Hontiveros seeks special audit of gov’t’s expenses on COVID response

Sen. Risa Hontiveros. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines  — Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday said she will file a resolution in the Senate to investigate the government’s total expenditure for its response against the COVID-19 pandemic amid the consecutive high numbers in daily cases the country has seen.

Citing public documents from the Department of Budget and Management, Hontiveros said that the government has released P570 billion for the pandemic response, but wondered how the government was spending it.

“Bakit parang missing-in-action yung P570 billion? Saan pumunta ang bilyon-bilyon? Are the funds parked? If they’ve been exhausted already, bakit parang hindi naman nararamdaman?” Hontiveros said in a statement.

(Why is it the P570 billion is somehow missing-in-action? Where did it go? Are the funds parked? If they’ve been exhausted, why is it we haven’t benefited from it?)

“Everyday we break new records in the number of cases because free mass testing and contact tracing remain mediocre and unsystematic. These are very basic to our pandemic response but for some reason, we still don’t know the drill,” she added.

Hontiveros said that her resolution will cover both Bayanihan 1 or the “Bayanihan to Heal As One Act” and Bayanihan 2 or the “Bayanihan to Recover As One Act.”

“Those 2 emergency laws were passed specifically to fund the fight against COVID-19, pero halatang nagkukulang tayo [but it’s evident that we are behind]. We need to see the gaps so we can aggressively fill them in,” she said.

“We need a full audit to see our real status, para makabawi tayo sa pumapalpak nating response. Kailangan nating siguraduhin na bawat piso natin ay pumupunta sa pinakangangailangan,” she added.

(We need to see a full audit to recover from our failed response. We need to make sure that every peso is being allocated to those who need it the most.)

On Monday, the Philippines recorded 8,019 new COVID-19 cases—an all-time high in a single-day increase of infections—bringing the country’s total to 671,792.

JPV