Go: Ex-DBM exec in procurement mess a former ‘co-worker,’ not my aide

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go reiterated on Wednesday that resigned Budget Undersecretary Christopher Lloyd Lao was not his aide during his stint in Malacañang from 2016 to 2018.

At the resumption of the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the 2020 Commission on Audit report on the Health Department’s expenditures related to the fight against COVID-19, Go said he was “unfairly dragged” to the issue of overpriced face masks and face shields as some claimed that Lao was his former assistant.

Lao, former chief of the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (DBM-PS), was summoned by the Senate panel

The former DBM official attended the Senate hearing virtually. He earlier denied the allegations of overpricing, as well as any ties with Go.

“He was never part of my office, Special Assistance to the President. In the organizational structure, [Presidential Management Staff] is directly reporting to the President. As SAP, I merely exercised oversight over the Office of the Appointment Secretary and the PMS among others. I was not involved in the day to day operations and management of Lao’s office,” Go said in the hearing.

“Iba ang aide, iba ang nakatrabaho, lahat ng nagrereport sa Malacañang compound noon ay katrabaho ko pero hindi ibang sabihin na naging aide ko rin ang ilang libong empleyado doon,” he added.

(An aide is different from a co-worker. All those who report to Malacañang were my co-workers and that doesn't mean that the thousands of employees there were my aide.)

In an earlier statement, Go said Lao was not his aide and he only volunteered as Duterte’s election lawyer in 2016

Lao was first appointed to the Presidential Management Staff then to the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and to the DBM in 2019. He resigned from the DBM about two months ago, according to Budget Undersecretary Tina Rose Canda.

The website of the Procurement Service said, "Some of the most notable positions he [Lao] occupied in the government are, among others, as Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB); Undersecretary of the Presidential Management Staff – Office of the Special Assistant to the President; an Arbiter for Regional Field Office, HLURB – Southern Mindanao Region; and researcher, paralegal under Councilor Galicia who handles the Committee on Housing and Settlement and Ethics– Sangguniang Panlungsod."

‘Debt of gratitude’

At the same hearing , Go said government officials from Davao City who were appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte should not use “debt of gratitude” as a pass to commit corruption.

“Maaring maraming na-appoint ang Pangulo na taga-Davao pero ito ay dahil kilala sila ng Pangulo. Dahil tiwala sa kanila at alam ang kakayahan pero kahit may utang na loob si Pangulo sa inyo, wala po sa usapan ang corruption. Kasi kung gusto mo talagang tumulong sa administrasyon, gawin mo lang po ang tama,” Go said.

(There are many officials from Davao City who were were appointed by the President because he knows them personally. He trusts them and he knows their competence. But even if he has debt of gratitude to some of you, corruption should not be tolerated. If you really want to help the administration, do what is right.) — RSJ, GMA News