The Commission on Audit has raised concerns over the Office of the Vice President’s handling of nearly P168 million in disaster-relief operations in 2025, saying documentation and procedural weaknesses prevented auditors from fully verifying whether the assistance reached the intended beneficiaries.
The findings came from COA’s special review of the OVP’s use of its 2025 Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund. Auditors identified inconsistencies in situation reports, deviations from approved mission orders, open-ended mission orders and incomplete beneficiary and distribution records.
Among the most significant findings were eight mission orders covering more than P84 million in relief distributions that did not specify the intended beneficiaries. COA said the absence of defined targets weakened the basis for determining how much relief assistance should be requested and distributed.
Auditors also flagged 24 relief operations involving about P39.01 million in welfare goods where changes were made to schedules, distribution locations, quantities of goods and rice allocations without documented approval. The OVP attributed some changes to changing conditions on the ground, but COA said the necessary supporting documents were not consistently provided.
COA further found discrepancies involving about P19.67 million worth of welfare goods when OVP situation reports were compared with reports from government agencies and local governments. The differences included the reported number of affected families or beneficiaries.
Records covering relief goods worth about P25.27 million and involving 33,980 beneficiaries were also incomplete or unavailable. Auditors cited uncertified master lists, duplicate entries, incomplete beneficiary information and unsigned distribution sheets among the documentation problems.
COA said these deficiencies weakened the completeness, reliability and verifiability of the records and reduced assurance that the relief distributions were properly documented and supported. The agency recommended that the OVP strengthen its review procedures and ensure that mission orders, beneficiary lists and distribution records are properly authorized, verified and maintained.
The findings have also drawn attention from the House prosecution panel in the ongoing impeachment proceedings involving Vice President Sara Duterte. House prosecution spokesperson Ace Barbers said the amount involved was public money and that the OVP should be given an opportunity to explain the audit observations and provide the necessary records.
The House panel has pointed to similarities between the documentation questions raised in the latest COA review and issues previously discussed concerning the OVP’s confidential funds. However, the COA special audit of the disaster-relief operations is a separate matter from the impeachment proceedings.
Importantly, the audit findings do not amount to a finding that the entire P168 million was lost or that the intended beneficiaries did not receive assistance. Rather, COA said the available records were insufficient in some cases to allow auditors to reliably verify the distributions and establish a complete audit trail. COA also issued an unmodified opinion on the OVP’s 2025 financial statements.
The OVP’s response to the audit findings will now be closely watched as the agency reviews the observations and prepares its explanations and supporting documents. The central issue raised by COA is whether emergency relief operations involving public funds can be fully accounted for through complete records showing where assistance went, who received it and how distribution decisions were authorized.
