OMBUDSMAN Samuel Martires yesterday said a criminal charge has been filed before the Sandiganbayan against former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Lloyd Christopher Lao, former executive director of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).
The case involves an allegation for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) in connection with the transfer of P41.464 billion in DOH funds 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, even if the latter did not have the supplies and equipment required in its inventory.
A graft case is a bailable offense with bail bonds routinely set by the anti-graft court at P90,000 for each defendant.
The case is anchored on the complaint filed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros and former senator Richard Gordon and the 49-page decision of the Ombudsman dated May 8, 2024 which declared the existence of probable cause and recommended criminal indictment against Duque and Lao.
The panel of investigators said the two acted with evident bad faith and/or gross inexcusable negligence when Duque caused the series of fund transfers and when Lao accepted the sums despite knowledge that the items sought by the DOH were not in the inventory of the PS-DBM.
They said the Bids and Awards Committee of the DOH had the capability and the needed expertise to undertake the procurement of supplies needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic without tapping the PS-DBM.
Likewise, by directly dealing with suppliers, the procurement process would have been simplified aside from saving the P1.659 billion that went to PS-DBM as 4 percent service fee, investigators said.
Among the items in the DOH procurement were detection kits, nucleic acid extraction machines, mechanical ventilators, personal protective equipment, surgical masks, cadaver bags, and test kits needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
