Eight mission orders issued by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for relief distributions worth P84.1 million did not identify the intended recipients, the Commission on Audit (COA) found, part of a broader set of documentation lapses covering close to P168 million in the office’s disaster response.
Those orders only instructed personnel to give relief goods to affected or displaced families. OVP management told auditors the setup allowed “operational flexibility during emergencies,” but the audit team said that without defined beneficiary targets, there was little basis for deciding how many goods should be requested and released.
The findings appear in COA’s 273-page audit of the 2025 Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund. The report was transmitted on August 28 to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who also chairs the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
“These deficiencies reduced assurance on the completeness, reliability and verifiability of relief distribution records and weakened controls over relief operations,” the report said.
Auditors urged the OVP to tighten its review of relief operations so that operational and liquidation papers are complete, consistent and accurate. They also called on the office to require its satellite offices and Disaster Operation Center staff to document any changes to situational reports, mission orders, beneficiary lists and distribution records. Master lists and relief distribution sheets (RDS), they added, should be completed, verified and signed, with proper authorization whenever a representative collects goods on a beneficiary’s behalf.
About P25.2 million in welfare goods, distributed to more than 33,000 beneficiaries, went out without a full set of pre-operation documents such as situational reports, mission orders and verified master lists. In 11 operations involving over 200 beneficiaries whose master lists were uncertified, auditors found duplicate names, incomplete personal details, unsigned RDS, mismatches between the RDS and the lists, and improper supporting documents.
Figures on affected families also did not line up. The OVP’s own situational reports conflicted with those of the agencies and local governments involved, a gap valued at P19.67 million. Because those counts guided relief planning and the issuance of mission orders, auditors said the inconsistencies “diminished” the reports’ reliability.
In 24 other operations worth more than P39 million, the OVP departed from approved mission orders without documented approval. Management attributed this to shifting field conditions, including revised schedules, new distribution sites, and changes in the volume of relief items and rice handed out. COA was not persuaded. “The absence of documented approvals weakened assurance that the changes were properly authorized and supported,” the report said.
For one operation, the required RDS could not be produced at all. According to the report, it was unavailable “due to records reportedly lost during Typhoon Kristine and was replaced with explanatory and certification documents.”
