The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) today clarified that based on its official records as of August 31, only P1.6 billion of conditional cash transfer (CCT) funds were unliquidated by the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost). The amount is based on the report of the Land Bank of the Philippines to DSWD.

The clarification came after a media report mentioned that the latest annual audit report of the Commission on Audit (COA) on Philpost cited that the postal agency has accumulated P5 billion in unliquidated CCT funds.

“It is now unclear with DSWD if the P5 billion is all CCT funds or it also covers other activities of the postal agency. Based on our records, it is only P1.6 billion. And they are continuing to liquidate this amount,” said Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman.

DSWD also clarified that it is the Landbank of the Philippines that has contracted Philpost to become one of its conduits for the distribution of cash grants.

With this, Philpost liquidates the funds with Landbank. The bank then furnishes DSWD with liquidation reports.

Cited as reasons for  the delay are the lack of manpower due to Philpost’s  Rationalization Program and the unexpected increase in the volume of transactions during the current years.

It can be recalled that at the start of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, DSWD entered into an agreement with Landbank for the distribution of cash grants to beneficiaries. As the main distributor of cash grants, Landbank contracted other conduits such as G-Cash and Philpost, among others, to help disburse the grants.

For G-cash, Globe pays the beneficiaries using their own funds. After the payout to the beneficiaries, they are reimbursed by Landbank.

It is only for Philpost that Landbank gives the funds in advance and the schedule of distribution.

“Philpost was chosen as conduit because it has the capacity to distribute the cash grants even to beneficiaries living in remote barangays. With Philpost going to their areas, the beneficiaries would just have to spend a maximum of P100 to claim their cash grants,” Sec. Soliman added.

However, due to the increasing unliquidated amounts accumulated by Philpost, the Landbank has terminated its engagement with Philpost in June this year.

DSWD emphasized that the process of liquidation is a continuing activity.

It requires the submission of documentation of program implementation until all expenditures are fully accounted for.

Control measures

Sec. Soliman added that the program continues to improve and strengthen its operations to ensure that cash grants go to the rightful beneficiaries.

It has a Beneficiary Data Management System which ensures that information about the households is regularly updated and verified if there are duplicate entries.

Likewise,  the Grievance Redress System (GRS) is fully operational. It captures and processes complaints and queries about the program.

Sec. Soliman shared that the GRS conducts validation and assessment of all complaints received by the agency.

The GRS has a dedicated text hotline, 0918-9122813, e-mail, and social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter) set-up to receive complaints from the public.

Pantawid Pamilya immediately withholds the cash grants of questionable households.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment. We continue to work with utmost dignity and stands by the integrity of our programs and services,” Sec. Soliman concluded. ###