Senators blast Palace defense of ‘overprice’

Senator Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Three senators on Thursday blasted Malacañang’s defense of the alleged overpriced pandemic supplies procured by the government from an undercapitalized company and for trying to divert the issue of liability for the purchases by comparing amounts paid by the previous administration for similar items.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the P8.7 billion in contracts paid to the trading company was taken from the P47.7 billion of Department of Health (DOH) funds that were transferred to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), P5 billion more than what was originally reported.

Price matters now

“Now that we have started to investigate, it is precisely because of this transfer and the lack of documentation that the planned plunder took place,” he said in an interview with ANC.Drilon earlier this week said both Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and former PS-DBM chief Lloyd Christopher Lao could be held liable for the “premeditated plunder” of the government’s pandemic response funds that went to favored suppliers, including the mysterious Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. which cornered P8.7 billion worth of contracts despite its P625,000 capitalization.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Thursday said the price at which these purchases were made mattered because the money came from public funds at a time when Filipinos were suffering from job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘Ruined nation’

“If we cannot see what is wrong with that—or worse, try to divert public attention from the issue—then certainly we are a ruined nation,” Lacson said.

He was referring to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s continuing defense of the alleged overpriced face masks, personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 test kits from Pharmally.

Based on figures from the website of DBM-Government Procurement Policy Board, the PS-DBM last year purchased from Pharmally 2 million PPE sets at P1,910 per set, or a total of P3.82 billion; 10 million surgical mask at P22 per piece, or a total of P220 million; and 41,400 COVID-19 testing kits (50 tests per kit) at P69,500 per unit, or a total of P2.8773 billion.

Drilon last week said these items bought from Pharmally were overpriced. This week, Sen. Risa Hontiveros disclosed reports that key officers of Pharmally and its mother company Pharmally International Holding Co. Ltd. were wanted by Taiwanese authorities for financial crimes in Taiwan.

‘Take a stand’

Roque on Thursday insisted that there was no overprice, particularly of the PPE from Pharmally.

He said Drilon should just respond to the higher priced PPE bought during the last years of the administration of the senator’s “ally,” the late President Benigno Aquino III.

“Take a stand, Senator Drilon,” he said. “The issue is overpricing so, naturally, we look into the prices of exactly the same PPE that were purchased in the previous administration. It turns out there is no overpricing.”

He said the Duterte administration bought PPE for P1,900 per set while the Aquino government bought the same type for P3,500 to P3,800 each.

The previous administration purchased a total of 6,000 PPE sets in 2015 and 2016 amounting to P13.54 million when the global threats of Ebola and Mers-CoV were emerging.

Drilon on Wednesday called Roque a “true troll” for raising the price of the PPE under Aquino to shift culpability away from the “overpriced” PPE under Mr. Duterte.

“So, focus, let us just focus on the real issue,” Roque said. “Where is the overpricing? Let us leave it at that. Let’s debate later and let us just talk about facts. Enough of your use of various epithets. It seems you don’t understand what ‘troll’ means.”

He said the government was not saying that the previous administration’s PPE purchases were overpriced.

“The question is: if the P3,500 in those times is not an overprice, why would the lower P1,950 be [described as now as overpriced]?” Roque said.

Palace playbook

Hontiveros wasn’t surprised at Roque”s statements.

“This has always been Malacañang’s playbook: instead of squarely addressing the charges, they will spend time pointing fingers on the previous administration,” she said.

Hontiveros said that if Mr. Aquino were alive, he would readily answer allegations about the purchases made during his term.

“I wish (Roque’s) President will do the same, by explaining the P8.7 billion worth of contracts awarded to Pharmally,” she said.

Drilon said Roque should know that when “a P625,000-company” got contracts worth P8.7 billion in just two months’ time, “there is a whiff of corruption that you should be man enough to admit merits an investigation.”

He pointed out that the purchases that Roque cited from five years ago were not flagged by the Commission on Audit as questionable transactions.

Purchases in P-Noy time

During Thursday’s DOH budget hearing at the House of Representatives, Senior Deputy Minority Leader Janette Garin asked Duque whether he could initiate an investigation of the PPE procurement during the Aquino administration where she served as health secretary.

“Was the procurement done properly? Who were involved in the process? Was this flagged by the Commission on Audit? Was there overpricing?” she said. “Can you compare these apples to apples with the current PPEs that the PS-DBM is procuring?”

The health secretary agreed.

“Yes, we will have this looked into, and the truth is necessary to resolve this issue so we will do that,” Duque said.

Garin told the Inquirer on Wednesday that the PPE procurement during the previous administration was done through public bidding. The quantity and quality of the 2020 and the 2015-2016 PPE were not the same, she said.

“Can’t compare apples and oranges,” she said in a text message. —WITH REPORTS FROM JEROME ANING, NESTOR CORRALES and INQUIRER RESEARCH