Duterte defends Duque amid alleged overpriced PPE procurement

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday took up the cudgels for Health Secretary Francisco Duque III over the Department of Health’s (DOH) alleged “overpriced” procurement of equipment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing.

“I gave him (Duque) the instruction and I admit it in public now. Sabi ko sa kaniya, ‘Do everything you can. I do not care if it's expensive. Go, just go ahead and do something about it kasi ipitan tayo dito,’” Duterte said in a televised briefing.

“Eto ngayon wala pang bakuna, so gusto ko lang malaman ng sambayanang Pilipino na I take full responsibility na utos ko na ‘Dalian mo, wala akong pakialam kung sa’n ka magkuha, magnakaw ka… whether you steal, borrow, or kill a person to get what needs to be done,’” he added.

Duque was earlier quizzed by the Senate over the DOH’s “overpriced” procurement of equipment.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said that there appeared to be a pattern of overpricing in the DOH’s health emergency purchases.

The Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc. has also urged Duterte to replace the “exhausted” health chief, citing some of their members that had yet to be reimbursed by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., which Duque chairs. 

Meanwhile, Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Lao explained that the personal protective equipment (PPE) sets they procured meet local and international standards.

“There is a standard set by DOH and Food and Drug Administration, international standards, and we’re following that. We don’t go below because we can be sued,” he explained.

Duque added that the PPEs procured by the Department of Budget and Management were well-received by medical professionals.

“The director of UP Philippine General Hospital, Dr. Gap Legaspi, has expressed to me that they're very very satisfied with the quality and level of protection that these PPEs provide their doctors, kaya ‘yung infection rate raw nila, bumaba. The same is true for all our other hospitals who are now using these PPEs,” he said. —LDF/NB, GMA News