EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A. INTRODUCTION

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) was created by virtue of Republic Act (RA)
No. 6975, otherwise known as the Department of the Interior and Local Government
(DILG) Act of 1990. It is a line bureau under the DILG with a vision of creating a
modernized, efficient and responsive national protection agency fully equipped with
modern firefighting equipment and manned by highly trained officers and men with
capability, initiative and foresight in the fulfillment of duty.

The BFP primarily performs the following functions:

a) Prevent and suppress all destructive fires on:

 Building, houses and other structures;

 Forest;
 Land transportation vehicles and equipment;
 Ships and vessels docked at piers or wharves anchored in major
seaports;
 Petroleum industry installations;
 Plane crashes; and
 Other similar activities

b) Enforce the Revised Fire Code of the Philippines of 2008 (RA No. 9514)
and other related laws;

c) Investigate all causes of fires and if necessary, file the proper complaint
with the city or provincial prosecutor who has jurisdiction over the case;

d) In the time of national emergency, all elements of the BFP shall upon
direction of the President, assist the AFP in meeting the national
emergency;

e) Establish at least one fire station with adequate personnel, firefighting

facilities and equipment in every provincial capital, city and municipality
subject to standard rules and regulations as maybe promulgated by DILG;

f) Enforce Section 12 of RA No. 11032 or the Act Promoting Ease of Doing

Business and Efficient Delivery of Government Services, amending for the
Purpose RA No. 9485, otherwise known as the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007,
and for other Purposes; and

g) Act as one of the members in the Local Disaster Risk Reduction

Management Council as stated in RA 10121 or an Act Strengthening the

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 Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management System, providing
for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Framework and
Institutionalizing the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Plan, Appropriating Funds therefor and for other purposes

The BFP is currently headed by Director Louie S Puracan, Fire Chief, assisted by
the Deputy Fire Chief for Operations, the Chief Directorial Staff and the Chiefs of
Directorates. It has 17 regional offices headed by Regional Directors (RD)/Assistant
Regional Directors (ARD) and Provincial, City and Municipal Fire Marshalls who
supervise the provincial, city and municipal fire stations, respectively.

The BFP National Headquarters (NHQ) is located at Agham Road, Barangay

Bagong Pag- asa, Diliman, Quezon City. The provincial, city and municipal fire stations
are strategically located nationwide, to effectively respond to the emergency calls in case
of fire incidents from 81 provinces, 146 cities and 1,488 municipalities. The number of
existing fire stations and assigned firemen in each region is shown below:

Total Number of Number of Fire

Number of
Region Cities & Station
Personnel
Municipalities (Activated)
NHQ - - 678
NFTI - - 74
NCR 17 1 3,629
CAR 77 59 1,165
1 125 103 1,837
2 93 81 1,669
3 130 116 2,755
4A 142 116 3,115
4B 73 58 1,033
5 114 93 2,139
6 133 111 2,334
7 132 105 2,340
8 143 117 2,041
9 72 49 1,585
10 93 64 1,535
11 49 42 1,476
12 50 45 1,187
13 73 62 1,170
BARMM 118 50 1,047
Total 1,634 1,272 32,809

As of December 31, 2021, the BFP’s total workforce of 32,809 consists of 32,439
uniformed personnel and 370 non-uniformed personnel distributed throughout the country,
including the National Headquarters.

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B. OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Based on the submitted 2021 Accomplishment Report, the BFP’s significant

accomplishments are as follows:

Physical Percentage of
Program Targets Accomplishments Accomplishments
Fire Prevention Management Program
Number of buildings and 1,860,638 2,195,620 118
establishments inspected
covered by Fire Code:
Business Permit and
Licensing Office
registered, Government
owned bldg./structures,
establishment under
Philippine Economic Zone
Authority, and all other
privately owned
bldgs./structures not
requiring Fire Safety
Inspection Certificate
(FSIC) against total no. of
buildings and
establishments nationwide.
Number of FSIC rated 1,740,538 1,977,136 114
buildings and structure that
has not been the cause of
fire incident (origin of fire)
against total number of
FSIC Rated
buildings/establishments
nationwide
Number of buildings and 1,866,277 2,174,296 117
establishments inspected
within the prescribed time
frame (i.e. 3½ days from
the receipt of Inspection
Order (IO) of the Fire
safety Inspector) against
total number of buildings/
establishments inspected
nationwide
Number of Oplan Ligtas na 791,292 791,292 100
Pamayanan Activities:
Community Fire Protection
Plan (CFPP) Formulated;

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 Physical Percentage of
Program Targets Accomplishments Accomplishments
Community Fire Auxiliary
Group (CFAG) Organized;
House-to-house Fire Safety
Survey, Lectures and
Campaigns Conducted;
and Simulated Drills
Conducted

Fire and Emergency Management Program – Fire Response Activities

Number of fire, emergency 14,548 13,826 95
and rescue calls responded
nationwide (fire related)
against total number of fire,
Emergency Medical
Services and rescue calls
Number of fire calls not 11,268 11,648 80
exceeding 300,000
estimated property damage
out of the total number of
fire calls nationwide
Number of fire calls and 11,990 10,258 86
related emergencies
responded within seven
minutes (from receipt of
call until arrival on the fire
scene) against total fire and
emergency calls
responded.
Fire and Emergency Management Program – Non-Fire Response Activities
Number of households in 3,275,315 24,438,211 746
disaster/calamity-affected
barangays rendered with
assistance against total
households in
disaster/calamity-affected
barangays.
Number of individuals 21,705 21,705 100
rendered with technical
rescue
assistance/intervention
Number of non-emergency 114,381 114,381 100
cases rendered with
assistance by BFP

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 Physical Percentage of
Program Targets Accomplishments Accomplishments
Number of Local, National 13,746 13,746 100
and International events
deployed with BFP
contingents
Number of LGUs extended 1,718 1,718 100
with technical trainings by
BFP
Fire and Emergency Management Program – Fire Investigation Activities
Number of fire incidents 8,457 12,851 152
investigated against total
number of fire incidents
responded
Number of arson fire cases 27 89 330
filed in court against total
number of arson fires
Number of fire incidents 10,874 12,844 118
investigated with SIR
submitted against total
number of fire incident
responded nationwide

C. FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

The Agency’s financial position, financial performance and application of

funds as of December 31, 2021 with corresponding figures for CY 2020 are as follows:

Increase/
2021 2020 As Restated (Decrease)
Financial Position (in thousand pesos)
Assets 26,778,969 23,581,923 3,197,046
Liabilities 5,183,359 4,255,490 927,869
Government Equity 21,595,610 19,326,433 2,269,177

Increase/
Financial 2021 2020 As Restated (Decrease)
Performance (in thousand pesos)
Total Revenue 2,942,269 2,813,349 128,920
Total Current
Operating Expenses 29,383,904 26,641,769 2,742,135
Net Financial
Assistance/Subsidy 29,012,237 26,195,439 2,816,798
Net Gains/Losses 11,133 8,143 2,990
Surplus for the period 2,581,735 2,375,162 206,573

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 Increase/
2021 2020 As Restated (Decrease)
Source/Utilization (in thousand pesos)
Allotments Received 31,763,064 27,757,293 4,005,771
Obligations Incurred 29,241,185 27,402,157 1,839,028
Unexpended Balance 2,521,879 355,136 2,166,743

D. SCOPE OF AUDIT

The audit covered the operations and financial transactions for CY 2021 of the
NHQ and 17 Regional Offices.

E. INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

The Auditor rendered a qualified opinion on the fairness of presentation of the

financial statements of the BFP as at December 31, 2021, in view of the accounting
errors which constituted 4.01 percent of total assets and accounting deficiencies as
shown in the Matrix of Analysis on the Effects of Misstatements on the Financial
Statements marked as Annex A.

F. SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Accounting errors and omissions in recording financial transactions totaling

₱857.435 million resulted in the misstatement of the affected accounts in the
BFP’s Consolidated Financial Statements. (Observation No. 1)

We recommended and Management agreed to require the accountants of NHQ

and concerned regional offices to prepare journal entry vouchers to correct the
noted errors and omissions.

2. Accounting deficiencies in recording and reporting financial transactions in CY

2021 totaling ₱4.516 billion affected the reliability of information presented in the
financial statements. (Observation No. 2)

We recommended and Management agreed to require all the concerned SDOs,

Supply/Logistics Officers, and Accountants of NHQ and Regional Offices to
address the noted deficiencies by complying with the requirements on the
preparation, maintenance and submission of records, schedules and reports,
among others.

3. The non-submission of accounting reports and supporting documents on

transactions totaling ₱161.644 million precluded the prompt examination of
transactions, early detection and corrections of errors and deficiencies, and timely
reporting of the audit results to Management. (Observation No. 3)

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 We recommended that Management direct the concerned Chief Accountants to
submit all the unsubmitted financial reports and supporting documents and
henceforth, observe strictly the reporting deadlines.

4. The year-end balance of Due from GOCCs account of ₱3.267 billion is unreliable
due to: (a) unrecognized refunds, cancellation fee and interest income totaling
₱217.617 million in NHQ and NCR; and (b) variance of ₱1.589 million between
the records of the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) and BFP.
Further, fund transfers by NHQ, NCR and Region 3 totaling ₱3.267 billion
remained unsettled at year-end due to the inability of PITC to deliver the goods
and complete the projects despite the lapse of more than four years. (Observation
No. 4)

We recommended that Management require the: (a) Chief Accountants to

recognize in the books the amount refunded, cancellation fee and interest income
upon receipt of supporting documents; (b) Chief Accountants to reconcile
balances with PITC to determine cause/s of the variance and ensure agreement of
balances between their records; and draw adjusting entries, as necessary; and
(c) concerned Logistics Officer of NHQ, NCR and Region 3 to make
representations with PITC for the immediate delivery of items requested for
procurement and completion of projects; otherwise, demand for the immediate
refund of unutilized balance of fund transfers.

5. The balance of account Due from NGAs amounting to ₱514.394 million is

unreliable due to the unreconciled variance of ₱1.746 million between the records
of the Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM)
and BFP. Further, the accumulated balance from prior years’ fund transfers aged
one to 16 years totaling ₱511.377 million remained unremitted to the Bureau of
the Treasury (BTr). Moreover, funds transferred to the DILG in the amount of
₱2.142 million remained unliquidated as of December 31, 2021 despite the lapse
of more than two years. (Observation No. 5)

We recommended that Management require the: (a) Chief Accountants of NHQ

and NCR to reconcile records with the Chief Accountant of PS-DBM to ascertain
cause/s of the difference in the balances of their respective records, and prepare
the necessary adjusting entries to reflect the correct balance of the account; (b)
Chiefs, Logistics Division of NHQ and NCR to make representation with PS-
DBM for the immediate remittance to the BTr of the prior years’ balance of fund
transfers; and (c) Chief Accountant of NHQ to coordinate with the Chief
Accountant of DILG to request the submission of liquidation report on the
transferred fund; otherwise, demand return/remittance of the same to the BTr.

6. The balance of the account Deposits on Letters of Credit amounting to ₱45.127

million remained dormant for 27 years and continue to be unsupported with
documents/records providing details thereof; thus, existence and accuracy of the
amount cannot be established. (Observation No. 8)

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 We recommended that Management direct the Chief Accountant and Chief
Finance Service to exert effort to locate the certificate or any document to prove
the deposit of the said fund to LBP and coordinate with the concerned LBP officer
to obtain from their end documents that will facilitate the recovery of said fund.

7. The payment of monetization of leave credits (MLCs) to BFP personnel for CY

2021 totaling ₱198.107 million disclosed deficiencies that could be attributed to
weaknesses on documentation, review, and monitoring processes.
(Observation No. 10)

We recommended that Management direct the Chief, Leave Management Section

of NHQ to carefully review the filed applications for monetization of leave credits
to ensure compliance with pertinent guidelines, rules and regulations on the grant
of monetization of leave credits.

G. IMPLEMENTATION OF PRIOR YEARS’ AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS

Out of 83 audit recommendations embodied in the CY 2021 Consolidated

Annual Audit Report, 51 were implemented, while 32 were not implemented, of which
nine were reiterated/revised in Part 2 of this report.

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