SENATE minority leader Franklin Drilon yesterday said a resigned official of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) should explain circumstances behind the Department of Health’s transfer of more than P42 billion of its COVID-19 response funds to the DBM’s Procurement Services (PS-DBM) without documentation.
In an interview with ANC TV, Drilon said former undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao left as chief of the PS-DBM with “so many questionable transactions.”
He urged Lao to appear before the Blue Ribbon committee on August 25, schedule of the second hearing of the panel which is looking into the alleged mishandling by the Department of Health of some P67 million in COVID-19 response funds, as disclosed by the Commission on Audit (COA) last week in an audit report.
Drilon said that in the first hearing last Wednesday, he learned it was during Lao’s time as PS-DBM chief when P42 billion was transferred to the agency by the DOH. The transaction was questioned by COA due to lack of documentary requirements.
“Who is the official who directed the transfer of P42 billion? Is this done as a matter of course or is this the first time it was done? It is something unusual. A government official would be afraid to do this unless directed by somebody higher. This is what I want to find out,” Drilon said.
Lao, a former undersecretary at the office of the Special Assistant to the President, was appointed PS-DBM chief in January 2020. In October that year, Lao applied for the position of overall deputy ombudsman but later withdrew. Drilon said “quietly” resigned last June.
“If there was overpricing, Lao should satisfactorily explain, otherwise he might be made responsible. We are not talking here of small money,” he said.
The PS-DBM has been tapped to handle big-ticket purchases in the government pandemic response instead of government agencies making the procurement themselves.
Drilon said Blue Ribbon chair Sen. Richard Gordon required DBM to submit all transactions involving the P42 billion.
He said Lao is not yet off the hook.
“If there was overpricing, certainly he (Lao) is responsible. Just to put it in context, we’re not talking of small money. From our research, on the face masks alone, we estimate that the overprice is about a billion pesos,” he added.
Citing the COA report, Drilon said the PS-DBM purchased around 113,905,000 pieces of face masks from different suppliers, at P27.72 a piece. He said this cost the government around P1.66 billion. Compared to the DOH suggested retail price (SRP) of P5, the face masks would have cost around P569.52 million, he said.
Drilon said he also suspects that the face shields bought were overpriced by P100 million. Based on the COA report, PS-DBM purchased 1,317,771 pieces of face shields at P120 each for a total of P158.13 million.
He, however, said that the DOH’s suggested retail price for face shields range from P26 to P50 per piece. Following the DOH’s SRP, the total amount should only be around P65.89 million.
Drilon said the funds used to purchase the face masks and face shields were from the transferred P42 billion.
He also said Sen. Christopher Go, chair of the Senate committee on health, should be present during the next hearing since “he should assist us in clarifying these issues because Sen. Go has familiarity with the health sector.”
Go said he supports moves to investigate how the COVID-19 response funds were spent.
He also clarified reports linking him to Lao, saying Lao “was never my aide.” “He was a volunteer election lawyer of President Duterte in 2016 and was appointed to the Presidential Management,” he added.
