Blue Ribbon panel to probe ‘non-disclosure’ of details of COVID-19 vaccine deals

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has announced that it will investigate the alleged non-disclosure by the Department of Health of the details of the COVID-19 vaccine procurement contracts due to agreements with the firms involved.

Commission on Audit chairman Gamaliel Cordoba has told senators that the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank had been asking for a special audit on the loans they had granted to the Philippine government for the procurement of the vaccines.

Cordoba said former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III had written to the state auditors that the DOH could not provide the documents due to the signed non-disclosure agreement with suppliers.

In an advisory issued on Monday, committee chairman Senator Francis Tolentino said the panel would investigate motu propio or on its own. The initial hearing has been set for December 14.

Tolentino had said Filipinos had the right to know where and how the coronavirus jabs were used as he expressed support for calls to audit the procured vaccines.

He also said Congress should know how the funds were used as part of the preparation for next year’s budget and that the NDA was not “enough reason” not to have an audit done.

Tolentino warned that the COA might “have to issue a notice of suspension and go through the process of notice of disallowance,” including the issuance of a subpoena to DOH, if they will not release the documents."

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire has said the health agency is allowed to provide the COA with the documents related to the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, as stated in the NDA with the suppliers.

She reiterated the DOH’s commitment to cooperate with the audit process and stressed that their legal experts are already looking into the matter to ensure that there will be no violation of the NDAs with vaccine suppliers.

Sentor Sonny Angara, who defended the proposed P13.1-billion budget of the state audit agency for 2023, earlier said there was P8.93 billion under the 2021 national budget allocated for vaccine procurement and almost P70 billion from foreign-assisted loans.

He added that there are other appropriations for COVID-19 vaccines that were included in other laws.

As for vaccine wastage, Vergeire reported that 44 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were wasted due to expiration and operational wastage. —NB, GMA Integrated News