MANILA — The Commission on Audit flagged 58 “unverifiable” beneficiaries under the Senior High School Voucher Program, resulting in P938,000 in government overpayments.
According to the 2025 Department of Education audit report released Sept. 23, the beneficiaries were identified as dropouts, transferees, non-enrollees, deceased learners or absentees, but lacked sufficient supporting records to verify their eligibility.
Five other beneficiaries were placed under incorrect voucher categories, resulting in an additional P14,710 in overpayments.
“These lapses expose the program to the risk of erroneous billing and overpayment, compromise the reliability of beneficiary validation, and may result in the disbursement of funds to ineligible beneficiaries, contrary to the objective of providing financial assistance exclusively to qualified learners,” the report said.
COA recommended that DepEd verify the eligibility documents of beneficiaries placed under incorrect voucher categories and require the concerned schools to refund any resulting overpayments.
It also urged DepEd to strengthen its post-billing validation procedures to ensure schools promptly and accurately update beneficiary information.
DepEd said it has institutionalized a “five-layer validation” mechanism to check learner lists before and after the release of subsidies.
Aside from the risk of overpayment, COA said that inadequate payroll controls in DepEd increased the risk of “ghost employees and erroneous salary payments.”
UNCONSTRUCTED CLASSROOMS
DepEd also fell short of its classroom construction targets from 2021 to 2025, according to COA, citing 9,450 unconstructed classrooms out of 14,267 targeted.
Only 4,817 classrooms, or 34%, were completed during the five-year period under projects transferred to and implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
DepEd attributed the DPWH’s underperformance to the “compressed” validation period, ongoing procurement activities and the lengthy processing and issuance of Special Allotment Release Orders.
“As noted, the common contributing factor for the delay of the school building constructions were predominantly site-related constraints. These included pending demolition and building permits, unresolved DENR clearances, and the need for design revisions arising from unforeseen site conditions such as right-of-way issues and site accessibility limitations,” it said.
COA said delays were also linked to site-related problems, project modifications, approval delays, and other deficiencies in the implementation of the Basic Education Facilities Fund program.
“These limitations should have been addressed through proper planning, as they have remained a persistent issue that ought to have been resolved years back, considering that the program has been existing since 2012,” state auditors said.
“In the same manner, the spill over targets is indicative that construction timelines were not enforced and DepEd was not able to monitor project durations,” it added.
OTHER ‘NON-EXISTENT’ PROJECTS
Auditors also flagged P83.2 million worth of DepEd infrastructure projects in Davao del Norte that were found to be non-existent, abandoned or substantially incomplete.
Among these was a P36 million Last Mile Schools Program contract. This covers the Kamingawan Elementary School, wherein auditors found no structure at the project site despite the contract having been paid up to 98.8%.
At Dulyan Integrated School, the solar photovoltaic energy system and school furniture had not been delivered, although the project was likewise almost fully paid.
A separate P25.6 million Last Mile Schools Program project at Dugayan National High School was 98.9% paid despite the building being “largely incomplete and abandoned.”
COA also flagged a P10.4 million project for the electrification of unenergized schools and modernization of electrical systems at New Casay Integrated School in Braulio E. Dujali and Carmen National High School in Carmen. The transformers intended for the schools had not been delivered.
It also cited a P7.5 million project to repair and rehabilitate four classrooms at Datu Balong National High School in San Isidro. It was 98.18% paid, but the classrooms remained unrepaired, according to COA.
Meanwhile, a P3.3 million project for school health facilities at Gov. Dujali Elementary School in San Isidro was found to be incomplete and abandoned.
COA said the project had no progress billing but had already incurred mobilization costs.
Auditors recommended a fact-finding investigation to establish the accountability of concerned officials and recover all payments made for unfinished or undelivered work.
“Initiate recovery proceedings for all paid progress billings, including unrecouped advances and file appropriate administrative, criminal, and civil charges to responsible officers and private individuals,” it said.
It also urged the DepEd Schools Division Office of Davao del Norte terminate the contracts, initiate blacklisting proceedings against the contractors involved, and direct a representative to conduct a joint validation with state auditors to correct accounting records.