Former Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JOAN BONDOC
MANILA, Philippines — Abigail Valte, the former deputy spokesperson of the Aquino administration, disclosed on Friday the details of the acquisition of personal protective equipment (PPE) in 2016, following claims that the PPEs obtained by the predecessor of President Duterte were more expensive.
“I heard people are looking for the specs of the PPE sets procured via PO dated June 23, 2016, so here you go,” Valte said in a Facebook post where she released a purchase order for the PPE sets bought days before Aquino stepped down from office.
According to the purchase order, the 3,750 PPE sets included goggles, gloves, plastic shoe covers, coveralls, surgical gloves, N95 face masks, surgical masks, and head caps.
Each set costs P3,864. The items were also covered by a one-year warranty.
Earlier, Roque claimed that the PPEs bought by the Aquino administration were more expensive than those acquired by the Duterte administration during the onset of the pandemic last year.
READ: ‘Overpriced?’ Roque turns table on opposition, says PPEs bought during Aquino admin costlier
Congress is investigating the Duterte administration’s procurement of allegedly overpriced PPEs.
Last year, the government awarded a whopping P8.7 billion worth of contracts to a little-known trading company with fictitious addresses for the supply of face masks, personal protective equipment (PPE) sets, and COVID-19 test kits.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon claims Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. priced its face mask at P27.72 each in May 2020, while other suppliers sold them for P13.50 to P17.50 each.
The company test kit was P1,720 each, nearly double the P925 sold by other companies. Its PPEs were P1,910 apiece, more than double the market price of P945 at the time, Drilon said, citing the PS-DBM’s own figures.
READ: P8.7-B med supply deals went to tiny company