The Commission on Audit (COA) has found “negative feedbacks” such as spoiled milk and expired food products in the implementation of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP).
In its audit report, COA said that parents from Pangasinan reported that they received spoiled milk and expired food products, and while the food packs were supposed to be good for a week’s consumption, the food contained in the packs was only good for a day.
The report also cited "inconsistencies" in the manufacturing dates and expiration dates of milky buns. It said the inspection of milky buns delivered on Nov. 22 to 23, 2021 revealed that some milky buns have manufacturing dates later than the actual date of delivery, and the expiration was not at least five days from the date of delivery.
In Pampanga, the COA audit stated that there were unclaimed food packs despite coordination made by teachers and parents. Thus, it said, the food products expired and most became rotten.
There were also issues found in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). In Mountain Province, the report stated that some of the actual recipients of the milk products were not the target beneficiaries of DepEd, therefore depriving the intended recipients of the benefits of the feeding program. In Baguio City, it said there was inadequate planning and lack of study on delivery schemes and the perishability of the food items.
In Cauayan in Isabela, the COA report stated that the delivery of food items was incomplete since 52,380 pieces of banana (saba) and 48,015 pieces of large fresh eggs did not make their way to the beneficiaries during the period of program’s implementation.
In Albay, it said the recipients of the food packs disclosed that the items they received were less than the required weight, with items in bad condition and with improper markings or labellings.
"The commitment to provide good nutrition to learners amidst the Covid-19 pandemic was not optimally achieved," the audit report said.
"The foregoing deficiencies are attributable to the implementation setbacks encountered by the program proponents and challenges brought by the pandemic, depriving the intended recipients of the maximum benefits from the feeding program and defeating the government’s thrust of promoting budget efficiency pursuant to existing DepEd SBFP guidelines," it said.