Duterte to NBI: Probe local supplier in ‘expensive’ COVID-19 testing equipment

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look “very carefully” into the alleged overpricing of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing kits by a local supplier supposedly jacking up prices to three times the cost of what manufacturers sell them for.

“We will act accordingly and in the course of (the law)..maybe we can give a statement to the public, maybe the latest would be about three days,” Duterte said in a meeting with Cabinet officials, a video of which was aired late Monday night.

“The NBI should study the matter very, very carefully,” he added.

The President then warned businessmen against hoarding, especially during this health crisis.

“Alam mo, itong mga p*t*ng*n*ng negosyanteng ito, it’s really an issue of humanity and their greed. ‘Yung hoarding ano, you cannot, it’s part of the business practices which you may call not even obnoxious, it’s repulsive to the human mind when you start to think about it,” he said.

Former Health Secretary turned Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin earlier bared that a local supplier had been overpricing COVID-19 testing kits and machines.

Garin claimed that a “very enterprising” couple were claiming to be the exclusive distributors of testing kits and machines in the Philippines.

She also said that the couple, whom she tagged as “V.E.,” supposedly “barred” the entry of automated machines called Natch CS into the country.

The congresswoman, however, said she is unsure whether the Department of Health gets its test kits from the same supplier.

During the meeting in Malacañang, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he did not personally know the couple.