Department of Budget and Management–Procurement Service (PS-DBM) Head USec. Lloyd Christopher Lao refuted the allegation of Sen. Risa Hontiveros on the alleged Php1 billion loss of the government from the procurement of overpriced China-made PPEs.
“It’s unfair to make a general statement like that when there is no basis to make such a statement. Second, it’s not factual, they should have concrete data to show na mayroong nawala (that there is loss) and it’s overpriced,” Lao stated.
Hontiveros previously cited 11 contracts with seven China-based companies for the PPE sets and questioned the prioritization of foreign contractors over local companies.
“To make matters worse, in these 11 procurements we analyzed, it appears that the PPE prices were overpriced by at least P200 per unit or P1 billion in total,” Hontiveros claimed.
Lao said Hontiveros is referring to the first batch of procurement made by the government. He explained that there were no local suppliers at the time it was made since the pandemic just started.
Lao added that the government even saved not less than Php 800 million for PPE sets and around Php 1.2 billion for COVID-19 test kits.
“If they want to have an appropriate comparison, they should just compare the procurement from PS-DBM with the government’s procurement in 2015, 2014, last administration,” Lao said.
“Kasi iyong PPE set during that time, binibili nila at P6,000 and P5,000 per set wala pang [pandemiya] noon ha (The PPE during that time was bought at Php 6,000 and Php 5,000 per set, there was no pandemic back then),” he added.
Malacañang also echoed the response of Lao and challenged Hontiveros to file a case if there is proof behind the allegation.
“Bukas po ang Ombudsman, bukas po ang DOJ. Kung mayroon po kayong ebidensiya, magdemanda po kayo (The Ombudsman and DOJ are open. If you have evidence, file a charges),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque challenged.
– Report from Mela Lesmoras
