THE PNP received P722.955 million in cash from the government to boost its campaign against communist insurgency but spent only P86.567 million, or a mere 11.97 percent of available funding, as of yearend 2020.
As part of the whole-of-nation approach to defeating local communist armed groups, the PNP was allocated P1.084 billion under the 2020 national budget but only P722.955 million was released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Even with the lower sum, the PNP National Headquarters (NHQ) and the 17 Police Regional Offices (PROs) only posted P240.8 million in obligations that left 67 percent or P482.15 million of the cash releases untouched.
Obligated funds refer to the portion of the budget that is already tied to contracts for specific programs, projects, or activities of the agency.
A breakdown of the NTF-ELCAC spending of the PNP showed the NHQ and 13 PROs failed to use their funding allotment by leaving balances ranging from P27.78 million to P58.63 million.
The NHQ, which received a P66.666 million share of the fund, only identified projects worth P8.04 million, leaving the biggest balance of P58.63 million.
Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) did not use a single centavo of its P40 million share.
The same thing was noted in the case of PRO 4B (Mimaropa) which, while receiving the smallest share of only P26.667 million, failed to list any obligation.
On the other hand, PRO 1 (Ilocos), PRO 6 (Western Visayas), PRO 12 (Soccsksargen), and PRO 13 (Caraga) fully utilized their P40 million allotments.
The audit team raised a red flag on the P6.667 million procurement listed by PRO 5 (Bicol), saying the regional office failed to submit any documentary evidence to establish validity of the transactions either on the Philippine Government Electronic Procurements System (PhilGEPS) or on the unit’s official website.
“Procurement of goods through shopping had no proof of posting the request for quotation (RFQ), NOA (notice of award), contract or PO (purchase order), including NTP (notice to proceed) in the PhilGEPS website and the PNP-PRO 5 website,” the Commission on Audit said.
The posting of documentary support is a requirement under the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (RIRR) of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
“Non-compliance with the existing laws, rules and regulations relative to procurements defeated the very purpose of securing information and transparency on the procurement activities of the agency,” the COA added.
In its reaction to the audit findings, the PRO 5 said the PhilGEPS website went down from October to November during its procurement due to Typhoons Quinta, Rolly, and Ulysses that struck Bicol Region.
It said its Bids and Awards Committee secretariat had already submitted the maintenance advisory of PhilGEPS for the period to the COA.
The PRO-BAR said the funding arrived late in the year hence the non-utilization. However, it has created an ELCAC Board to oversee planning and implementation of the projects for the 2021 funding.
It said it will tap the 2020 fund if the current year’s budget proves insufficient.
