Omnibus Guidelines on the Recovery of Overpayments from Pantawid Pamilya Beneficiaries

May 20, 2021

DSWD MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 03, S. 2021

 

I. RATIONALE

Accurate and timely release of grants to beneficiaries is mandated by Republic Act No. 11310 or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act. Hence, the Program endeavours to provide mechanisms and capacity building to its human resource compliment for the enhancement of its information systems and operational processes.

In instances when the household (HH) beneficiaries received overpayments of cash grants, it is imperative that such excess be recovered from them and returned to the government. Since entitlement to the Pantawid cash grants is conditional, overpayments resulting from non-compliance and/or data inaccuracy should be retrieved from the HH. This will prevent unfavourable findings from different regulatory offices and other negative feedback from the public in general. The beneficiaries will also be encouraged to faithfully comply with the Program conditions because their non-compliance will result to reduced grants.

Given that the existing guidelines in recovery of overpayment in Pantawid do not cover those provided to households apart from their usual cash grants, a unified mechanism and policy to cater to these subsidies and assistance is called for. In the previous years, overpayments were released to households due to inconsistent computation of grants versus their compliance data. However, the Program realized that it may also happen because of other reasons such as duplication of households in the database. In both cases, excess grants should be recovered for sound fiscal administration and program implementation.

To these ends, an exhaustive and inclusive policy for recovery of overpayments received by households is necessary.

II. BASIS OF THE GUIDELINES

1. Section 29, Article VI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which provides that "No money shall be paid out of the Treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law";

2. Republic Act No. 11310 or the 4Ps Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations;

3. Guidelines on Recovery of Overpayments from Active Household Beneficiaries dated February 5, 2015;

4. Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Operations Manual;

5. The General Appropriations Act; and

6. Applicable Rules and Regulations issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) and Department of Budget and Management.

III. OBJECTIVES

These Omnibus Guidelines aim to consolidate all previous issuances that seek to recover excess grants released to Pantawid Pamilya households regardless of time of occurrence and those subsidies mandated by special issuances of the Government as assistance in responding to a contingency. The latter may or may not be compliance-based but household's eligibility is provided by issuances providing for the said assistance or subsidy.

Specifically, these Guidelines aim to:

1. Provide mechanisms on how to recover the excess grants released to and received by the beneficiaries;

2. Provide mechanisms on how to recover excess subsidies/assistance given to households on account of unusual economic shock which disrupts their usual livelihood;

3. Specify and provide the roles of the Provincial Links, City/Municipal Links (C/MLs), Municipal Roving Bookkeeper (MRB), DSWD Field Office (FO) Cashier, Financial Analyst (FA) III for Cash Grants, Regional System Focal, and other Program staff that may be involved in recovering overpayments and/or subsidies given to the beneficiaries; and

4. Protect the cash that will be recovered from the beneficiaries by providing accountability of each staff involved in the process of recovering overpayments.

IV.  DEFINITION OF TERMS

a. Overpayment — refers to cash grants computed for a Pantawid Pamilya beneficiary and actually received by them on a particular Pay Period which are in excess of what they rightfully earned based on their compliance data for said period. It also includes excess cash grants given as emergency subsidy which should be recovered based on the parameters.

b. Top-up cash grants — refer to grants given to the beneficiaries during special circumstances such as post-disaster relief, which shall not be considered as overpayment subject to recovery.

c. Emergency Subsidy — refers to other form of cash grants which may be provided to Pantawid households to help them cope with an unexpected contingency.

d. Underpayment — refers to cash grants to which a Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries are entitled to receive based on their compliance data for a particular Pay Period but for some reason/s were not computed and released to them.

e. Payroll Adjustment Module (PAM) — refers to an information technology module developed by the Information and Communications Technology Management Service (ICTMS) to manage overpayments received by Pantawid Pamilya HHs pursuant to the rules/guidelines provided herein.

f. Special Collecting Officer (SCO)/Grants Recovery Personnel (GRP) — refers to a field personnel, preferably, the Municipal Roving Bookkeeper, who shall be designated through a Special Order (see attached template 1) signed by competent official of the Department and will be entrusted with recovering the overpayment of an inactive/delisted HH beneficiary.

Each SCO/GRP shall only be designated as such if the HH from whom an overpayment will be collected is under his/her caseload.

g. Active Households — refer to those which are tagged in the Pantawid Pamilya Information System (PPIS) as eligible for monitoring and receipt of grants.

h. Inactive Households — refer to a household registered but temporarily not monitored and can be reinstated to the program upon validation.

V. OPERATIONAL POLICY

A. GENERATION AND VERIFICATION OF AFFECTED HOUSEHOLD

i. Overpayment to households in the previous years shall be prioritized in payroll adjustment or manual collection for recovery, as applicable.

ii. The Information and Communications Technology Management Service (ICTMS) shall generate the list of HHs with overpayments from the previous years by comparing the computed payroll of each HH in the Pantawid Pamilya Information System (PPIS) against their compliance data from Pay Period 1 of 2013 to Pay Period 2 2014 and in the previous period/years corresponding to their overpayment.

iii. Upon generation, ICTMS shall forward the list of affected HHs to the National Program Management Office (NPMO) and to the Financial Management Service-Special Projects (FMS-SP) for review and reconciliation of any amount already returned by a household. The NPMO shall communicate to all Field Offices within thirty (30) days from approval of these Guidelines the list of affected HHs and to submit those who already returned their overpayments, and the amount thereof if not yet in full.

iv. Within three (3) days from receipt by NPMO of the updated list of households with overpayments in the previous years, the same shall be sent to FMS-SP for uploading in the PAM for recovery of any balance of the excess grants.

All households verified by the FOs to have fully returned their overpayments shall be excluded from recovery of overpayments.

v. Other cases of overpayment and excess emergency subsidy as reported to or discovered by NPMO shall be verified with the Field Offices and the list of households endorsed to them for verification within three (3) days upon receipt of report/discovery.

If the overpayment or excess emergency subsidy was discovered and verified by the FO, its endorsement to the NPMO shall contain the attestation referred to in the immediately succeeding section.

vi. After verification, the list shall be returned to the NPMO with the compliance data of the households during the period when they received the overpayment. Said compliance data shall be issued by the appropriate system focal and to be used in determining overpayment. For this purpose, both the system focal and FA III in the Field Office shall issue a certificate stating that a particular HH/s received grants in excess of what should be received by them, stating the amount thereof, in said period.

In case of emergency subsidy, the list shall be supported by an attestation of the appropriate personnel/worker that the households received an excess.

vii. The list of HHs with overpayment shall be submitted to the NPMO using TEMPLATE A, certified by the Regional Program Coordinator (RPC), approved by the Regional Director (RD), and forwarded to the NPMO within seven (7) days from approval.

viii. If submitted list of HHs with overpayment to be correct, NPMO same shall send it back to FMS-SP, within three (3) days from the receipt, for uploading to the PAM. The actions to be taken shall be approved by the FMS-SP Director.

ix. The FMS-SP shall inform the NPMO within three (3) days after the uploading of the list to the PAM, arranged according to the following:

a. List of Active HHs with overpayment uploaded to PAM (TEMPLATE B); and

b. List of Inactive HHs with overpayment uploaded to PAM (TEMPLATE C);

x. Active HHs with overpaid grants or emergency subsidy shall be subjected to adjustment of grants pursuant to Section V.B. hereof.

Recovery of excess emergency subsidy shall consider issuances of the appropriate Government Office, Agency, Bureau or Task Force, if any.

xi. Inactive HHs with overpayments shall be subjected to the provisions of Section V.C. hereof for recovery of their excess cash grants.

B. RECOVERY OF OVERPAYMENT FROM ACTIVE HOUSEHOLDS

i. Active households with outstanding overpayments from the previous period/years and/or due to other reasons such as emergency subsidy shall be subjected to payroll adjustment as provided herein.

ii. Within five (5) days upon receipt of the certified list of HHs with overpayment uploaded to PAM (TEMPLATE B), FMS-SP shall initiate payroll adjustment.

FO determined overpayments shall be endorsed to NPMO within fifteen (15) days upon validation by submitting the list of HHs prepared by the FA III and appropriate system focal certified by the RPC and approved by the Regional Director.

Items viii and ix of Section V.A shall then be observed.

iii. The RPMO through the C/MLs shall inform the HHs about the adjustment in their grants through a "Paunawa ng Pagbabawas ng Sobrang Grants" (TEMPLATE D), and shall secure their conformity to the recovery, at least 15 days before the next payout. Said notice shall be signed by the RD.

iv. Payroll adjustment shall be effected on the Type 1-CVS Regular Payrolls of Active HHs immediately on the succeeding Pay Period following the approval of the request stated in item ii of this section.

v. Fifty percent (50%) of the computed cash grants based on the Notice of Approved Payroll Action (NAPA) during the monitoring period shall be deducted. If 50% of the computed cash grants based on NAPA is greater than the overpayment, the deduction is up to the amount of overpayment only.

Should there be a balance in the overpayment after adjustment, the same rule shall apply in the succeeding monitoring period until the 50% of the computed grants is greater than the remaining overpayment. Thereafter, the remaining overpayment shall be deducted in full as illustrated below:

 

Particulars	First Deduction	Succeeding Deduction
Regardless of Amount	50% of computed cash grants based on NAPA or the full amount of overpayment if less than 50% of computed grants	50% of computed cash grants based on NAPA or the full amount of overpayment if less than 50% of computed grants

 

Particulars	Amount of Grants based on NAPA during the Period	Amount of Overpayment from the previous period/year	Amount of Adjustment to Grants	Amount of Net Cash Grants after the adjustment	Outstanding Balance after adjustment to be deducted in the next period
(a)	(b)	(c)	d = b - c	e = b - d	f = c - d
Overpayment is equal (=) to 50% of the cash grants based on NAPA	4,400	2,200	2,200	2,200	0
Overpayment is less (<) than the 50% of the cash grants based on	4,400	2,000	2,000	2,400	0
Overpayment is greater (>) than the 50% of the cash grants based	4,400	2,400	2,200	2,200	200

 

vi. Deduction of the amount of overpayment shall be applied to the education and health grants first and last to the rice subsidy.

vii. FMS-SP shall prepare an Obligation Request and Status (ObRS) per Region and per mode of payment of the computed Type 1-CVS Regular payrolls based on the NAPA of Active HHs as submitted by NPMO. Each ObRS shall be supported with two (2) Disbursement Vouchers (DVs) and Payroll Summaries.

a. One (1) DV shall reflect the amount of adjustments done and shall indicate the Bureau of Treasury as the Payee (TEMPLATE E); and

b. Another shall reflect the adjusted amounts with payee:

• "Landbank of the Philippines" for HHs under Cash Card (CC) mode of payment (TEMPLATE F) or

• "DSWD-Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) through the LBP Conduits" for HHs with mode of payment other than CC (TEMPLATE G).

Transactions shall be processed in accordance with the government accounting and auditing rules and regulations.

The Central Office (CO) Accounting Division shall record the gross amount of current Pantawid grants in the books of accounts and adjust the appropriate accounts for the collection of overpayment.

viii. Payroll files based from the adjustment shall then be generated and sent to Landbank of the Philippines and the Field Offices for payout.

ix. Monitoring and reporting of cash grants payout and processing of unclaimed cash grants shall be in accordance with the existing procedures and guidelines.

x. For transparency and auditing purposes, the adjustment made in every pay period shall be reflected in each of the affected HH's CVS and Payroll History in the PPIS.

xi. Adjustments made due to recovery of overpayments shall not be subject to Retro payment.

C. RECOVERY OF OVERPAYMENT FROM INACTIVE HOUSEHOLDS

i. Inactive households with overpayments shall be subjected to manual recovery of grants as provided herein.

ii. The inactive households with overpayment shall be endorsed by NPMO to the RPMO using TEMPLATE A-1. Upon receipt, the RPMO shall check any voluntarily returned grants and shall proceed with recovery of any balance following the processes herein provided.

iii. The FO shall immediately transmit the list of HHs with overpayments to the respective City/Municipal Link (C/ML) through the Provincial Operations Office (POO) together with the "Paunawa Para sa Pagsasauli" (TEMPLATE H) signed by RD at least fifteen (15) days prior to actual recovery of the overpayment.

iv. The C/ML shall go to the HH's residence with the "Paunawa Para sa Pagsasauli" to inform the latter of the payment recovery within the same period.

Should the HH be incapable of returning the whole overpayment at one time, they shall be allowed to return the same on instalment basis upon their request. For this purpose, a "Panata ng Pagsasauli" (TEMPLATE I) shall be executed by the HH noted by the C/ML and approved by the Regional Director (RD) upon recommendation by the Regional Program Coordinator (RPC).

The HH shall be allowed to determine the frequency and dates of instalment they need to fully return their overpayment cash grants. The "Panata ng Pagsasauli" shall be executed within 15 days from the HH's receipt of "Paunawa Para sa Pagsasauli."

v. The approved Panata ng Pagsasauli shall be transmitted together with the signed "Paunawa Para sa Pagsasauli," within five (5) days upon execution, to the FA III. The same staff shall then request for an AR from the FMS-SP.

vi. A pre-generated Acknowledgement Receipt (AR) (TEMPLATE J) shall be prepared by the FMS-SP thru the PAM reflecting the nature of the overpayment and the same shall be sent to the Field Office through a File Transfer Protocol (FTP). A memorandum shall be sent to the FO Finance Unit as to the file location of the pre-generated AR.

All collections shall be remitted to the Miscellaneous Trust Account of the FO and recorded in the subsidiary ledger of such Miscellaneous Trust Account — Recovery of Pantawid Grants Overpayment.

The AR shall then contain the details of the Miscellaneous Trust account of the FO, its Account Name, Account Number, and the Servicing Branch where the account is maintained.

vii. Upon receipt of the memorandum, the FA III shall print the AR and the Grants Recovery Monitoring Sheet (GMRS) (TEMPLATE K). Necessary documents (i.e., signed "Paunawa Para sa Pagsasauli, "Panata ng Pagsasauli," AR and GMRS) shall then be endorsed to the SCO/GRP for immediate collection of overpaid grants by personally going to the place of residence of the HHs.

For this purpose, the C/ML, SWA, MRB, and other field personnel may be designated as Special Collection Officers/Grants Recovery Personnel to receive from the inactive beneficiaries the overpaid grants. A Special Order designating any of these field personnel shall be issued and shall contain a clear reminder on their accountability, responsibility, and faithful performance of their duties.

viii. During collection and/or receipt of payment, the SCO/GRP shall document the transaction by accomplishing the AR in three (3) copies. The HH shall be given a copy, another shall be retained by the SCO/GRP while the remaining copy shall be submitted to the Regional Cashier together with the amounts collected.

ix. All recovery shall be made strictly during office hours.

x. All recovered grants shall be forwarded to the Regional Cashier within the day or on the next working day following the collection to the extent possible. The SCO/GRP shall cause the issuance of an Official Receipt (OR) for the recovered grants to be issued by the Regional Cashier similar to Item IV of Financial Management Guidelines No. 12, s. of 2020, and shall give a copy of said OR to the household who returned the excess grants.

xi. If proceeding to the Regional Cashier on the following day is impractical due to distance and/or other reason/s, the SCO/GRP may deposit the recovered amount to the Miscellaneous Trust Account of the FO reflected in the AR. The SCO/GRP shall prepare the deposit slip in three (3) copies, one copy each for the bank, the SCO/GRP, and for the Regional Cashier.

The SCO/GRP shall turn-over the third copy of the Deposit Slips to the Regional Cashier every 5th day of the following month.

In no case shall the SCO/GRP ask another SCO/GRP, his/her fellow worker or any third person to deliver/deposit the collected grants to the RO/bank. It shall be his/her utmost duty to deliver the same to the Regional Cashier or deposit the same to the bank.

xii.  In case of loss of collected money in transit due to theft, casualty or force majeure, the SCO/GRP shall immediately notify the FO and the resident COA auditor of such incident by submitting an incident report with supporting evidence in compliance with Section 73 of PD 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.

xiii. Upon receipt of the recovered grants, the Regional Cashier shall then issue an Official Receipt per individual accomplished AR. All collections shall be remitted by the FO to the Bureau of Treasury.

The Regional Cashier shall prepare a monthly report of collections received pertaining to the overpayment of grants (TEMPLATE L).

xiv. The SCO/GRP shall provide a report on collection of overpayment from Inactive HHs (TEMPLATE M) to the RPMO not later than five (5) days after the reference month.

xv. For monitoring and collection purposes, the FO shall then submit to the NPMO and FMS-SP a monthly report on the following not later than the 10th day of the following month:

a. Regional Report on the amount recovered (TEMPLATE N);

b. Report on Collection and deposit of amount recovered from the Regional Cashier (TEMPLATE O); and

c. Remaining amount for collection from HHs (TEMPLATE P);

d. Certified true copy of validated deposit slips.

The amounts reflected on items a, b and c shall tally.

VI. ACCOUNTABILITY OF SPECIAL COLLECTING OFFICER OR GRANTS RECOVERY PERSONNEL

i. All recovered grants shall be strictly administered in accordance with the foregoing guidelines and due diligence shall be observed by SCO/GRP in safekeeping the grants recovered until the same is/are deposited as herein provided.

ii. Any worker who will use the recovered grants illegally or who will fail to remit the same as provided in these Guidelines shall be subjected to disciplinary action and penalty in accordance with the DSWD Code of Discipline, Civil Service and other appropriate law, rules and regulations.

VII. REPEALING CLAUSE

All previous issuances inconsistent with this issuance are hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly.

VIII. EFFECTIVITY

This issuance shall take effect immediately.

Issued in Quezon City this 20th day of May 2021.

(SGD.) ROLANDO JOSELITO D. BAUTISTASecretary

RO TEMPLATE A

List of HHs with Overpayment

RO TEMPLATE B

List of HHs with Underpayment

RO TEMPLATE C

List of Active HHs with Overpayment

RO TEMPLATE D

List of Inactive HHs with Overpayment

RO TEMPLATE E

Paunawa sa Pagbabawas ng Sobrang Grants

RO TEMPLATE F

DV Reflecting the Amount of Adjustments Done and Indicating the Bureau of Treasury as the Payee

RO TEMPLATE G

Cash Card Mode of Payment

RO TEMPLATE H

Non-Cash Card Mode of Payment

RO TEMPLATE I

Affected HH's CVS and Payroll History in the PPIS

RO TEMPLATE J

Paunawa Para sa Pagsasauli

RO TEMPLATE K

Panata ng Pagsasauli

RO TEMPLATE L

Acknowledgement Receipt

RO TEMPLATE M

Grants Recovery Monitoring Sheet

RO TEMPLATE N

Regional Cashier's Monthly Report of Collections Received from Overpayment of Grants

 

RO TEMPLATE O

Report on Collection of Overpayment from Inactive HHs

RO TEMPLATE P

Report on the Amount Recovered

RO TEMPLATE Q

Report on Collection and Deposit of Amount Recovered from the Regional Cashier

RO TEMPLATE R

Remaining Amount for Collection from HHs