COA: Mandaluyong university failed to spend P86M

The Rizal Technological University (RTU) has failed to make use of some P86.5 million from its 2014 budget to improve its facilities and finance the education of “poor but deserving” students, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

In its annual audit of the Mandaluyong City-based state university, the COA also directed RTU officials to return to the government P99 million in unauthorized cash incentives which they had granted to university personnel and even members of the board of regents since 2012.

The state audit body also took to task university officials for their failure to utilize P14.3 million in scholarship funds under the national government’s Expanded Students’ Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation.

It said the financial aid would have helped 232 scholars, including students whose families were beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program of the Aquino administration.

According to the COA, the scholarship grant was “not utilized… due to lack of close coordination among” RTU officials, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and the Department of Budget and Management.

“[This delayed] the processing and approval of the enrolled 116 potential student-grantees submitted by RTU to CHEd, thereby causing an impact on the objective of the program,” it added.

“The delay in the approval of the list of grantees and processing of papers similarly delayed the release of [funds], thus, depriving the intended beneficiaries [of the benefits of] the scholarship program,” the state audit body said.

From its approved budget of P82.4 million from the Special Trust Fund (STF), the COA noted that the RTU spent only P35.2 million of the allocation for the purchase of school equipment and construction of school facilities.

The COA blamed this on the university officials’ “deficient planning, budgeting and execution in the procurement of projects.”

“The inefficient spending of [the] STF as budgeted derailed the plan of RTU of improving the school facilities and modernizing [its] equipment for better services [for] students,” it said, adding:

“Also, there is a clear lack of urgency on the part of the [RTU officials] to implement the procurement of projects under [its] 2014 Approved Procurement Plan.”

Moreover, the state auditors discovered that the university was not able to spend P25 million for the procurement of equipment for its “Pilot Training Center for Industrial Electronics” which resulted in “its failure to fully realize the objectives of the project.”

Sought for comment, Rogelio Hernandez, RTU vice president for development and administration, said that they have yet to see a copy of the COA report.

He admitted, however, that the university did not use up all of the P82.4 million STF in preparation for the expected drop in the number of enrollees with the implementation of the K-12 program.

“We’re saving it for the coming [school] year[s] when there are no incoming first year students,” Hernandez said.

Because of the transition, the university may not have enough funds for the salaries of its employees and pay its utility bills, hence the decision not to spend all of its budget, he added.

Hernandez, however, maintained that the funds given to the RTU are spent well to benefit their students as evidenced by their competitiveness compared to those from other schools.

At the same time, he said  the university has yet to receive an order for the return of the incentives granted to personnel since 2012. He added that should the order be issued, they would “explain that these were given to help improve the performance of the employees.”

As for the P14.3 million in unused scholarship funds, Hernandez said this was caused by various factors such as the students’ failure to comply with requirements, as well as the screening process of the DSWD.