SEN. Panfilo Lacson yesterday said a “mafia” may be behind the recurring problem of overstocking of medicines and other irregularities at the Department of Health and told Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to stop its activities.
Lacson said the overstocked, expired, and near-expiry medicines could amount to P2.736 billion in 2019 alone.
He issued the challenge to Duque during the second hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on the P67 billion alleged mismanaged COVID-19 response funds of the Department of Health, as flagged by the Commission on Audit.
“We wasted P2.736 billion in taxpayers’ money. What’s the reason for this? Why are we overstocking? Why are we buying medicines near expiry dates? What does it tell us? I’ve been an investigator all my life, (and) to me, this indicates that there is probably a ‘mafia’ that is well-entrenched, can’t be uprooted,” Lacson said.
“Unless the leadership of the DOH will put his foot down and do something about this, we won’t see the end of this overstocking of medicines,” he added.
Duque said he will look into all the allegations.
Lacson said a better approach is to do a thorough scrutiny of the unit involved in the procurement.
Citing data from the Commission on Audit, Lacson said there is a wastage of about P95.7 million in 2020, P2.2 billion in 2019, P378 million in 2018, P7 million in 2017, P25.8 million in 2016, P18 million in 2015, P6.8 million in 2014, and P4.4 million in 2013.
Lacson reminded Duque that during his confirmation hearing in 2018, the health chief committed to address the recurring problem of overstocking.
Lacson also questioned the deficiency in the management of Health Facilities Enhancement Program projects involving some P4.003 billion in sum since 2014.
“This may not be an issue of corruption. But this is an issue of inefficiency,” he said.
Lacson also raised concerns on the disbursement of operating units that did not comply with rules, procedures, policies and practices.
He cited figures indicating irregular, unnecessary and excessive expenditures in the management of HFEP infrastructure projects from 2016 to 2020 amounting to some P956.8 million.
FREE TESTING
During the hearing, Senate President Vicente Sotto III pushed for free COVID-19 tests using the government’s idle funds so that authorities can get the real number of this infected with the virus.
Sotto noted a COA report that said the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management has yet to remit to the National Treasury some P10.87 billion in unutilized funds which remained dormant for years.
Sotto said the government can use the money to make COVID-19 testing for free, saying that people are hesitant to undergo COVID testing because it is expensive.
COVID tests in hospitals and private labs range from P3,000 to 5,000.
“Congress has been working hard with the country’s budget to ensure that the needs of our people are addressed. It is very disheartening to see that much-needed funds are just lying idly and put to waste especially that we are in a middle of a crisis. Maybe these funds could instead be allocated for free mass testing and help save lives,” Sotto said.
The Blue Ribbon shifted its investigation from the Department of Health to the PS-DBM after it was found that the P42-billion DOH COVID funds were transferred to the PS-DBM for the latter to purchase face masks and face shields which the COA said were overpriced.
Former Budget undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, who used to head the PS-DBM when the P42 billion was transferred by the DOH, earlier explained that the face masks and face shields were indeed “overpriced” since those were the cheapest they can purchase during that time at the onset of the pandemic last year.
Lacson asked the PS-DBM who authorized the procurement of face shields which he said was not included in the list of items under the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) resolution dated March 2020.
“I wonder what authority DBM-PS had in bidding out or procuring the face shields because it was not included in the list. With or without the memorandum of agreement, with or without the GPPB resolution, DBM-PS was not authorized at the time to procure the face shields as it was not included in the list,” Lacson said.
During last week’s hearing, Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon said that based on the COA report, the PS-DBM under Lao’s watch purchased 113,905,000 pieces of face masks from different suppliers priced at P27.72 per piece, which costs the government around P1.66 billion.
Drilon said the PS-DBM’s price for the purchased item was way too high since the DOH has given a suggested retail price of P5 per piece, which will only amount to P569.2 million.
Drilon said he also suspects that the face shields bought by the PS-DBM were overpriced by at least P100 million since based on the COA report, the face shields that the PS-DBM bought were priced at P120 each, the total amount of which was pegged at P158.13 million for 1,317,771 pieces purchased.
