COA flags UP for failing to utilize P53 million funds for COVID-19 projects

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the University of the Philippines System (UPS) over the non-utilization of funds for three COVID-19-related research projects amounting to P53.9 million.

Based on COA’s 2021 audit report, UPS obtained a zero utilization rate for five projects, three of which concern the procurement of COVID-19 equipment and research on the P.3 variant of COVID-19. These initiatives are funded by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD).

The audit body found that the state university did not utilize the funding for the following projects that totals to P53,960,410:

• Procurement of Equipment for COVID-19 Biomolecular Surveillance (Funds sourced from DOH) -  P28,930,000
• Procurement of Supplies, Consumables and Other COVID-19 testing-related needs in response to COVID-19 (Funds sourced from DOH) - P5,000,000
• Genomic and Clinical Characterization of an Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variant P.3 in the Philippines (Funds sourced from DOST-PCHRD) - P20,030,410

“We would like to stress out that these research grants aimed to provide data and information if not innovative solutions that may aid the government in its fight against the virus, thus, it is of utmost important to complete the research projects on time and deliver the expected outputs,”  the report said.

Two other projects also had a zero utilization rate with funds sourced from the Commission on Higher Education:

• Times Higher Education Internationalization Consultancy Workshop - P3,000,000
• Towards and Accreditation System of Technology Mediated Education in Flexible Learning Teaching and Learning in Today's Digital Times - P4,400,000

State auditors urged UPS to conduct regular monitoring of the use of allotments and come up with catch-up plans to address issues of non-utilization of funds.

The audit body also recommended that the state university prioritize the implementation of COVID-19 research projects and to fast-track the procurement of necessary supplies, equipment and other testing-related needs in response to COVID-19.

In all, COA said that delays in the implementation of the projects "unnecessarily kept idle allocated funds, which could have been used to pursue other equally important government programs."

State auditors did not publicly release audit reports on the UPS from 2019 to 2021.