COA questions varying burial aid in Pampanga

What sets a deceased individual apart from 488 other dead Kapampangans in the eyes of the provincial government?

The Commission on Audit (COA) posed the query as it noted a disparity in the grant by the Pampanga provincial government of burial assistance to 489 constituents who died last year.

COA, in its 2016 annual audit report for the provincial government, noted “infractions” in the implementation of Sanggunian Panlalawigan’s Ordinance NO. 662, granting burial assistance to the families of deceased Pampanga residents.

State auditors disclosed that one burial assistance beneficiary was given R30,000 in financial assistance while 488 others were given amounts ranging from R5,000 to R20,000.

At least 85 mourning families received only R5,000 while 189 others got R12,000 in burial assistance.

“Selected few, however, were given from R15,000 to R30,000, an indication that no guildelines were set in the amount to be given to each bereaved family,” the audit report stated.

Other infractions allegedly committed by the provicinal government are the payment of funeral service fees to funeral parlors that have not been accredited by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the grant of burial assistance to “family of one who died in 2014”.

The ordinance authorizing the provincial govenrment to grant burial assistance was approved in 2015.

According to COA, the provincial government headed by Governor Lilia Pineda has spent R14,968,172 to finance the burial assistance program for deceased constituents belonging to indigent families.

Reacting to the COA observation, the Provincial Social Welfare Division explained that the varying amount of burial assistance “was based on the assessment of the social worker.”