The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) assured the public Thursday, Aug. 19, that the P5.3-million worth of financial aid given to 330 former rebels in Caraga Region was accounted for, and that it was coordinating with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to address the “inappropriate documentation” of funds.
DSWD Undersecretary Rene Glen Paje said the agency is now addressing the Commission on Audit’s (COA) report flagging the agency’s “inappropriately documented” funds given to ex-rebels under the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) and the Livelihood Settlement Grant (LSG) aid programs.
“Wala naman pong problema sa accounting, ang problema lang po ay yung supporting documents na certified true copy lamang at tulad ng nabanggit ko ginagawan naman po ng paraan para makuha ang original na copy upang maipresenta sa COA at maiwasto itong kanilang mga comment dito sa aming report (There is no problem with the accounting, the only problem is that the supporting documents submitted are only certified true copy and as I mentioned, we are getting the original copy so that it will be presented to COA and they can correct their comments here in our report),” he said in an interview with TeleRadyo.
State auditors said the DSWD disbursed P1.28 million for rebels under E-CLIP, while P4.04 million worth of LSG assistance was released, and that these transactions were inappropriately documented.
Paje recognized that COA required the original copies of documents, including the Joint AFP-PNP Intelligence Committee certification or JAPIC to ensure that the beneficiaries are former rebels.
He explained that the DSWD Field Office-Caraga was only able to submit the certified true copies of the documents, because other implementing agencies preferred to keep the original copies of the documents in preparation for the annual audit being conducted by COA.
The DSWD official said the DILG may have the copy of the original copies of the documents.
“Sa ngayon, nakikipag-ugnayan ang ating field office sa DILG upang maka-secure ng original copies nitong mga dokumentong ito at ‘yan po ang ating action na ginagawa upang maiwasto ‘yung report ng COA (Currently, our Field Office is coordinating with DILG to secure the original copies of these documents and that is the action we are taking to correct the COA report),” Paje said.