COA flags DepEd issuance of vouchers to deceased students, dropouts

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The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the Department of Education’s (DepEd) overpayment of P938,000 in vouchers to students who had already dropped out or, in some cases, were deceased.

In its 2025 Annual Audit Report on the DepEd, COA flagged several gaps in the agency’s implementation of the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE).

Some of these gaps included delayed fund utilization, mismatch between financial and physical performance, and weak controls in the implementation of the senior high school voucher program/

The COA said that this resulted in “undermining program effectiveness, efficient resource allocation, and delivery of educational assistance.”

COA found that there were 58 voucher program beneficiaries that were unverifiable that were either dropouts, transferees, non-enrollees, deceased, or absent without supporting records.

According to the COA, there were a total of 172,909 voucher program beneficiaries. Due to time constraints, the Commission took a sample size among these beneficiaries amounting to 5,507 students.

Out of this sample size, COA confirmed the existence of 5,383 beneficiaries through physical inspection, video and phone verification and review of their school activities. They were unable to verify 66 total due to being unable to contact them but 58 others were unverifiable for other reasons.

“The existence of 58 VPBs (voucher program beneficiaries) could not be verified for the following reasons: 32 had officially or unofficially dropped out, 12 transferred to other schools, 11 were not enrolled in the second semester, two were reported deceased, and one was absent during validation with no school records available,” COA wrote in its report.

For the two deceased students, COA recommended to the DepEd to include additional guidelines to govern cases of beneficiaries who passed away, as they only covered what would happen should a parent or guardian die. State auditors also advised agencies to strengthen monitoring systems.

There were also five voucher beneficiaries who were misclassified under wrong voucher categories, resulting in another overpayment of P14,710.

COA also found that there were incomplete and improperly maintained supporting documents for voucher redemption, including a lack of report cards and various certificates.

DepEd response

In a statement, DepEd said that it would act on COA’s findings on the voucher program.

“As part of its 5-layer validation, DepEd, through its co-manager of the Senior High School Voucher Program, Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC), has completed its School Year 2025-2026 validation. Through this year-end validation, flagged cases are being reviewed and confirmed overpayments will be recovered,” the agency said in a statement.

“DepEd remains committed to ensuring that public funds are properly accounted for and used for their intended purpose,” it added. — BM, GMA News