Duterte authorized P47.6 billion PS-DBM fund transfer – Duque
Credit to Author: Sheila Crisostomo| Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — Former president Rodrigo Duterte authorized the transfer of P47.6 billion to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) for the purchase of COVID-19 protective equipment, former health secretary Francisco Duque III said during yesterday’s hearing of the House committee on appropriations.
Duque also told the committee, which is looking into the budgetary performance of the Department of Health (DOH), that the fund transfer was necessary and aboveboard.
“In his (Duterte) public pronouncements, the transfer was done because of a public health emergency,” Duque noted, upon the questioning of ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro.
The former DOH chief cited Executive Orders 385 and 285, a Letter of Instruction, Administrative Order 17 of 2011 and Section 53 of the procurement law as among the basis for the transfer.
Duque said they deemed it best to rely on the expertise of the PS-DBM and its network of suppliers in sourcing the supplies to combat the pandemic.
“Our overriding consideration was to prevent, if not mitigate, the risk of our health care workers waiting for local suppliers whom we knew had no capacity, initially, to supply large volumes of PPEs (personal protective equipment) and other COVID-19 supplies needed,” Duque explained.
He stressed that the DOH could not neglect the lives of health care workers who were at the forefront in the battle against SARS-CoV-2.
Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, a former DOH secretary herself, expressed dissatisfaction over Duque’s replies.
“Don’t take us for a ride. The question is so simple. Just say yes, or (give) the name of the person or the committee (who decided to make the transfer of funds), or if it was you who authorized (the transfer). Did you unilaterally give an instruction to do this (transfer)?” Garin said.
Duque answered that his decision was based on the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force and the National Task Force against COVID-19.
Garin also raised concerns over the government’s handling of COVID-19 loans, pointing to the burden it created on the taxpayers and the lack of accountability for the borrowed funds.
It was found during the hearing that the government secured a total of $2.21 billion for the Philippine COVID-19 Emergency Response Project and the Health System Enhancement to address and limit COVID-19 in 2021 and 2022.
“So, if you translate that to pesos, considering the P51 conversion rate (in 2021), that’s tantamount to P112,719,180,000. But because the conversion rate has increased… it has increased to P129 billion. That’s how big our loan is,” Garin said.
Earlier, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the filing of graft charges against Duque and former budget undersecretary Christopher Lao, who was reportedly a fraternity brother and campaign leader of Duterte.
More than one-fourth of the contract with PS-DBM was bagged by Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp., which was linked to Michael Yang, Duterte’s former economic adviser.