COA flags PIDS for P81 million unfinished research projects

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) for P81 million worth of unfinished research projects, majority of which should have been completed in 2018 and 2019.

“The PIDS was not able to complete within the timetable indicated in the projects’ work plans the 24 research projects with total cost of P81.236 million,” COA said in its latest annual audit report.

PIDS is a government research institution mandated to provide research studies and analysis of socioeconomic issues for better formulation of plans and policies by the state, especially by lawmakers.

COA said verification by the audit team revealed that as of Dec. 31, 2019, there were still 24 ongoing research projects with original target completion dates in 2018 and 2019.

COA’s record showed that of the P81.236-million budget for these projects, 69.33 percent or P56.321 million has already been spent, leaving a balance of just 30.67 percent or P24.915 million.

The audit body said because of the delays, “the intended purposes/objectives for which these projects/policy researches were formulated might be no longer relevant or the benefits that could have been derived therefrom by the intended users were not timely achieved.”

The record showed that there were eight projects that started in 2018 which should have been completed in 2019 while 15 projects that were started in early 2019 should have been completed by the end of the same year.

COA said among the reasons cited by the PIDS for its failure to meet the target completion dates were the delays encountered from various government agencies regarding the processing of the researchers’ request for data as well as shortage in manpower due to difficulty in hiring qualified project staff.

The audit body directed the PIDS to “exert all efforts to complete the ongoing projects within the approved time extension in order not to defeat their purposes/objectives.”

In a reply incorporated in the audit report, PIDS said it is now in the process of hiring additional researchers to augment its manpower. PIDS said its staff members are also set to undergo a seminar this year to improve their capacity to undertake research projects.