DBM to submit documents on COVID-19 response to Ombudsman

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is set to handover documents related to the Ombudsman’s probe on alleged irregularities in the government’s COVID-19 response.

“Kami dito sa DBM ay nakahanda... bukas nga sa pagkakaalam ko, isusumite na namin 'yung mga dokumento na hinihingi ng Office of the Ombudsman," Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said during the Laging Handa public briefing on Wednesday.

On Friday, Ombudsman Samuel Martires ordered the DBM and the Department of Health to submit special allotment release orders on the cash benefits for families of frontliners who died due to COVID-19.

Avisado said the Budget Department will cooperate with the Ombudsman’s probe.

"Nakahanda po ang ating kagawaran na tumupad sa mga kautusan na iyan," he said.

The Ombudsman is also investigating Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and other DOH officials over the following reasons:

• purchase of 100 thousand test kits by the Department of Health
• delayed procurement of Personal Protective Equipment and other medical gears necessary for the protection of healthcare workers
• alleged lapses and irregularities that led to the death of medical workers
• rising number of deaths and infected medical frontliners
• inaction in the release processing of benefits and financial assistance of “fallen” and infected medical frontliners; and
• confusing and delayed reporting of COVID-19 related deaths and confirmed cases

Malacañang, for its part, asked Duque and the others to “cooperate with the investigation and respect the orders” of the Ombudsman. — RSJ, GMA News