A scathing report from the Commission on Audit (COA) has uncovered alarming deficiencies in Tagbilaran City’s handling of COVID-19 vaccines, triggering serious questions about accountability and proper resource management during the pandemic.
The audit found that donated vaccines given to the City Government of Tagbilaran were not properly recorded in official books and documents.
This failure to maintain accurate records violates multiple government accounting standards and threatens to undermine public trust in the city’s pandemic response efforts, COA said in its report.
“The reliability of the accountability on the administration of the vaccines cannot be established,” the COA report states bluntly, pointing to a clear breach of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) 12 and Section 124 of the New Government Accounting System Manual for Local Government Units.
The audit team’s attempts to verify vaccine distribution were stymied when city personnel failed to provide crucial documentation.
According to the report, the distribution list for vaccines was not submitted for validation, as the staff member responsible had allegedly already sent it to the source agency without keeping a copy.
This glaring oversight leaves a huge gap in the city’s ability to account for vaccine recipients, COA said.
Further compounding the issue, no inventory report was prepared for the donated vaccines, leaving the Accounting Office with no data to properly record these vital medical supplies.
COA said the systemic failure in record-keeping raises troubling questions about the city’s ability to track and manage its vaccine stocks effectively.
The COA report reveals that Tagbilaran received a total of 1,937 vaccine vials from the Provincial Government of Bohol.
The breakdown shows 1,822 Pfizer doses, 80 Sinovac, 3 Moderna, and 32 AstraZeneca vaccines.
However, without proper documentation, there is no way to confirm if these vaccines were administered correctly or if any went to waste.
“Had these 1,937 vials reported and the documents we have gathered been sent to accounting for proper recording, the completeness of documents could have been checked earlier and the deficiencies in the administration/distribution procedures noted timely,” the COA auditors stated.
The mismanagement is particularly disturbing given the substantial amount – P4,880,018.52 – that the City of Tagbilaran spent on medical supplies for its COVID-19 response, COA said.