It’s the law of unintended consequences at work.

Or may be just the product of a not well thought-out plan.

Considering the inefficiency of the bureaucracy and the nasty, sneaky habit of many ordinary folks or  palusot,  cash taken from the public coffers and given directly to the supposedly poorest of the poor is bound to end up in the wrong, undeserving outstretched hands.

In the first place, we have long held the view here that doles never worked and are even counterproductive, but the Aquino administration just won’t listen and continued a flawed policy it merely inherited from its thoroughly disgraced predecessor.

In short, good money being thrown at a bad plan.

Now that no less than the state audit agency, whose new chief is an appointee of President Aquino, is saying the same thing, perhaps Malacañang would pay attention.             

Finding that cash allowances had been provided to families who were not among the poorest of the poor, the Commission on Audit noted  discrepancies on the list of beneficiaries, among other lapses.

CoA listed the discrepancies in the CCT program—also known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program—in its 2010 report on projects funded by official development assistance.

In its report on official development assistance, the CoA said the factors used by the DSWD in the survey of poor households were insufficient to determine the economic conditions of potential beneficiaries, as these lacked information on household income.

This resulted in some families being included in the program even though they were not among the poorest of the poor, the CoA said.

The DSWD had also failed to validate household data, which resulted in discrepancies in the names of grantees and which could affect the implementation of other social protection programs.

CoA also found double entries on the list of beneficiaries, which exposed government funds to possible losses or misuse. The double entries also led to the accumulation of P19.47 million in idle funds for over-the-counter payments.

It also learned that funds totaling P363.31 million were transferred to Land Bank of the Philippines without corresponding and actual beneficiaries, leaving the huge amount lying idle and affecting the regularity of disbursements.

Another P192.33 million was released to beneficiaries even though they did not meet the requirements of the compliance verification system, while P9.9 million in educational benefits were overpaid because they were provided to unqualified beneficiaries.

The database of poor beneficiaries did not contain information on the relationship of grantees and household members, which made it difficult for officials to verify the regularity of education benefits.

However, the report did not indicate whether the lapses took place during the first half of 2010 when the Arroyo administration was in place, or in the second half when the Aquino administration took over, or whether these were observed throughout the year.

The CCT had a budget of P10 billion in 2010 for one million households. The Aquino administration expanded the program’s budget to P21 billion and the coverage to 2.3 million families in 2011. It intends to further increase the budget and the number of beneficiaries in 2012.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman earlier said the department had been cleaning up the list of beneficiaries and had put in place a system to monitor compliance with the conditions of the cash assistance. DSWD is the lead implementing agency for the CCT.

In exchange for cash grants of up to P1,400 (P500 per mother and P300 per child up to three), household beneficiaries are required to bring their children aged up to five years to health centers for immunization and weight monitoring.