Cash subsidies being granted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to underprivileged sectors shrunk by P147.56 million from P506.51 million in 2021 to P358.95 million in 2022.
This was shown in the breakdown of the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses of the OVP for the past year under the Notes to Financial Statements section of the 2022 audit report.
The biggest drop was recorded under “utilization of transferred funds to hospitals for Medical Assistance Program” which had fund releases totaling P167.24 million in 2021 but only posted P30.54 million last year or an 81 percent decline.
“Medical/burial assistance” also decreased year on year from P327.27 million to P304.67 million.
On the other hand, livelihood and training subsidies increased over the same period from P7.43 million to P20.14 million.
“Welfare goods expenses” representing distribution of relief goods including rice, canned goods, and other relief supplies in areas badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and various calamities also went down from P35.24 million to P19.6 million.
“Drugs and medicine expenses” which accounts for medicines and vitamins distributed as care kits under the now-defunct Bayanihan E-Konsulta, Swab Cab, and Vaccines Express programs also fell from P5.43 million to P1.75 million.
As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to dwindle, the OVP’s expenses on “medical, dental, laboratory supplies” also declined from P31.99 million to P11.98 million.
However, the office also reported spending P125 million as “confidential expenses” in 2022 for the first time.
There was no similar item in the previous years’ breakdown of the MOOE from 2016 to 2021.
The audit report said the confidential expenses “pertains to the expenses for the safe implementation of various projects and activities under the Good Governance Program and the conduct of official engagements, and functional representation in international and domestic events as instructed by the President.”
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