ADMINISTRATION and opposition senators on Tuesday afternoon crossed party lines and filed a resolution seeking a special Commission o Audit (COA) inventory on government spending and donations received in relation to its COVID-19 response under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (RA 11469).
Senate Resolution 479 was filed by Senate president pro tempore Ralph Recto, minority leader Franklin Drilon and Senators Risa Hontiveros, Francis Pangilinan, Leila de Lima, Panfilo Lacson, and Juan Edgardo Angara.
The senators want to know how the government spent the donations and funds allotted in the COVID-19 response, and asked COA “to release its findings before the Philippine Congress begins its deliberations on the 2021 national budget.”
According to the Department of Budget and Management, the government has allocated P360.455 billion for its COVID-19 measures as of June 30.
The World Health Organization (WHO), on the other hand, said the government has already received $6.5 billion in donations for its pandemic-related measures “not including loans and grants from various entities and organizations.” Loans from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank were placed at $1.1 billion and $1.5 billion respectively, or a total of $2.6 billion, or P129.9 billion.
The donations include those that came from the Project Ugnayan of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation at $29.1 million, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ($19.2 million), San Miguel Corporation ($15.22 million), and pharmaceutical company Unilab ($12.08 million).
“The World Bank has found that pandemics not only deplete resources from government and lead to economic recession, government responses to them (WHO) also create pathways for corruption as ‘emergency laws give government greater power with relaxed accountability’,” the senators said in the resolution.
In a statement, Hontiveros said: “Congress early this year, through the Bayanihan Act, gave the government comprehensive powers, including the power to re-align and allocate billions of taxpayers’ money to respond to COVID-19. Kailangan nating malaman kung ang tulong ba ay napunta para sa dapat tulungan (We need to know if the aid were properly used to help those who need them most),” Hontiveros said.
The Bayanihan Act allowed the government to swiftly procure commodities, facilities, utilities and services deemed necessary to ensure the successful and efficient implementation of its COVID-19 strategies, with exemptions from the requirements of bidding as laid out in the Government Procurement Reform Act.
However, Hontiveros said, various procurements have been marred with allegations of overpricing and other irregularities, among them the purchase of automated nucleic acid extractors for P4 million, whereas private sector entities were able to purchase the same for only P1.75 million.
She likewise cited the acquisition of personal protective equipment (PPE) gears by the government for P1,800 each when market prices ranged only from P400 to P1,000.
She said the government purchase of RT-PCR test kits from China and South Korea were far more expensive than those made by the University of the Philippines scientists.
“This health crisis should not allow us to relax our accountability measures. The people should be able to trust the government that no one is lining their pockets with taxpayers’ money,” she said.
