President Rodrigo Duterte has admitted he ordered Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to skip the bidding process in buying medical equipment during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the same time, he vowed to “extract him” or any other Cabinet member in case the lawmakers would exercise their power to detain resource persons who would refuse to answer questions during Senate hearings.
“I was the one who ordered Duque. When we were here, I told him I wanted it done immediately. I told him it should only take one or two days. I was the one who told him I am sure there is a law which would exempt you from bidding. This is a pandemic, so we had to act immediately,” Duterte said during his “Talk to the People” aired Tuesday morning.
“The way you are treating Duque — and he cannot even complete his answer without being interrupted. You stand up. If you get fed up just stand up,” Duterte said.
In defending Duque, the Chief Executive said the usual bidding process would take 30 days, but the government needed supplies immediately as the pandemic was starting to wreak havoc in the country.
The President also threatened not to allow Cabinet members to attend congressional hearings because of alleged disrespectful treatment from senators.
“We’re being disrespectful. If that’s what you want, then that’s what I’ll do. If you let him sit for seven hours and grill him, I think he will really get confused. He will get confused from the repeated questions,” he said.
Duque was grilled for hours in a Senate hearing in connection with the Commission on Audit’s flagging of the Department of Health’s expenses as per its 2020 audit report.
Senators and congressmen have the authority to cite in contempt and then detain in-house a resource person whom they think is not giving “truthful answers” during a public hearing.
Duque and National Task Force Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez both said that DBM’s purchases followed emergency bidding allowed under the Procurement Law.
“It was through negotiated procurement, Mr. President,” Duque said.
“We were able to buy supplies of good qualify and with safety seal,” Galvez added.
The Procurement Law allows a negotiated procurement when there is “imminent danger to life or property during a state of calamity or when time is of the essence arising from natural or man-made calamities or other causes where immediate action is necessary to prevent damage to life or property, or to restore vital public services, infrastructure facilities and other public utilities.”
Duterte made the assertion days after Senator Richard Gordon played an RTVM footage showing Chinese businessman Michael Yang and the President having a meeting with Pharmally officials, the company being linked to alleged overpriced purchase of personal protective equipment, face masks, and face shields.
READ: Duterte defends Yang, Lao over COVID deals
Prior to the release of the video, the Commission on Audit also flagged the DOH for the undocumented transfer of P42 billion of pandemic response funds to the Department of Budget and Management for the procurement of personal protective equipment, face masks, and face shields, among others.
As the Senate investigation was in progress, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said there was a lot more to discover and pursue so that all those responsible for what he called the “abominable crime” against the Filipino people who continue to suffer amid the pandemic would be exposed and charged in court at the proper time.
He said the Senate would not flinch on this one, adding: “It may be premature to directly link Sen. Bong Go or even PRRD at this point of the inquiry on the PS-DBM’s questionable procurement of overpriced medical supplies.
“All I can say, as most of my colleagues are seeing in this investigation is — the plot thickens,” said Lacson.
“Your Senate needs your support as we vow to continue and make the wave of justice rise above the trough of greed and corruption amid the pandemic and suffering of our people,” he said.
“Let us show the culprits that even insatiability must know its limits. Together, we can do this,” the senator added.
Meanwhile, Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, said the Senate investigation of the overpriced pandemic supplies might reach President Duterte.
In a virtual interview, Gordon confirmed that the investigation might go as high as Duterte when asked about the possible extent of the ongoing Senate probe on the DBM Procurement Service’s purchase of overpriced pandemic supplies during the height of the health crisis.
“We haven’t served a subpoena yet. He’s not being investigated yet. Maybe he was reacting to that statement,” Gordon said.
“There is a picture and Pharmally was there. The government machinery of the DOH was there. The regulatory agencies were there and then suddenly this corporation with a paid-up capital of P600,000 was there. The firm bagged big contracts,” he said.
Gordon was referring to the multi-billion contract that the DBM Procurement Service awarded to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. — a small firm with a paid up capital of around P650,000 — for the procurement of pandemic supplies including face masks.
The contract was awarded to the company during the stint of former Budget Undersecretary Christopher Lloyd Lao, who served as President Rodrigo Duterte’s volunteer election lawyer in 2016.
Gordon said they would scrutinize a picture of Duterte with Pharmally officials.
He was referring to an RTVM footage, which was first played in last week’s Senate hearing, showing Duterte having a meeting with former presidential adviser Michael Yang and Pharmally officials, the company being linked to the overpricing controversy.
Senator Go was also seen accompanying Duterte in the said meeting.
“You go back to the first picture where Pharmally came in. The picture was with the President,” he said.
Apart from investigation that may reach Duterte, Gordon said the Senate ethics committee may also look into Senator Go’s alleged links with Lao.
“I don’t see why the president should lose his cool because Lao is being investigated? What are we hiding here?” Gordon asked.
At the same time, Gordon told the chief executive to direct his appointees to answer the issues on procurement of overpriced pandemic supplies.
In a virtual press conference, Gordon said he forgave the President for his personal attacks against him.
“That’s alright. I forgive you…Mr. President, you are sworn to protect and observe the Constitution and the laws… Now forgive me if I offend you. Well, that’s alright. You know why I forgive you? You go into personal attacks. Only weak people resort to personal attacks,” he said.
“That is the refuge of the scoundrel, Mr. President, and I don’t think that you are a scoundrel, Mr. President. I’m just quoting. As you’ve said, I am fond of these talkathons,” he added.
The senator, however, questioned Duterte’s anti-corruption drive after the President slammed the Commission on Audit and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
In related developments, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto reminded the Department of Health to bar the PS-DBM and Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) from its purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) next year.
He urged DOH to buy the PPEs and “shun the trend” of paying the PS-DBM or the PITC to do the procurement.
He said asking PS-DBM and PITC to buy “was like asking a clueless male to buy the best woman’s bra.”
“The DOH plans to buy 758,700 sets of PPEs at an average cost of P1,079 each. The P819 million needed for the purchase has been included in the 2022 national budget,” Recto said.
“If DOH will do the procurement, it will save money from not having to pay a commission to PS or PITC, which could jack up costs by 5 percent,” he added.
The DOH, Recto said, could avoid delays in procurement by doing pre-procurement groundwork ahead of the enactment of the 2022 national budget.
He said both the 2021 General Appropriations Act and the 2022 New Expenditures Program (NEP) have a section allowing early procurement activities for anticipated projects.
Recto urged the DOH to publish the specifications and volume of the PPEs to be purchased in order to draw as many interested parties as possible.
“Make public the details. As they say, sunlight is the best disinfectant,” he said.
The Senate leader also called on government to buy from Filipino producers of world-class medical-grade coveralls, masks, and other PPE.
“There is a capable and competent local PPE manufacturing sector whose products, if patronized by their own government, will save jobs and save lives,” Recto said.
Instead of some “sweatshop from abroad cornering the contract,” let Filipino companies supply it, Recto said.