110 SUCs have P3.6-B unaccounted DAP funds

MANILA, Philippines - More than a hundred state universities and colleges (SUCs) have yet to account for more than P3.683 billion in Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) funds, according to a 2013 Commission on Audit (COA) report released last week. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said it sent letters to 110 government-owned schools on June 27, 2014 requiring the submission of liquidation reports. State auditors said the funds came from three different government agencies for the purpose of improving services and facilities. The COA report said CHED received a total of P4.063 billion from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in December 2011. Some P3.825 billion was transferred to SUCs between July 2012 to December 2013, while the amount of P238 million was retained for administrative and other expenses. Of the amount transferred to state-owned schools, COA auditors said P3.638 billion or 95.11 percent remained unliquidated as of Dec. 31, 2013 that is a violation of the rules under COA Circular No. 94-013 dated Dec. 31, 1994 and the memoranda of agreement between the CHED with the source agencies and the SUCs. The audit team acknowledged that state-owned academic institutions are facing two major challenges, which include the need to provide access to quality higher education and to generate/adapt/transfer technologies that would efficiently and effectively enhance productivity, alleviate poverty and improve the country’s state of competitiveness. Since addressing these challenges requires substantial investments, the government provided financial assistance to CHED through DAP funds for the important task of rationally allocating funding resources pursuant to the principal guidelines based on and aligned with the Roadmap for Public Higher Education Reform. Funds from the DPWH were intended for infrastructure and facilities upgrading and modernization, while money from the DSWD and PIDS were for the implementation of Students Grants-in-Aid for Poverty Alleviation, among others. But after auditing the financial records of CHED, the COA report said recipient SUCs failed to submit the verified liquidation reports and status of project implementation for the DAP funded projects implemented by them.//