PNoy admin's purchase of PPEs not flagged by COA, Drilon tells Roque

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Thursday defended anew the Aquino administration's purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) that Malacañang said was at a higher price that what the Duterte administration purchased last year.

Interviewed on ANC, Drilon pointed out that the purchase was not flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA). He also questioned the timing of presidential spokesperson Harry Roque making an issue of the purchase.

“You cite the purchases by the Department of Health during the Aquino administration. That was five years ago, sir. We are now in 2021,” said Drilon, a member of the Liberal Party, the ruling party during the previous administration.

“Number two, there is no COA report on the questionable transaction so please we will not be distracted from our investigation and we will go to the bottom of this."

In his press briefing on Wednesday, Roque dared Drilon to explain the Aquino administration's PPE purchase costing over P3,000 each.

Roque brought up the issue amid the Senate inquiry into the government's multi-billion peso PPE deal with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. despite it only having a paid-up capital of P625,000.

Drilon also told Roque to “read your law” after the Palace official claimed that the paid-up capital of a firm is not an issue as long as it delivers the goods purchased by the government.

“Sec. Roque, I would invite you to read your law because among the standards required is the financial capacity of a company entering into a contract with the government,” he said.

Roque should also be man enough to admit that the overpriced PPEs should be investigated, added Drilon, a lawyer who once headed the Department of Justice.

“You should be man enough to know that when a P625,000 company would be awarded supply contracts of over P6.7 billion in two months time, there was a whiff corruption that you should be man enough to admit that merits an investigation,” Drilon said.

Roque, in his Wednesday briefing, said the Aquino administration bought PPEs worth above P3,000 each in 2015 and 2016 while Duterte administration bought the PPEs at P1,700 each amid the pandemic.

He also denied that the Duterte administration earned kickbacks from the transaction.

In probing the purchase, the Senate blue ribbon committee under Senator Richard Gordon is seeking information on the possible links of Chinese businessman Michael Yang, President Rodrigo Duterte’s former economic adviser, to the officials of Pharmally.

Drilon, a member of the committee, questioned the mode of transaction that the government opted to enter for the procurement of face masks and face shields that was flagged by COA.

“Did the government have to enter into that kind of setup? Kailangan ba ang middle man dito [Do we need a middle man here]?” he asked.

Drilon noted that the Department of Budget and Management has explained that the PPEs were costly due to tight supply, yet it contacted several suppliers, including Pharmally, instead of entering into a government-to-government transaction.

“It is alleged that the government would have had to look for suppliers because of the tightness of the supply. They even had the Chinese ambassador assist them. If that is so, why do you have to go to a middle man, why not do a government-to-government transaction?” he asked.

Drilon said the Philippines could have saved P284 million should it entered a government-to-government transaction.

“If there was a government-to-government transaction, without a middle man, the Philippines would have saved P284 million as commissioned, as fees of Pharmally,” he said.

“So, it is a question that must be answered.” —KBK, GMA News