A FORMER executive director of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) was arrested yesterday in Davao City in connection with a graft case, according to the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

The CIDG said Lloyd Christopher Lao was nabbed at Ecoland in Davao City at around 11 a.m. by members of a tracker team from the CIDG’s Regional Field Unit 11.

The court has set a P90,000 bail.

Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros said she expects Lao to identify the “big boss” who benefitted from the purchase of overpriced COVID-19 supplies at the height of the pandemic.

The Senate blue ribbon committee has investigated the alleged overpriced purchase of COVID-19 supplies from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp and has cited Lao in contempt for not attending its hearings.

The CIDG said Lao was apprehended by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by the First Division of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan issued last September 12.

Lao, along with former Health Secretary Francisco Duque, were charged last month before the Sandiganbayan for violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The case was in connection with the transfer of P41.464 billion in funds of the Department of Health to the PS-DBM between March and December 2020.

Prosecutors said the transfer inflicted undue injury to the government in the form of 4 percent service fees charged by the PS-DBM, totaling P1.659 billion, as the latter did not have the supplies and equipment required in its inventory.

“The arrested person was fully informed of the nature of his arrest and appraised of his constitutional rights in a dialect known and understood by him,” the CIDG report said, referring to Lao.

Lao was brought to the CIDG field unit in Davao “for documentation and proper disposition.”

Hontiveros said it is time for Lao to “face the music.”

“Kailangang managot ni Lao at ang mga kasabwat niya sa pag-abuso at pagkamkam sa kaban ng bayan habang maraming Pilipino ang may sakit, nagugutom at walang hanapbuhay noong kasagsagan ng COVID-19 pandemic (Lao and his cohorts need to be held accountable for abusing and siphoning of public funds while many Filipinos were sick, hungry, and have lost their jobs at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic),” Hontiveros said in a statement.

She also said Lao’s arrest should serve as a lesson to all who misused and abused their positions in government that “evil ends,” adding that they can run but they cannot definitely hide. – With Raymond Africa