete centralized database that would serve as a basis for determining whether an applicant already received financial assistance from other programs,” ayon sa COA.

“In addition, only the DOLE, Department of Finance (DOF), and SSS were able to have a data sharing agreement on their beneficiaries,” dagdag na pahayag ng COA.

Tinukoy naman ng COA na sa ilalim ng ipinatutupad na Guidelines ng Bayanihan 2 Law, “the subsidies or benefits received from existing financial assistance programs  will be taken into consideration in the computation of the subsidy or benefit to be received to prevent double dipping or unauthorized receipt of multiple subsidies.”

Idagdag pa rito, ang CAMP-Bayanihan 2 guidelines na ipinalabas ng DOLE  ay mayroong  listahan na nage-enumerate ng “exclusions” para maging kuwalipikado  mula sa para pigilan ang pamamahagi ng financial assistance sa ineligible beneficiaries na inilarawan sa Bayanihan 2 law.

Sinabi ng COA na  “comparison of CAMP-Bayanihan 2 (beneficiaries information including SAP self-declaration) and SBWS data revealed that  a total of 33 beneficiaries received financial assistance from three government programs, and that these 33 beneficiaries had received a total of P566,000 from CAMP-Bayanihan 2 and SBWS program.”

Ginagamit din ng COA  ang self-declaration ng aplikante mula sa CAMP-Bayanihan 2 data para ma- identify  kung ang isang benepisaryo ay nakatanggap ng SAP.

Gayunman, hindi naman madetermina ng COA kung ang 33 benepisaryo  ay nakatanggap ng SAP dahil sa kakulangan ng dokumento.

“The comparison of CAMP Bayanihan 2 and SBWS data also showed that  6,181 received CAMP Bayanihan 2 financial assistance amounting to P104.61 million, and that 52 of the 6,181 beneficiaries received both CAMP-Bayanihan 2 and SBWS aid,” ayon sa COA.

Ibinalik naman ng 52 benepisaryo ang kanilang subsidies/financial assistance sa Social Security System na mula P5,000 hanggang P17,117 na may kabuuang P472,153.

“In our analysis and the result of interview, we noted that approval of the ineligible beneficiaries (also recipients of SBWS Program) was due to : a) manual cross matching of FO evaluators on the list of SBWS beneficiaries; b) delayed provision of the list; c) lack of awareness of some DOLE regional and field office evaluators on the list of SBWS Program beneficiaries provided by SSS; and d) voluminous applications received and evaluated,” ayon sa COA. (Daris Jose)