AFP flagged for including 264 deceased pensioners in payroll

The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) over the latter's failure to remove 264 deceased pensioners from its payroll and alpha list of active pensioners six to 25 months after their deaths, thus resulting in P73.11 million in overpayment of pension benefits.

- Elizabeth Marcelo

"Audit of benefit payments revealed that based on the payrolls of active pensioners provided by the AFP Finance Center (AFPFC), several pensioners who were already deceased in calendar years (CYs) 2021, 2022 and 2023 still received benefits," the COA said in its 2023 annual audit report on AFP General Headquarters (GHQ).

"For periods ranging from six to 25 months after their deaths, deceased pensioners were still granted benefits amounting to P73,110,052.32, notwithstanding the efforts of the AFP Pension and Gratuity Management Center (AFPPGMC) in updating and accounting for pensioners to update the pensioners list," the state audit body added.