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Department of Labor and Employment
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Regional Office No. XII
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AGENCY ACTION PLAN AND STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION
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Audit Observations and Recommendations
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For the Calendar Year 2023
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As of December 31, 2024
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Ref.Audit ObservationsAudit ReccomendationsAgency Action PlanStatus of ImplementationReason for Partial/Delay/Non-implementation, if applicableAction Taken/Action to be Taken
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Action PlanPerson/Dept ResponsibleTarget Implementation Date
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FromTo
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DOLE XII- ML 2023, par. 14-21Employee’s individual Leave cards of DOLE-RO XII are unreliable due to non-deduction of monetized leave credits earned from Vacation and/or Sick Leave which resulted in overpayment of Terminal Leave Benefits (TLB) of retired employees amounting to ₱359,040.92 contrary to the rules and regulations prescribed under Civil Service Commission Omnibus Rules on Leave.We recommended and Management agreed to require the Chief HRMO and the Chief Accountant to:

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(i) properly review, verify and update all the leave credits of the officers and employees of DOLE XII in accordance with Sections 22 and 23 of Rule XVI of the Omnibus Rules on Leave;Fully implementedAll leave credits were duly verified and leave cards were already properly updated.
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(ii) designate officers to monitor and verify the Certified Leave Credit before payment is made to avoid overpayments of the terminal leave.Fully implementedPer Office Order No. 106-B, Mr. Arvin Puada, LEO II/Alterante HR, was assigned in the preparation of HR reportorial requirements to include updating of leave cards.
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(iii) recompute the schedule of leave credits and require the separated officials and employees to refund/return the excess terminal leave paid, otherwise, a Notice of Disallowance will be issued; andConstant coordination with Ms. Oca HRU/IMSDAugust 2024December 2024Not implementedRO XII
The discrepancy happened due to the following circumstances:

1) That the non-updating of leave happened during the periods of CY 2021 to 2022. This period was the peak of COVID-19 pandemic; and
2) That the non-updating of leave also was during the time when series of earthquakes happened.

They also informed that they have already rectified the records in accordance with the existing Omnibus Rules on Leave, as well as come up with the digitalization of their leave administration thru a system/portal wherein all concerned personnel can access for viewing their records and may validate and verify as to its accuracy and completeness. A functional structure was set-up that defines the duties and responsibilities as well as designation of personnel in-charge in the Payroll and Leave administration. Further, they committed that this shall be rectified and settled by the concerned personnel/retirees within the period favorable to all parties.

Update as of August 15, 2024:
Ms. Latoja's full payment details:
JEV No. OR No. OR Date Amount
101101-2024-01-0004 634373 1/19/2024 20,000.00
101101-2024-04-0028 634627 4/17/2024 25,922.81
101101-2024-04-0028 634635 4/22/2024 10,000.00
Total 55,922.81

Ms. Oca's payment status:
Constant coordination with the payee retiree and follow up on her commitment to pay in tranches in reference to demand letter sent last June 28, 2024. Per email sent address to RD Gonzales last August 1, 2024, Ms. Oca has requested consideration for the delay in her payment and has recommitted to starting her payments this month.

Update as of September 30, 2024:
Ms. Oca's partial payment details:
JEV No. OR No. OR Date Amount
101101-2024-09-0068 635028 9/5/2024 5,000.00

Update as of November 15, 2024:
Constant coordination with the payee retiree and follow up on her commitment. Committed to pay by 3rd week of November.

Update as of December 31, 2024:
Constant coordination with the payee retiree and follow up on her commitment. Committed to pay within January 2025.
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(iv) submit written explanation/justification so as not to warrant the issuance of a Notice of Disallowance to persons determined liable.Fully implemented
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DOLE XII- ML 2023, par. 22-37Fund Transfers made by DOLE RO XII to various LGUs and NGOs/CSOs or Accredited Co-Partners for the implementation of various programs totaling P338,441,973.89 remained unliquidated as of December 31, 2023, consisting of long outstanding accounts amounting to P326,208,609.65 aged less than one year to ten years, and P12,233,364.24 aged over ten years, due to leniency in requiring and monitoring the submission of liquidation and/or fund utilization reports from the Implementing Agencies (IAs), contrary to COA Circular Nos. 94-013 dated December 13, 1994 and 2007-001 dated October 25, 2007. Further, Paid Disbursement Vouchers pertaining to the Fund Transfers to LGUs for CY 2023 totaling P69,865,567.38 were not supported with complete documentation or with deficiencies, contrary to the pertinent provisions of COA Circular Nos. 2012-001 dated June 14, 2012, and other related rules and regulations, thus, legality and propriety of the recorded transactions cannot be immediately established. We recommended and Management agreed to:

i. Require the Accountant and the Provincial Heads to closely coordinate with the concerned Implementing Agencies and require the submission of Liquidation Reports/ Report of Disbursements on transferred funds by regularly sending demand letters, particularly those long-overdue accounts;

Follow up submission of liquidation reportsFO Heads/Focal PersonsAugust 2024December 2024Not implementedMemorandum Order No. 209 dated 04 April 2024 was issued directing all the Provincial Directors to copy furnish the regional office of the proof of Issuance of Demand Letters to partners (see attached copy of Memo).

Follow ups and close coordination to concerned Implementing Agencies are being made by Field Offices

As of December 31, 2024
Proposed Action Plan:
-Create Investigation Committee
-Reconstitute and activate the Liquidation Task Force
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ii. Conduct regular monitoring of the status of fund transfers to ensure liquidation as soon as the project is completed; andFully implementedDOLE12 field offices constantly coordinates, monitors and conducts ocular visits to their respective ACPs located in their area of jurisdiction. Demand letters were regularly sent.

Team from the accounting unit in coordination with the focal persons in the different field offices had conducted visits to ACPs to collect and follow-up submission of liquidation reports on May 13-14, 2024 per approved travel order no. 1218 dated May 9, 2024. Monitoring team composed of representatives from IMSD, TSSD and focal persons from different field offices conducted visits to ACPs for monitoring and coordination on July 30-31, 2024 per approved travel order no. 2107 dated 7/22/2024.
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iii. Direct the Focal Persons of DILEEP/DILP/TUPAD to submit the lacking documents. Henceforth, for the Accountant to check the completeness of the supporting documents before processing the Disbursement Vouchers for payment and before submission to the Office of the Audit Team.Fully implementedAll lacking documents were duly submitted to the office of the Commission on Audit.
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DOLE XII- ML 2023, par. 38-44Existence of dormant/long-outstanding accounts amounting to ₱21,170,093.12 as of December 31, 2023 due to inadequate monitoring and control of receivables, thereby casting doubts on the propriety and validity of the transactions posted in the Receivables account. We recommended and Management agreed to:

i. Require the Accountant to regularly review and analyze the existence of all dormant accounts and ascertain its collectability/probability of liquidation/ refund from various accountable persons/entities; and
Fully implementedThe unliquidated cash advances, particularly fund transfers, were quarterly reviewed and analyzed through the preparation of report on status of fund transfers. In the quarterly report, all unliquidated fund transfers including dormant accounts were aged and determined if dormant or active. Copies of the reports submitted in 2023 were provided as attachment to the AOM reply letter dated February 22, 2024.

All loans and interest receivable accounts remained dormant for more than 10 years. Numerous ocular visits were conducted since 2009 and efforts were exerted to collect the balances but to no avail. Some organizations no longer exists. Other ceased to operate and accountable officers and members cannot be located. Authority to write-off eight (8) dormant loans and interest receivable accounts was granted by the Commission on Audit in 2022 and 2023.

Moreover, a separate aging schedule was prepared for the determination of the impairment allowance of all dormant accounts. Allowance for impairment was provided to the following accounts as of 12/31/2023:
 Loans Receivable – 5,870,098.87
 Interest Receivable – 3,066,630.01
 Due from LGUs – 13,216,847.90
 Due from NGOs/CSOs – 9,516,359.62

Additional impairment was provided and recorded under journal entry voucher no. 1011101-2023-12-0105 dated December 29, 2023. This is in compliance with DOLE memorandum no. AD-55-454 dated December 29, 2021, the guidelines on the recognition of allowance for impairment of receivables. Copies of the schedules, journal entry voucher and memo were provided as attachment to the AOM reply letter dated February 22, 2024.
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ii. Continue to exert efforts in gathering and preparing the relevant documents to be used in requesting authority to write-off all dormant accounts which could no longer be collected after exhaustion of all possible remedies, pursuant to COA Circular No. 2023-008 dated August 17, 2023, for the one-time cleansing of all dormant accounts.Send Demand Letters to Partners

Continuous collection of supporting doucuments		FO heads/ Focal Persons/ Accounting UnitAugust 2024December 2024Not implementedAuthority to write-off 21 dormant accounts was granted by the Commission on Audit on August 22, 2022, November 10, 2022, April 20, 2023, August 14, 2023 and November 14, 2023. Additional requirements for the write off proposals of remaining dormant accounts were continuously gathered and prepared. Demand letters dated 15 March 2024 were sent to debtors, NGOs/CSOs and concerned local government units accounts aged 10 years and more. Moreover, a liquidation team composed of representatives from accounting unit, technical support services division and focal persons from the different field offices was created to facilitate the collection of the liquidation reports from different ACPs.

Updates as of August 20, 2024:
DOLE12 field offices constantly coordinates, monitors and conducts ocular visits to their respective ACPs located in their area of jurisdiction. Demand letters were regularly sent.

Team from the accounting unit in coordination with the focal persons in the different field offices had conducted visits to ACPs to collect and follow-up submission of liquidation reports on May 13-14, 2024 per approved travel order no. 1218 dated May 9, 2024. Monitoring team composed of representatives from IMSD, TSSD and focal persons from different field offices conducted visits to ACPs for monitoring and coordination on July 30-31, 2024 per approved travel order no. 2107 dated 7/22/2024.

Updates as of December 31, 2024:
P151,786,535.70 and P12,321,558.56 remained unliquidated under the account of Due from LGUs and Due from NGOs/CSOs, respectively.
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DOLE XII- ML 2023, par. 45-52Defective and fully depreciated Job Search Kiosk (JSK) costing P2.4 Million and with a carrying amount of P120,000.00 were not repaired nor disposed of while functional ones were idle and contained outdated information due to low maintenance and non-updating of the system, thus, making it less useful to job seekers and contrary to DOLE AO No. 354 series of 2019. Further, disposed of JSKs with a carrying amount of P9,090.90 were not dropped from the books of accounts, contrary to Paragraph 82 of IPSAS 17.We recommended and Management agreed to instruct the:

a. JSK focal persons of DOLE RO XII to submit the result as regards the assessment of Job Search Kiosks;



finalize assessment report of JSKsJSK Focal personAugust 2024December 2024Fully implemented
Updates as of December 31, 2024
IIRUP as of December 12, 2024 was recorded in the books under JEV No. 101101-2024-12-0107 dated December 27, 2024
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b. Property Officer to prepare the Inventory and Inspection Report of Unserviceable Property (IIRUP) and facilitate the disposal of unserviceable JSKs, if any, following the pertinent rules on disposal; and preparation of IIRUP and facilitation of disposal of unserviceable JSKsProperty OfficerAugust 2024December 2024Fully implemented
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c. Accountant to take up the adjusting entries to derecognize the disposed unserviceable properties.take up adjusting entries to derecognize disposed unserviceable properties.AccountantAugust 2024December 2024Fully implemented
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DOLE XII- ML 2023, par. 53-60Unreconciled balance of Due to Central Office totaling ₱329,965.11 between Bureau of Works with Special Concerns (BWSC) and Regional Office, and the existence of a negative balance of a specific fund cast doubt on the reliability of the DOLE-RO XII Financial Statements.We recommended and Management agreed to require the Regional Accountant to finalize the whole process of reconciliation to come up with the correct entry/balance of the Due to Central Office account.Follow up BWSC on the status of complianceAccounting UnitAugust 2024December 2024Not implementedWaiting for reply on the compliance. Updates on the status of reconciliation of accounts was requested from the BWSC through electronic mail on August 12, 2024.
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DOLE XII- ML 2023, par. 61-65The fidelity bonds of three (3) Accountable Officers are inadequate to cover their maximum cash accountability being handled with excess accountability ranging from P196,400.00 to P7,144,400.00, contrary to 5.1 of Treasury Circular No. 02-2009 dated August 6, 2009.We recommended and Management agreed to:

a) apply for the increase in fidelity bond of the accountable officers to sufficiently cover their maximum accountability, following Bureau of Treasury Circular No. 02-2009; and 		Fully implementedIncrease of the fidelity bond of accountable officers were already made.
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b) ensure the monitoring of the fidelity bond of the SDOs to avoid granting of cash advance exceeding their maximum accountability, and that no additional cash advance shall be given unless the previous cash advance was liquidated.Fully implementedConstant monitoring was made to ensure cash advances granted to accountable officers were appropriately covered by their respective fidelity bond.
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Prepared by:Approved by:Date:
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MECHELLE O. IGNACIO
JOEL M. GONZALES
January 23, 2025
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Administrative Officer V/OIC-IMSD HeadRegional Director
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Status of Implementation may be either ( a ) Fully Implemented; (b ) Not Implemented.
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