QUEZON CITY, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Office of the Vice President (OVP) over documentation lapses and procedural gaps in its 2025 disaster relief operations, which cover at least ₱167.97 million in assistance funds.
In its latest audit report, COA highlighted several operational flaws, including discrepancies between local government and national agency situation reports (SitReps) compared against OVP records, deviations from pre-approved mission directives, missing beneficiary documentation, and incomplete submission of required paper trails.
Auditors identified ₱19.67 million in welfare goods affected by inconsistent data between agency or LGU submissions and OVP files. Discrepancies were found in the reported totals of affected households, with some official SitReps omitting beneficiary numbers altogether.
“Although [the OVP] management attributed these to evolving disaster conditions and subsequent validation, supporting documents for the revisions were not consistently attached. Consequently, the reliability of the SitReps used as basis for planning relief operations and issuing Mission Orders was diminished,” COA stated.
The audit further revealed that 24 separate distribution activities—valued at ₱39 million—departed from their official mission orders without written authorization. Changes were made to distribution schedules, designated locations, and relief item quantities.
“While management cited operational adjustments due to changing field conditions, the absence of documented approvals weakened assurance that the changes were properly authorized and supported,” the commission noted.
Furthermore, state auditors cited eight open-ended mission orders totaling ₱84.1 million that failed to list intended recipients, directing staff only to distribute goods to displaced families in general terms.
Although the OVP defended the practice as a necessary approach for field flexibility, COA argued that the lack of specified targets “weakened the basis for determining the quantities of relief goods requested and distributed.”
Record-keeping irregularities were also noted across 11 operations affecting roughly 200 recipients, where auditors found unverified master lists, repeated entries, and missing details.
“The use of different documentary requirements resulted in inconsistent application of established procedures and reduced assurance on the completeness, accuracy, and verifiability of beneficiary records and the propriety of relief distributions,” COA observed.
Finally, relief distributions involving nearly 34,000 beneficiaries and ₱25.2 million in goods lacked essential supporting files, including formal mission orders, SitReps, and authenticated beneficiary rosters.
COA noted that these missing records “weakened assurance over beneficiary selection, quantities distributed, and compliance with established documentary requirements.”