Only P200 M, not P5B CCT funds are unliquidated by Philpost—DSWD

DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman belied claims that the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) pooled P5 billion in unliquidated Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) cash advances, stating the unaccounted CCT funds are pegged only at P200 million.

“Na-liquidate na po ng Philpost. Ang kanilang hindi na-liquidate ay P200 million from 2013,” Soliman said in a radio interview Wednesday.

(Philpost has already liquidated CCT funds. They have not liquidated P200 million from 2013.)

DSWD clarified that the P200 million CCT funds, which is unaccounted for by Philpost have reached its target beneficiaries.

“Kapag sinabi kasing unliquidated, ang ibig sabihin po nun, hindi pa nila na-account kung saan na-disburse.  Sa aming monitoring, umabot ho yan [P200 million] dahil hindi po sila [Philpost] nagdidisburse na wala kaming tao. Pero ‘yung documentation, ‘yung acknowledgement receipt na sana dapat sila ang mag-co-collect para sa reporting sa Land Bank, ‘yun ang hindi pa nairereport,” Soliman said.

(When you say “unliquidated”, it means that they have not yet accounted where the money was disbursed. In our monitoring, it [P200 million] has reached them [CCT beneficiaries] because they [Philpost] do not disburse without us. But the documentation, the acknowledgement receipt which they are supposed to collect in order to report to Land Bank, is the one that is not yet reported.)

Soliman added the DSWD and Land Bank of the Philippines (Land Bank) entered into a contract with Philpost as a conduit for the distribution of monthly dole-outs as the government bank has limited number of branches to serve the CCT beneficiaries.

She said the DSWD severed its contract with Philpost last July because it failed to “liquidate on time and on a regular basis”.

Asked on why the DSWD chose the Philpost as one of its conduits, Soliman said that postmen are the ones who could reach CCT beneficiaries living in far-flung areas because it is in their skill set.

‘We do not keep the money’

Soliman said it is the Land Bank, and not the DSWD, which keeps and distributes CCT funds.

“Sila [Land Bank] po ang may hawak ng pera. Wala po sa amin ang pera,” Soliman said.

(They [Land Bank] keep the money. We do not keep the money.)

She also clarified that the conduits disburse their own money which will then be reimbursed by the Land Bank.

Aside from Philpost, DSWD tapped remittance services, cooperative banks and rural banks to be monetary conduits.

The DSWD secretary also said that DSWD and the Land Bank did not exempt Philpost from any liabilities, saying that Philpost returned the P9.4 million stolen from postmen and has given it to CCT beneficiaries.

An Inquirer report published Wednesday said that P4.936-billion CCT funds have been accumulated by Philpost, citing a Commission on Audit report.

The report also said that Philpost provided COA with a liquidation report on P2.282 billion CCT funds characterized by COA as “lump-sum amounts”.

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