The Commission on Audit (COA) question the 58,000 recipients of the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) of the Department of Agriculture  (DA) were found by to be ineligible, dead or inactive.

In its 2024 audit of the DA, COA said farmer-beneficiaries in Regions I, IV-A, IV-B, V, IX, X and XI failed to meet eligibility requirements for rice assistance, citing registration issues, land size limits, and lack of supporting documents.

“They were either not rice farmers; not registered with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA); tilling or owning more than two hectares of farmland; or failed to submit the necessary paperwork to support their declaration of farmland area,” COA said.

The RFFA provides a P5,000 subsidy to farmers to compensate for income loss following the liberalization of rice imports.

The COA added that there were recipients in Regions VII and XIII who were either deceased, inactive, or not listed in the Master List of Eligible Farmers but were given financial assistance.

“The cash assistance granted to those whose eligibility is questionable could have been utilized to support other qualified beneficiaries; thus, defeating the core objective of the program.” it added.

Meanwhile, more than 48,000 qualified farmers did not receive any assistance due to lapses in coordination and field validation.

The audit also found that 93 farmers in Regions X and XIII received benefits twice under the program, resulting in overpayments worth more than P480,000.

In response, the DA said it will improve eligibility checks of beneficiaries under the program and regularly update farmer records through field validation.

It also ordered the return of cash assistance given to unqualified or deceased farmers, and their exclusion from future cash aid distributions.