THE Commission on Audit (CoA) said the Department of Agriculture (DA) had about P4.88 billion worth of unliquidated fund transfers to various agencies and nongovernment organizations in charge of implementing several projects for the department.

According to the 2018 CoA audit report, various offices of the DA had a total of P5.71 billion in fund transfers to implementing agencies and NGOs.

“Audit of 16 DA offices showed that funds transferred to IAs (implementing agencies) and NGOs during the year for the implementation of DA projects amounted to P5,714,851,478.71. Of the said amount, P4,883,115,478.07 or 85.45% of the funds transferred were not liquidated,” the state auditor said.

CoA added that P16.6 billion of the prior year’s balance of P23.7 billion remain unliquidated — or lack supporting documents showing how the money was spent.

CoA recommended that the DA send follow-up demand letters to the concerned implementing agencies and NGOs.

“(The Management agreed to instruct all DA offices to) adopt an effective monitoring scheme to enforce submission of liquidation reports of the concerned NGOs/IAs, as well as the progress reports,” CoA said.

It added that DA offices concerned should “conduct ocular inspections or visits to the available addresses or location of the grantees to validate the implementation of their projects and validate the existence and legality of concerned NGOs.”

Asked to comment, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said that he has yet to see the report.

“That would not be unusual though because we do transfer funds to other agencies, including LGUs (local government units). There is a certain period set for the liquidation of the transferred funds,” Mr. Piñol said in a text message to BusinessWorld. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR