Responding to news articles citing the findings of the 2013 Annual Audit Report of the Commission on Audi (COA) on Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program being implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said that answers and clarifications to the audit observations have already been submitted to the state auditing firm.

Sec. Soliman emphasized that the auditors were merely seeking documentation of program implementation and did not indicate any suspicion of misuse or misappropriation of funds.

“We are confident that there is nothing to doubt about the Department’s integrity, especially with the funds that COA cites as unliquidated in their 2013 annual audit report. The funds went to the rightful beneficiaries,” Sec. Soliman added.

The news articles reported that out of the P10.626 billion funds transferred by the DSWD to the Land Bank of the Philippines for the payment of Pantawid Pamilya cash grants for 2013, only P10.295 billion was utilized or disbursed as of Dec. 31, 2013, leaving behind a balance of P330.347 million representing unpaid amount intended for beneficiaries in eight regions. Some P91.929 million of which were unclaimed grants of active beneficiaries in Regions IV-A, VI, IX, and CARAGA.

“The DSWD is currently working on the liquidation of the whole amount. In fact we have already liquidated 94% of the 2013 funds for cash grants. Further,  the Department is processing the return of cash grants intended for families/ households who were tagged by our system as delisted, with reflected status as missing, no eligible member for monitoring, or moved to areas not covered by the program,” Sec. Soliman explained.

Likewise, the news already the COA finding of 4,032 double household entries.

The Department has responded and said that 1,752 of which are unique households and were retained in the programs, while only 609 are actual duplicates and were delisted. The remaining 1,636 remaining entries are still undergoing validation.