📷Health Secretary Francisco Duque III | Philippine News Agency
DAYS after pointing his finger directly to former President Rodrigo Duterte as responsible for the transfer of the health department’s fund, erstwhile Health Secretary Francisco Duque III now has another story to tell – but this time putting blame on reporters.
According to Duque, his statement during Monday’s recorded congressional hearing, where he claimed that the former President gave the authorization to transfer P47.6 billion worth of COVID-19 funds to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).
Duque however insisted that his remark “has regrettably been taken out of context,” adding that the transfer of funds for the procurement of common-use supplies and equipment (CSEs) such as face masks, face shields, and PPEs was above-board given the urgency and novelty of the situation.
“What has been lost in the political noise is the fact that these CSEs were procured sometime in April 2020, during the very beginning of the pandemic… Their procurement was not only necessary, but was of extreme urgency,” Duque explained.
However, the Ombudsman doesn’t see it in the same manner Duque does. The Ombudsman in May said that the medical supplies were not CSEs, a term that usually refers to office supplies.
During the previous hearing, Duque was quoted as saying: “Indeed, the directive of President Duterte was consistent with and pursuant to the national policy embodied in the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act 1 and 2.”
“President Duterte has been consistent and open in directing his administration, as a whole, to act swiftly and decisively and do all that it can to fight the pandemic… His directives were openly made and repeated during our numerous cabinet meetings, his regular televised public address, and in various interviews reported by news outlets,”
The fund transfer triggered what is now referred to as the Pharmally scandal – a procurement deal embarking on overpriced face masks and face shields supplied by the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp, which only had a P600,000 capitalization.
Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros is seriously considering inviting Duterte to explain his side of the story. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
