INIUTOS ni dating Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte ang paglipat ng P47.6 bilyon mula sa Department of Health (DOH) sa Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) para sa pagbili ng COVID-19 supplies noong 2020.

Ito ang inihayag ni dating DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III sa isinasagawang oversight hearing ng House committee on appropriations nitong Lunes, kung saan sinusuri ang paggamit ng pondo ng DOH at ng Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

Sa pagdinig na pinangasiwaan ni House appropriations panel vice chair at Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, inusisa ni ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro si Duque kung bakit inilipat ang pondo.

“Sinasabi sa atin ni Secretary Duque sa utos ni dating Presidente Duterte ay nagkaroon ng ganito na transfer ng P47.6B, tama po ba?” tanong ni Castro.

“Publicly this was made by the President in our meetings in the weekly meeting or talk to the people,” tugon naman ni Duque.

Inulit naman ni Castro ang tugon ni Duque bilang paglilinaw, “So clear po ‘yan, P47.6 billion to be transferred to PS-DBM, publicly announced by the former President Duterte na ma-transfer ‘yan.”

Kamakailan, ipinag-utos ng Office of the Ombudsman ang pagsasampa ng kasong graft laban kay Duque at dating DBM Undersecretary Christopher Lao kaugnay sa “irregular transfer” sa pondo ng DOH sa PS-DBM para sa procurement ng COVID-19 supplies.

Napag-alaman din ng anti-graft body na nagkasala sina Duque at Lao sa kasong administratibong grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, at conduct prejudicial to the service.

Inusisa rin sa pagdinig ni Deputy Majority Leader at Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin ang mga official intruction na nasa likod ng paglilipat ng pondo.

“So I think Hon. Castro, the answer of Secretary Duque was in a public address of the President, of the former President. ‘Yun naman medyo nagugulat ako, Madam Chair, because officially there are actually official notices or instructions,” ayon kay Garin na dati ring naging kalihim ng DOH.

“So was there any instruction, Madam Chair, or who instructed Secretary Duque to initiate the P47.6 billion transfer? It can be answered by the name of the authority who instructed him or the name of the committee or I do not know. So ganoon lang, Madam Chair, if Secretary Duque can respond,” aniya.

“Madam Chairperson, it is within my authority to effect the fund transfer. I do not deny that,” paninindigan pa ni Duque.

Upang mas maging malinaw ang pangyayari, muling nagtanong si Garin, “The question is did you unilaterally decide to transfer P47.6 billion to PS-DBM?”

“No is the answer. I’m just complying with the rule of the PS-DBM. Again, I do not want to belabor the laws that authorize the PS-DBM to procure in a state of public health emergency materials,” mariing tugon naman ni Duque.

Ayon din kay Duque, ang desisyon ay base sa rekomendasyon ng Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases o IATF, na kanya ring pinamumunuan.

“But I would like to reiterate that it is within my authority to effect the transfer because of the public health emergency where there were not enough CSEs (common-use supplies and equipment), PPEs (personal protective equipment), and other COVID pandemic supplies,” ayon pa kay Duque.

“So we wanted just to make sure, Madam Chairperson, that the lives of our people are protected and that the risks are mitigated from our people possibly then at the height of the pandemic that nobody knew about, that would have resulted in the millions of infections and countless deaths of our healthcare workers,” giit pa ng dating kalihim.

Sa simula ng pagdinig ay inusisa rin ni Garin si Duque kaugnay ng napakamahal na COVID-19 testing na aniya ay lalo pang nagpahirap sa kalagayan ng maraming Pilipino.

Tinukoy ni Garin ang napakamahal na halaga ng COVID-19 testing na unang itinakda ng PhilHealth sa P8,150, kumpara sa P2,000 hanggang P2,500 na inirerekomenda ng World Health Organization (WHO).

“The issue here is PhilHealth paying P8,150 per COVID testing at ‘yan ang naging benchmark kaya lahat ng private laboratories, including government laboratories ay tinaga ang mga pasyente. And mind you, nagkaroon pa kayo ng ruling na hindi pwede i-release kung hindi maging negative ang test,” ayon kay Garin.

Sinabi ni Garin na tila nagamit pa ang pagtugon sa pandemya sa higit pang paghihirap ng mga tao.

“So the point here is the pandemic became an opportunity para lalong maghirap ang tao,” ayon pa sa mambabatas.

Nangangamba rin si Garin sa naging pamamahala ng gobyerno sa inutang na pondo para sa COVID-19, na karagdagang pabigat sa mamamayan dahil sa kawalang pananagutan at responsibilidad sa paggamit sa inutang na pondo.

Napag-alaman din sa pagdinig na nakuha ng pamahalaan ang kabuuang US$2.21 bilyon para sa Philippine COVID-19 Emergency Response Project (PCERP) at Health System Enhancement to Address and Limit COVID-19 (HEAL) noong 2021 at 2022.

“So if you translate that to pesos, considering the P51 conversion rate (in 2021), that’s tantamount to P112,719,180,000. But because the conversion rate has increased, nagkaroon na ‘yan na instead of P112.7 billion, naging P129.3 billion na siya. Ganoon po kalaki ang utang natin,” ayon kay Garin.

Dagdag pa ni Garin, “Pero marami pa rin na namatay, maraming healthcare workers ang hindi nababayaran, maraming ospital ang hindi nare-reimburse at hindi rin natin ma-account kung ‘yung mga binili natin ay talagang nagamit.”