MANILA – The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged what it calls a systemic reimbursement lapse in the Office of the President (OP), warning that the agency’s failure to collect P14.4 million in travel-related receivables from as far back as 2022 points to deeper financial management issues affecting its operations.
In its latest annual audit, COA said the long-outstanding reimbursements — incurred during multiple foreign trips involving delegations from various departments and government offices — have begun to disrupt the OP’s budget planning and hinder its ability to deploy funds for core programs.
“The continued delay in the settlement deprives the OP of funds originally budgeted for their operation, thereby affecting the delivery of program projects and activities for stakeholders and increasing risks of uncollected receivables,” the report stated.
The OP initially advanced payments totaling P11.95 million for hotel accommodations and P2.4 million for airfare for officials who joined President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on overseas engagements from 2022 to 2024.
Delegations from the House of Representatives, Senate, National Security Council, Presidential Communications Office, Presidential Management Staff, Radio Television Malacañang, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority were among those included. Representatives from the National Housing Authority and the local governments of Bacolod, Sultan Kudarat, and Tawi-Tawi also participated in some trips.
COA emphasized that a large portion of the uncollected funds has been overdue for years — P7.47 million for more than two years, and P6.46 million for one to two years — indicating persistent delays rather than isolated lapses.
A key cause, auditors noted, is the absence of formal cost-sharing agreements governing airfare and daily travel expenses, particularly for chartered flights. The lack of these arrangements has repeatedly led to confusion among agencies and slowed down the reimbursement process.
Under the current procedure, the OP forwards hotel and airfare billings to concerned agencies but does not perform consistent follow-ups once payments become overdue. COA said this weak monitoring setup has made it difficult to track settlement status and enforce accountability.
The audit body urged the OP to tighten its monitoring mechanisms and establish clear, binding cost-sharing protocols, noting that travel expenses comprise a significant share of its annual spending.
For 2025, the OP has proposed a P1.054-billion travel budget — slightly lower than this year’s P1.148 billion but still one of its largest expenditure items./PN
