SENATE probers will continue on Tuesday a full-blown inquiry into the 2020 Commission on Audit report on the Department of Health’s (DOH) use of P62 billion in pandemic funds, as three senators appealed at the weekend for concerned parties to cooperate in the probe if they have nothing to hide.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon, is leading the inquiry to tackle related issues raised by senators, who last week were the object of attacks by President Duterte, as he called on them to stop what he deemed a useless probe.
In an interview with DWIZ at the weekend, Sen. Panfilo Lacson lamented that some quarters have difficulty distinguishing “greed over conscience,” but withheld identities of whom he meant, even as he indicated plans to tackle the issue of allegedly overpriced ambulances.
Lacson rued that some people, “choose greed over conscience; mahirap naman yan, ititigil natin dahil may nananawagan Presidente man o hindi, maraming natutuklasan,” the senator said.
Saying he would bring in the issue of overpriced ambulances on Tuesday, Lacson disputed the claim that the DOH had used a different, or higher standard, from that “bought by the local [government units]” and this supposedly accounted for the price variance.
The senator told DWIZ, partly in Filipino, that the LGUs “copied the [specs of] the ambulances sent to them by DOH. Whatever the model or brand, and the interiors of the ambulance—that’s what they bought.”
Lacson said he asked around and was told the standard of DOH in buying ambulance is “nearly the same” with private firms, but added: “There was a difference in LGU purchase price and that of private firms” that, he said, “were quite far” from what the DOH cited.
Noting that there was no discussion about the lowest bidder, Lacson wondered aloud, “Was there overpricing? That was clear. I will show on Tuesday that the ambulances bought by DOH” were substantially the same as those of the private [firms] and LGUs. I don’t know how they can defend that.”
Lacson indicated that someone blew the whistle, followed by others, but withheld their identities.
Also on the Blue Ribbon agenda are:
■ Resolution 858 seeking an inquiry into the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines by local governments units and the private sector;
■ Resolution 859 citing COA findings on DOH reported unspent funds, mis-statements, irregularities and deficiencies;
■ Resolution 880 on payment claims issues between PhilHealth and private hospitals.
For her part, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said they are keen to verify exactly how many ambulances, said to be worth P1 million each, were bought by DOH for distribution to local government units (LGUs).The senator recalled that for the DOH allocation, she introduced an additional “institutional amendment” amounting to P1 billion for 2020 during the budget deliberations on the DOH annual fund amounting to P8.681 billion to address “funding shortage” for the Universal Health Care (UHC).
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon prodded Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. officials to appear before the Senate and “testify about the over P10 billion supply deals they got” from the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) previously headed by resigned Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao.
Drilon said in a TV interview, “We subpoenaed them but we could not find them in the addresses indicated in their submissions to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).”
The Minority Leader added: “They know that the hearings are going on. Why have they not volunteered and come up and said, ‘I’m here and I’m willing to explain all of this.’ Why? That’s why questions are being raised, because of this incident that’s not consistent with our ordinary human experience.” Drilon said.
He asserted that “if everything is aboveboard, Pharmally officials should have already volunteered to appear in the Blue Ribbon hearing to clear their names.”