Philpost can’t account for P5B—COA

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost) has accumulated P5 billion in unliquidated cash advances from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), funds that were meant for distribution to a million beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in 9,657 municipalities last year.

In its latest annual audit report on Philpost released last Friday, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the P4.936 billion in Philpost unliquidated advances were 1,000 percent more than the P449.841 million unliquidated balance that the agency incurred in 2012.

These unliquidated funds in the hands of payout and cluster head postmasters “exposed these funds to malversation, theft or other risks,” the COA said.

Philpost is one of the monetary conduits used by the DSWD for the CCT component of its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) which provides cash incentives to marginalized families to encourage them to send their children to school and get regular maternal checkups.

The DSWD primarily sends out its monthly dole-outs through Landbank branches nationwide. To complement the Landbank distribution system, the DSWD tapped Philposts’ mail stations in Ilocos Sur, Davao del Sur, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Palawan, Rizal, La Union, Benguet and Mt. Province as payout centers.

Philpost said it failed to account for the roughly P5 billion CCT funds it received from the DSWD because of serious glitches in the CCT computerized system of the Landbank that have led to errors and duplication of work in uploading payroll records. It said postmasters were given additional work with no additional staff, and the increase in volume of CCT transactions was unexpected and abrupt.

Massive funding

The DSWD has long been criticized for getting massive funding increases for its CCT program in the past four years despite its sorely limited capacity to deploy such huge amounts to millions of beneficiaries over a thousand municipalities and ensure no leakages or pilferage.

The COA itself noted that the shortcomings in the implementation of the CCT program was a contributing factor in the rise of unliquidated advances in the program’s conduits like the Philpost.

The audit report said that Philpost’s postmasters have yet to receive the DSWD advice on the date of distribution to beneficiaries.

It also said that Philpost spent an additional P13.532 million to cover for losses arising from robberies and cases of holdup of personnel carrying out the CCT program.

Weak accounting

“The weak or even seemingly lack of processing, internal accounting and reporting controls in the implementation and operations of the CCT program, if not addressed immediately, would further result in the unmanageable proportion of unliquidated cash advances,” the COA said.

A memorandum of agreement between the DSWD and Philpost on the CCT distribution exempted Philpost and the Landbank from any liabilities arising from loss or damage in the course of their duty, the COA noted.

The Philpost management led by Postmaster General Josefina de la Cruz provided COA with a liquidation report on P2.282 billion of the CCT funds in the agency’s hands last July. The COA, however, noted that the reports were “stated in lump-sum amounts without the details or breakdown that could be matched with individual certification of liquidation by the DSWD.”

Massive multitasking

Philpost blamed the lack of man power for failing to liquidate roughly half of the P10.992 billion obtained from the DSWD for distribution to CCT beneficiaries in 2013.

“As in any institution, the lack of personnel leads to lack of division of labor and invariably causes errors and inefficiencies due to massive multitasking,” it added, noting that a single payout would take four days to process.

Aside from concerns on the CCT’s operations, the COA also criticized Philpost management for giving gifts, making donations and sponsoring church and school events; for approving P1.085 million in excess per diems for committee meetings; increasing the postmaster general and her assistant’s salary by P1.68 million without the President’s approval; unauthorized payment of P1.596 million performance-based incentive to its directors; P1.79 million in illegal subsidies to car loans of officers and directors; and doubling the number of consultants to 36 which cost P10 million in additional fees from the previous year.

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