Amenah Pangandaman鈥擠epartment of Budget and Management facebook
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Friday appealed to Congress to give the controversial Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) a chance instead of abolishing the office as proposed by some lawmakers.
鈥淚 will defer to the wisdom of Congress if they wish to really abolish PS-DBM,鈥� Pangandaman told the House committee on appropriations at the start of deliberations on the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023.
But Pangandaman pointed out that during her previous stint at the DBM as undersecretary from 2017 to 2019, 鈥渙ne of the benefits of [having] PS-DBM is the savings incurred during that time, worth P18 billion.鈥�
The office was formed in 1978, during the first Marcos administration, to serve as the centralized procurement body for items that are of common use in the entire government bureaucracy, instead of making individual departments purchase these materials separately.
The intention was to save money. Among the common-use goods on the basic PS-DBM menu are ballpens, papers, folders, paper clips, staplers and other office supplies.
However, state auditors have found major purchases made during the Duterte administration to be allegedly overpriced, such as the laptops bought for public school teachers under the Department of Education (DepEd), as well as under the Department of Health (DOH).
READ: Exposed at Senate probe: DepEd-PS-DBM鈥檚 鈥榟astily drafted鈥� laptop contract studded with errors
Bid for 鈥榦ld glory鈥�
For Pangandaman, 鈥渋f we give a chance to PS-DBM, and if we clean the process and the system of procurement in PS-DBM, maybe we can go back to its old glory.鈥�
Upon her appointment to the top budget department post by President Marcos in July, Pangandaman then said she intended to evaluate and streamline the PS-DBM 鈥渢o ensure proper oversight and stricter controls to safeguard the integrity of the procurement process.鈥�
This was despite findings made during the Senate blue ribbon committee investigation last year, when it looked into the hefty pandemic supply contracts awarded to the undercapitalized company Pharmally, that the budget secretary exercised limited oversight and had no direct control over the PS-DBM.
Pangandaman said the Marcos administration had appointed 鈥渟omeone who is very respectable鈥� as the new executive director of the PS-DBM, referring to lawyer Dennis Santiago. The former chief, Lloyd Christopher Lao, had been implicated in what the Senate concluded to be irregular purchases of pandemic supplies made through deals that benefited a few favored suppliers.
鈥淲e already have programs on how to fix PS-DBM. If you may give us a chance to at least clean PS-DBM, we will be highly happy with that,鈥� Pangandaman said, without elaborating.
Win suspects 鈥榮yndicate鈥�
In Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian鈥檚 view, a syndicate within the PS-DBM has been taking advantage of 鈥渓oopholes鈥� in its procedures, resulting in the loss of billions of pesos to corruption.
Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on basic education, said the Senate鈥檚 initial findings on these loopholes would bolster calls for the abolition of the office.
鈥淟ooking at the setup in PS-DBM, I clearly believe that there鈥檚 something wrong with their procedures and people are taking advantage of that. And I clearly believe that probably there鈥檚 a syndicate operating inside PS-DBM, taking advantage of the loopholes,鈥� he said.
Senators on Thursday quizzed PS-DBM and DepEd officials over the P2.4 billion worth of allegedly overpriced and outdated laptops, particularly on their decision to proceed with the purchase of the gadgets at P58,000 each even though the approved budget was only P32,000 per unit.
The increase in the purchase price, which was accepted by the DepEd, resulted in fewer teachers getting laptops. Gatchalian said as many as 30,000 teachers did not receive any for their distance learning classes.
Inconsistencies
The senator also rejected the explanation given by PS-DBM and DepEd officials after they admitted to committing 鈥渓apses鈥� in deciding on the purchase, which had also been questioned by the Commission on Audit in its 2021 report on the education department.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 buy the [claim that it was due to an] honest mistake, because this is a P2.4-billion deal and there are so many inconsistencies: Senator Francis [Tolentino] saw a cut-and-paste contract; Senator [Koko] Pimentel saw a cut-and-paste price analysis,鈥� he added.
Senators also found out that, aside from failing to undergo the process for a price analysis, the PS-DBM gave a single person 鈥渁 lot of discretion鈥� regarding the transactions.
鈥榃hat鈥檚 the point?鈥�
Gatchalian noted, for example, that a PS-DBM employee sent out requests for quotations for Windows-based laptops even to suppliers known to be exclusive retailers of Apple products.
鈥淭his type of modus [operandi] is actually eliminating competition鈥� so that [the choices] will narrow down to a few suppliers and the price will be jacked up. So from P32,000 [per unit] requested by DepEd, it went up to P58,000 because they narrowed down [the choices] to the most expensive suppliers,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like requesting Toyota parts but you asked Mitsubishi suppliers, which is unusual. For me, this is actually eliminating competition,鈥欌�� he added.
Blunders committed by the PS-DBM in these purchases belie the argument that the agency can be considered an expert in big-ticket procurements, Gatchalian said.
鈥淧S-DBM is given the funds because is its presumed to be more meticulous, more efficient鈥� [B]ut if you鈥檙e seeing so many 鈥榟onest鈥� mistakes, so many wrong documentations, you鈥檙e not any better than the other departments. So what鈥檚 the point?鈥� he said.