Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Tuesday his department had documents showing that its committee was communicating with the supplier that offered 50 million syringes, contrary to accusations that the DOH “dropped the ball” on the deal.
Duque’s statement was made in reaction to Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. who said the DOH should have responded to the offer “professionally on the right” and not at the “junior level.”
“He’s saying we should answer it professionally. We have documents showing so,” Duque said in an interview on Unang Balita.
“We gave them an answer in a professional manner, in the emails, we have email threads. In fact, you should interview Secretary Vince Dizon, he was part of that thread,” he said.
Duque added: “What Locsin wanted was for us to cater to the price of the supplier. But that’s not allowed. We’re not stupid to do that. We have a law for that.”
This drew the ire of Locsin, who later Monday on Twitter rebuked the health secretary for denying that his department lost the opportunity to obtain cheaper syringes.
“Don’t ever, Duque, ever question my motives,” said Locsin, who also revealed the issue on the social media platform.
Duque said they were offered P411.5 million for 50 million syringes with each syringe priced around P2.38. However, he said taking the contract would lead to a violation of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
“What he’s saying doesn’t make sense. First of all, we backed out because we cannot provide the budget. Why would we follow that? We will be charged with graft,” Duque said.
Locsin previously said that the DOH’s offer of 4.7 US cents a syringe is “hallucinatory.”
Duque expressed disappointment that Locsin did not reach out to him to clarify the situation since they belong to the same administration.
“Because he tweeted about it and he did not talk to me. Our communications are open. We belong to the same administration. Talking to each other for clarification is easy,” he said.
The supplier was in contact with the DOH Central Office Bids and Awards Committee, Duque said.
“What do you have against the Bids and Awards Committee that are junior? What’s important is that they were following the process,” he added.
Last Sunday, Locsin claimed the government “dropped the ball again” after it failed to procure 50 million syringes from the United States.