MANILA, Philippines— Health Secretary Francisco Duque III’s assertion of the procurement law to justify the alleged botched P50 million Covid-19 vaccine syringe deal baffled Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.
In a Twitter post on Tuesday, Sotto wrote: “Ayaw daw ma-violate ang Procurement Law? Sana ‘yan din ang dahilan sa Pharmally procurements! Magaling ha!”
(They don’t want to violate the Procurement Law? That should have been also the reason for the Pharmally procurements! Amazing!)
Sotto did not mince words when asked in a text message who he was referring to on his Twitter post.
“Duque. Kaya daw hindi kinuha yung syringes ng Pfizer,” the Senate leader said.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. earlier claimed that the government “dropped the ball again” on an offer for 50 million syringes when the Department of Health (DOH) offered to pay a company USD 4.7 cents or P2.39 per syringe.
“No one on the planet makes special PFIZER LOW DEAD VOLUME SYRINGES that cheap; 7 cents is the absolute lowest. UNICEF pays double. Make all purchases public,” Locsin said in a tweet over the weekend.
But Duque refuted Locsin’s “dropped the ball” remark.
“He said that the approved budget contract is low for the 50 million syringes…he wants us to increase the approved budget contract…That is going to be a violation of [Republic Act] 9184 and anti-graft,” he said Monday.
Sotto, however, recalled government officials giving a different line during the Senate blue ribbon’s ongoing probe on the allegedly anomalous procurement of medical items from the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.
“Hindi ba ang sagot nila dati e (on Pharmally deals) hindi importante ang Procurement Law dahil sa pandemic?” the Senate leader asked.
(Didn’t they say back then that the Procurement Law is not important because of the pandemic?)
“I will be in Teddyboy’s corner!” Sotto added.
In one hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee, Duque cited the urgent need for medical items to justify the government’s deals with Pharmally.
“We have no luxury of time, we cannot wait until the supply stabilizes, because we wanted immediate protection for our healthcare workers,” he said then.
President Rodrigo Duterte had also admitted ordering Duque during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to skirt from the bidding process in the procurement of protective personal equipment.