MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has found more than 200 beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) who appeared to have received doles twice from 2016 to 2018.
The COA conducted duplicate tests on nine sample payrolls of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and found 209 names that received at least P3.57 million in benefits.
In its audit report, the COA said duplicate names existed in the payrolls from all regions, mostly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where over P1 million was disbursed to duplicate beneficiaries.
Double payment
“The existence of double names in the system connotes double payment to beneficiaries, which amount should have been given to other poor families,” the commission said.
The audit body also flagged the DSWD’s regional office in Caraga, after 57 beneficiares of 4Ps were paid P297,900 despite discrepancies in signatures in the payrolls that should have flagged the claims as “doubtful.”
The COA recommended that the DSWD require the national program manager to look into the list of beneficiaries, isolate double names and validate if these are the same people, then delist if proven duplicate.
It also called on the director of DSWD-Caraga region to probe the alleged discrepancies in signatures.
In its response, the DSWD said it had already looked into the duplicate names and claimed the number of duplicates have been “reduced significantly” compared to previous years.
“[We] will continue to address this concern until all duplicates in the database are eliminated,” the agency said.