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MANILA, Philippines – Despite having the highest audit rating in the government, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) was still singled out by the Commission on Audit (COA) for its slow use of medical assistance program funds that could have helped more people.
According to the OVP’s COA audit report for 2019 dated Friday, the office has yet to use its P122.8 million of outstanding medical assistance program (MAP) funds for 2019, now totaling P195 million, which could have provided financial aid for hospitalized patients. homeless people across the country.
As a result, minor patients were assisted. COA said this is against Presidential Decree 1445 or the Philippine Audit Code, which mandates efficient management of funds.
The COA table showed that the OVP has P317.9 million recorded obligations that were found in the office’s compliance report, but only 38.64 percent or P122.8 million have been delivered to the hospitals serving beneficiaries. by OVP.
“Table 3 also shows that most of the unused fund comes from the Hospital Funds Transfer, which refers to transfers of funds and funds required to the Government Hospital Implementation Agencies to pay the GL (letter of guarantee) that they are provided to qualified individuals, “COA said.
OVP provides P25,000 assistance for qualified chemotherapy / radiation / branch therapy patients per request; P15,000 for surgeries, operations, transplants and hospitalization; P10,000 for hemodialysis and implants; and P5,000 for laboratory and diagnostic procedures and medications.
The OVP and Vice President Leni Robredo pointed out that the delays in the disbursement of funds were not due to any issue related to corruption, but more to a matter of prudence, since they were not allowed to make expenses for their programs because 2019 is a choice. year.
Previously, the office prided itself on having the highest COA audit rating for two consecutive years.
READ: OVP Earns COA’s Highest Audit Rating for Second Year in a Row
Robredo, considered the front man of the opposition, participated in the campaign for the senatorial list of the opposition bloc, Otso Diretso.
On his Sunday radio show, Robredo also clarified the issues, adding that COA only recommended ways for OVP to streamline spending and programs.
“For example […] he (COA) asks why our healthcare program in 2018, our utilization appears to be low […] nae-explains naman namin kasi election year 2019. Because it is election year, he is not allowed to spend all the campaign time for a few months, ”he said.
(For example, COA asked why our health assistance program in 2018 seemed to have a low utilization rate. We explained that 2019 was an election year and because it is an election year, we are unable to spend for the entire period campaign).
“So those are some of the comments. But these are minor problems, he is not related to corruption, “he added.
(Those are some of the observations. But these are only minor problems, not related to corruption).
The COA confirmed that the 2019 elections are a problem in the same report, citing that OVP was unable to obtain a waiver from the Elections Commission on spending.
Still, COA recommended to OVP that it streamline processes to facilitate a faster transfer of MAP funds, which the latter adhered to by making a change from awarding cash grants to letters of guarantee only.
Out of just 97 beneficiaries from Visayas and 52 from Mindanao who used the cash grants, the guarantee letter system increased the number of beneficiaries to 736 for Visayas and 1,360 for Mindanao.
“We recommend that the Administration, in its re-evaluation of the guidelines […] consider alternative service delivery strategies, such as providing cash assistance to those who were unable to use the GL and those who were unable to access the OVP Service Delivery Network, ”said COA.
/ MUF
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