黑料社

MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra has admitted that the past Department of Health (DOH) administration鈥檚 decision to leave procurement of face masks and face shields to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) was a precarious call.

Guevarra in an ambush interview on Monday, after the hearing of the House of Representatives鈥� committee on appropriations, explained that DOH鈥檚 decision to hand over procurement of medical supplies to PS-DBM will always be questioned as the latter鈥檚 mandate is to buy common-use items like pens and paper.

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The Solicitor General, who was Justice secretary when the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the DOH鈥檚 for its P47.6 billion transfers to PS-DBM, said that the department could have opted to do procurement on its own.

Critical question

鈥淭hey could have done it on their own. One legal question here is can you classify items used to combat the pandemic as commonly-used items?聽 Can they be classified as commonly used items that the PS-DBM can procure? So, that鈥檚 a very critical question,鈥� Guevarra said.

鈥淎nd, I think鈥攚ell I do not want to suggest an answer for the Department of Health鈥攖hat is quite precarious, right?聽 Because some people will say, 鈥榯hat鈥檚 not commonly-used items like ball pens, paper, et cetera, so, you can鈥檛 hand the responsibility of procurement to PS-DBM,鈥� he added.

But Guevarra said that a reasoning behind handing over procurement to PS-DBM may be because there was uncertainty as to how long the COVID-19 pandemic would last.

READ: COA finds DOH lacking in managing P67.32-B COVID funds

Guevarra said that if the COVID-19 pandemic would last for a long time, then it would make sense for equipment such as masks would be considered a common-use supply as the PS-DBM can procure in bulk and possibly increase savings.

鈥淗owever you can also argue that we are dealing with a pandemic.聽 That was the beginning of the pandemic, you do not know how long the pandemic will last.

You don鈥檛 know how many people will need or how many agencies will need 鈥檡ong mga PPE (personal protective equipment) na 鈥檡an, mga properties, no?鈥� he said.

鈥淪o, to that extent, probably the DOH felt that these PPEs, the test kits can be classified already as commonly-used items in the context of a pandemic. So, probably that will be the legal issue if at all that it will be questioned before a court of law,鈥� he added.

Guevarra said this after portions of the committee on appropriations鈥� hearing centered on the COA-flagged fund transfers.

READ: Duterte ordered transfer of P47.6 billion COVID funds to PS-DBM 鈥� Duque

Directed by the President

During the early part of the hearing鈥攚hich was conducted to assess DOH鈥檚 budgetary performance鈥攆ormer Health secretary Francisco Duque III said it was former President Rodrigo Duterte who directed the transfer of P47.6 billion from DOH to PS-DBM.

Duque was Health secretary when the pandemic hit.

The said P47.6 billion funds includes contracts entered by PS-DBM with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., which was accused of selling overpriced face masks, face shields, and other equipment used against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last August 2021, the Commission on Audit found deficiencies on how the DOH managed its P67.32-billion fund to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that it contributed to challenges that the country faced during the crisis.

COA鈥檚 annual audit report for DOH in 2020 revealed that the deficiencies are caused by non-compliance with pertinent laws and regulations, which led to missed opportunities for the department primarily tasked with managing the pandemic.

These issues, COA said, cast doubt on the regularity of transactions, while keeping much-needed funds at bay and unspent.

Eventually, it was questioned why the DOH handed over to PS-DBM the responsibility of procuring protective equipment, when the latter鈥檚 mandate is to purchase common-use supplies like pens, paper, and other generic equipment.

PS-DBM was also quizzed at the Senate as to why it gave a contract to Pharmally, despite the company having a small paid-up capital of P625,000. Just this May, the Office of the Ombudsman denied the motion for reconsideration filed by former PS-DBM head Lloyd Christopher Lao, who was charged with different raps for his involvement in the Pharmally issue.