Senator Richard Gordon said he is not keen on launching an investigation on the deficiencies in the Health Department’s funds intended for the COVID-19 response amid the current pandemic situation in the country.
“We are reviewing [it]. Alam mo ‘pag may pandemic ayaw ko mag-imbestiga e kasi nawawala ang focus natin sa dapat nating salakayin, ‘yung sakit,” Gordon, chairperson of the Senate blue ribbon committee, said in an interview on CNN Philippines Thursday.
(We are reviewing it. You know, I don’t want to investigate in the midst of a pandemic because we are losing focus on eradicating the disease.)
“But if we have to investigate, we have to do it very, very fast and if they don’t want to cooperate, it will take very long. I don’t want to waste time. I don’t want the doctors, the people running the system to be going out to investigations when they need to be at work. Pero kung nakikita ko na talagang masama ang nangyayari dito, then we will have to investigate and heads will roll,” he added.
(But if we see that the situation is already worse, then we will have to investigate and heads will roll.)
‘Shocked’
Gordon admitted that he was “shocked” by the findings of the Commission on Audit on the DOH’s spending of COVID-19 funds.
“Maybe we should be more skillful in making sure that the procurement is done quickly and efficiently as much as possible. Pero hindi nila nagagawa ‘yun (but they can’t do that) apparently,” he said.
“And what happens is there’s a lot of backlogs, a lot of money is not being spent and that is money down the drain,” he added.
Gordon further pointed out that the Philippines might be deprived of grants as stakeholders might observe that the funds for COVID-19 are not being used for its purpose.
In its 2020 annual audit report, the COA has flagged several deficiencies on DOH’s use of P67.32 billion in COVID-19 funds.
The state auditors said the deficiencies were mainly caused by non-compliance with laws, rules, and regulations.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, through the DOH Administration and Financial Management Team, agreed to implement most of COA’s recommendations specified under the 2020 annual audit report
On Wednesday, Senator Francis Pangilinan said the audit report simply confirms Senate’s conclusion that there’s incompetence and corruption in the DOH.
Senator Panfilo Lacson likewise criticized the DOH over the latest COA report, saying the history of anomalies in the department only shows its incompetence.
To recall, 14 senators have filed a resolution in April 2020, calling for Duque’s resignation “for his failure of leadership, negligence, lack of foresight, and inefficiency in the performance of his mandate.”
However, Malacañang disregarded the call of the senators and retained Duque as the Health secretary. — RSJ, GMA News
0 Comments