P1-M food expenses for online meetings of DOH Western Visayas questioned

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has called the attention of the regional office of the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas for spending more than P1 million in food catering for its online meetings.

But the DOH said the food was consumed by participants who were present in their office.

The catering expense for virtual meetings for the regional office amounting to P1,080,343.87 was part of the irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, or unconscionable (IUEEU) expenditures totaling P555,699,748.22 in the COA’s 320-page annual audit report for the DOH covering 2020.

The catering services for virtual meetings “were not essential in the conduct of the activities, since the participants were in their respective work stations and performed their usual functions,” according to the COA observation.

The COA said it would issue notices of disallowance on the transactions.

‘Blended’ activities

“The apparent disregard of existing laws and regulations affected the regularity, validity and propriety of covered transactions. Government funds and property were exposed to the risk of loss or misuse,” according to its general observation for transactions tagged as IUEEU.

But in a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Christine Abuzo, chief accountant of the DOH in Western Visayas, said the flagged transaction only covered meals of meeting and orientation participants who were in the DOH office, and not those who were in their homes.

Abuzo said their office held more than 100 virtual meetings and orientations to discuss all programs of the DOH and not just those related to COVID-19. These were conducted from May to December 2020 and expenses per meeting ranged from P5,000 to P10,000.She said the “blended” meetings and orientations, or a combination of virtual and in-person attendance, involved participants who were at the regional office and those in their homes or in local government offices.

Abuzo said the regional office had sent a reply to the COA findings.