FOUR years after her passing, former Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman won her petition for review after the Commission on Audit (COA) ordered the lifting of the Notice of Disallowance to a P13.92 million transaction made in 2015.
In a 10-page en banc decision released last September 5, the COA granted the appeal filed by Soliman and overturned the May 9, 2017 ruling of the COA-National Government Sector Cluster 6.
The disallowed sum represented payment made by the DSWD to the National Printing Office (NPO) on August 20, 2015 for the Printing and Editorial Consultancy Services for Social Welfare Development Indicators Manual, Booklet and Score Sheets of the DSWD.
Initially, the COA only issued a Notice of Suspension and required the DSWD to submit the approved work and financial plan for KALAHI-CIDSS-National Community Driven Development Project (KC-NCDDP) for Calendar Year 2014; World Bank’s No Objection Letter (NOL) to the expenditures; and a justification for why the expenditures were charged to the KC-NCDDP, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) when they are related to the Pantawid Pamilyang Filipino Program (4Ps).
Although Soliman was able to comply, the audit team and supervising auditors still issued a Notice of Disallowance on July 8, 2016.
Held liable other than Soliman were the NPO as payee; Undersecretaries Mateo Montaño, Parisya Taradji, and Florita Villar; assistant secretary Camilo Gudmalin; accounting division officer-in-charge Meriel Castillo; Budget Division chief Zanaida Farol, and Policy Development and Planning Bureau OIC Rhodora Alday.
The audit team noted that the KC-NCDDP had separate funding from the 4Ps Program and the DSWD officials failed to provide proof to their claim that 92 percent of the KC-NCDDP communities are likewise home to 4Ps beneficiaries.
It likewise rejected the appellants’ contention that the World Bank has the right to determine whether a particular transaction is eligible or not.
But on review, the COA en banc found the explanations of Soliman and the rest of the DSWD officials “meritorious.”
It noted that the DSWD has three flagship programs: the Conditional Cash Transfer or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps; the Sustainable Livelihood Program; and the KC-NCDDP.
To promote a streamlined approach for a more effective and efficient poverty reduction strategy, it acknowledged the DSWD’s move “to maximize the complementary aspects of its three core programs.”
Likewise, the World Bank authenticated the No Objection Letter it sent to the DSWD stating that the payment was an “eligible expenditure.”
“Considering the foregoing and the fact that the DSWD has submitted the documents required under the NS and the ND and that the World Bank has confirmed the eligibility of subject expenditures for the KC-NCDDP, this Commission has sufficient reason to lift the disallowance in the amount of Pl3,917,400,” the COA said.
