COA finds inconsistencies in Tesda use of P 768-M COVID funds

Photo from COA’s Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines — “Disparities” were found in the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (Tesda) use of P768.53 million in COVID-19 funds and its gains in retooling Filipinos amid the pandemic.

State auditors noted that the Tesda’s utilization rate of funds transferred to regional offices “does not match” with the low rate of enrolled scholars and the actual number of graduates.

The Commission on Audit (COA) said the agency reported a 96 percent obligation and 66 percent disbursement of P768.53 million transferred to regional offices for COVID-19 interventions.

But this “does not match” with the accomplishments, such as only 33,555 enrolled scholars or 59 percent of the 57,000 slots, and only 3,139 graduates or nine percent of the enrollees.

The Tesda was appropriated P950 million in COVID-19 funds, of which P768.53 million was downloaded to regional offices.

In a 2020 audit report on the Tesda, the COA said a review of the fund allocation revealed that the central office “simply allocated P3 million budget per congressional district/party list without identifying the actual needs.”

This “may defeat the purpose of Bayanihan 2 that the scholarship programs shall be for the retooling, retraining and upskilling of displaced workers, including overseas Filipino workers to reduce the adverse impact” of the pandemic.

The COA added that the allocation “runs counter” to the Tesda policy that the Regional Operations Management Office will recommend a basis for the equitable distribution of the fund.

Although the Tesda reported that P739.94 million of the P768.55 million or 96 percent was obligated, the actual disbursement was P492.02 million, or 74 percent of the downloaded funds.

This left P276.53 million in unobligated allotments and unpaid obligations.

The Tesda Scholarship Management Division reported that of 57,000 scholarship slots, there were 33,555 enrollees, and only 3,139 graduates.

“It appears that the reported utilization/obligation rate of 96 percent does not correspond to the number of scholars enrolled of 33,555, which is only 59 percent of the total allocated training slots of 57,000. Likewise, the disbursement rate of 66 percent does not correspond to the actual number of graduates of 3,139 or nine percent of the total number of scholars enrolled,” the COA said.

It added: “The inconsistencies in information are again attributed to the practice of regional offices to immediately obligate and transfer to operating units all scholarship allocation based only on the approved qualification maps. Upon release, it is already reported as utilization/disbursement.”