MANILA, Philippines – There is no anomaly in any of the poverty alleviation programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as the findings of the 2013 Commission on Audit (COA) annual audit report have already been addressed, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Juliano-Soliman said Friday, December 26.

The COA report raised red flags over unliquidated funds of the department. The amount was supposedly meant to fund poverty-reducing projects at the local government level. (READ: COA fears misuse of P10B DSWD fund mostly for LGUs)

Soliman maintained that the problem lay with documentation only and that they had already clarified issues with the state auditing firm as early as November.

“We gave COA our answer in November but they haven’t posted it on their website,” she said.

“We are confident that there is nothing to doubt about the department’s integrity, especially with the funds that COA cites as unliquidated in their 2013 annual audit report. The funds went to the rightful beneficiaries,” she added.

Problem with 4Ps

COA also reported that at least 360,000 beneficiaries under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program are missing in the database of the National Housing Targeting System (NHTS).

DSWD, however, clarified that 256,663 of these beneficiaries are not part of the NHTS as they are under the modified CCT program – those who live in the streets with no permanent homes. Meanwhile, the remaining 107,373 have been accounted for by the welfare agency.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet official also said the double entries in the list pointed out by the COA report have been deleted and others are undergoing validation through monthly compliance monitoring.

“Hindi po nabibigyan ng cash grant ang double entry (We don’t give cash grants to double entries), ” Soliman said. “Once the duplicate shows on the database, we have it validated immediately.”

The poverty alleviation programs of the DSWD have been constantly under fire since their implementation. (READ: Lawmakers question DSWD’s conditional cash transfer program)

CCT, otherwise known as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), provides cash grants to underprivileged families, provided they comply with the guidelines set by the agency.

As of July 2014, at least 4 million families have been put under 4Ps with 73% of them in rural areas. Almost 10 million beneficiaries are aged 3-18 years old. – Rappler.com