GOVERNMENT auditors have discovered that 6,214 individuals received the one-time cash assistance of P5,000 each from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) under the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).
In its 87-page Performance Audit Report released yesterday, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the DOLE-CAMP budget had a 99.87 percent utilization rate, having distributed P10.87 billion out of its total funding of P10.89 billion.
Figures showed 658,886 beneficiaries received the assistance under CAMP-Bayanihan 1 and 1,514,408 beneficiaries under CAMP-Bayanihan 2.
However, there were 6,214 individuals who should have been declared ineligible because they also received government stipend under two other cash-assistance programs — the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) of the Social Security System (SSS) and the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
At P5,000 per head, these individuals got away with P31.07 million that should have gone to qualified program beneficiaries instead.
Auditors said they also found 5,260 recipients who were tagged as “probably ineligible” since they were likewise indicated as beneficiaries of other government assistance.
In addition, there were 2,578 persons who accepted CAMP funds even if they were receiving salaries of P40,000 per month or higher and should have been automatically disqualified.
Combined, the ineligible and the probably ineligible totaled 14,052, receiving P70.26 million from CAMP.
