MANILA, Philippines — State auditors called out the Manila city government for the poor utilization of its charity funds, which could have been used to aid indigent patients.
In its latest report, the Commission on Audit (COA) said that only P78.027 million or 28 percent of the total of Manila city government’s share from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) fund, as well as lotto charity funds, donations and endowment funds from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), were used for charity and other programs.
COA said the subsidiary ledger of Pagcor showed that the fund has accumulated to P332.88 million as of the end of 2017, but only P75.79 million was utilized. Further audit showed that the total Pagcor funds actually amounted to only P185.25 million.
Even as the Pagcor approved the inclusion of youth and sports development projects as among those allowed to be charged to the city’s share of the Pagcor fund, the city council-authorized P3-million Pagcor fund for the Alternative Learning System (ALS) ERAP-Eskwela sa Barangay has yet to be implemented, COA said.
Meanwhile, the PCSO lotto charity fund that accumulated to P90.89 million has remained idle and unutilized, COA said.
“As long as the PCSO funds are kept idle and remain unutilized, the objectives of the fund for which it was granted will not be achieved by the city and as such, depriving the intended beneficiaries with the benefits that could have been derived from the program,” COA said.
Some P1.5 million in PCSO funds were also kept idle in the accounts of the Ospital ng Tondo, Manila Health Department and Ospital ng Maynila, COA said.
Of the total endowment fund of P3.5 million for the Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital, Sta. Ana Hospital and Ospital ng Sampaloc, COA said only P100,000 or 2.8 percent was utilized.
The COA recommended that the city government consider the charity funds in preparing the city’s annual plan for its programs, projects and activities, as well as determine the cause of the non-implementation of the hospital endowment fund.