The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Department of Education (DepEd) over lapses in its P5.69 billion School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP) in 2023, with reports of delays and non-delivery of nutritious food products (NFPs) and pasteurized milk in several regions.

Worse, some Schools Division Office (SDOs) even complained that there were insects found inside the nutribuns they received, while other food items were either "rotten, unripe, or crushed," the COA said.

In its 2023 annual audit report (AAR), the COA said that state auditors found that 21 SDOs suffered from delayed implementation of regular and milk feeding components. These included the SDOs in Mandaluyong City, Pasig City, Ifugao, Baguio City, Benguet, La Union, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Camarines Sur, Zamboanga City, Bukidnon, Valencia City, Malaybalay, Tagum City, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Agusan del Norte, Butuan City, Cabadbaran City, Surigao City, and Surigao del Norte.

DepEd's SBFP was supposed to provide learners with hot meals and milk in order to enhance their health and nutrition values while contributing to the development of their immune system.

Unfortunately, the COA said the goal was not achieved such as in the province of Aurora where "pests/insects inside Karabun/Milky bun and E-nutribun (squash) were found during inspection of food commodities."

In the Bulacan SDO, it said that "some delivered food items were either rotten, unripe, or crushed," while in Misamis Oriental "1,001 pieces of E-Nutribun delivered from September 2023 to January 2024 were returned to the suppliers for replacements due to the presence of molds and discoloration on the bread one to two days before the expiry dates."

In Iligan City, the food products delivered had dubious expiry dates, it said. While the products were labelled to expire on Oct. 26, 2023, the expiry date indicated in the boxes bore a different expiry date, and the product manufacturing date was not easily discernible as well, it also said.

"The interest of the government was not protected and the attainment of the program objectives and the safety of the intended beneficiaries were put to risk due to non-conformance with specifications," the audit report  observed.

The COA said it called out DepED for failing to reprogram unutilized funds from the SBFP. The excess or remaining balance of SBFP was supposed to feed all learners enrolled in school, with priority focus on the lowest grade level and other secondary beneficiaries, it also said.  The DepED could also extend the number of feeding days or cover funding deficiencies in the NFP and milk requirements, it added.

The SDO in Sultan Kudarat had unutilized funds of P8,026,519.85, while the SDO in Bulacan had P691,323.10. Because of their failure to utilize these amounts, the audit team said they deprived beneficiaries of much-needed nutritional values, the COA said.

At the same time, the COA called out the SDO in Palawan for making full payment for NFP purchased for the implementation of SBFP in 2022 despite delayed delivery of goods amounting to P14,589,363.

"The commitment to provide good nutrition to learners was not optimally achieved due to the deficiencies that hampered the successful implementation of the program," it pointed out.