Despite the Commission on Audit’s (COA) clarification that it is “premature” to conclude that the P67 billion worth of “deficiencies” it found in the Department of Health’s (DOH) handling of pandemic funds is linked to corruption, Vice President Leni Robredo has flagged the unspent 2020 funds as “poor governance” that is a “matter of life and death.”

Speaking on her Sunday radio show, Robredo stressed it is still alarming how the agency allowed medicines to expire and underused billions of pesos that could have been used for maintenance medicine and dialysis sessions.

“Ang point ko at a time na grabe iyong pangangailangan, bakit ganito? (My point is at a time that we are in great need, why are we like this?),” she asked.

“Madali lang sabihin na papel lang pero ano ang epekto ng poor governance? (It’s easy to say that these are just papers but what is the effect of poor governance?) Matter of life and death ito sa atin (for us),” Robredo said.

Even with the clarification from COA, the vice president noted that this is still a “governance issue” because the regulations are not being followed.

READ: 'Gov’t says there’s no money, but DOH funds were not used well' —Robredo

“Kasi bakit ba tayo merong regulasyon? Kaya tayo may regulasyon para maiwasan ang korapsyon. Kung hindi tayo susunod sa COA regulations, kahit hindi pa nawawala ang pera, ang daming questions kung bakit hindi tayo sumunod at nakaka-erode iyon ng tiwala ng tao (Because why do we have regulations? We have regulations to avoid corruption. If we are not going to follow COA regulations, even if the money is not lost, there are a lot of questions why we are not following and that erodes the people’s trust),” she said.

“Nasa middle tayo ng pandemic. Napakahalaga na maayos iyong governance kasi kapag hindi talaga maayos iyong governance, buhay ng tao iyong nakataya (We are in the middle of the pandemic. Governance is very important because if it is not right, people’s lives are at stake),” she added.

COA earlier released a report that raised questions on how the Health department used over P67 billion in COVID-19 funds. The report said that there are “deficiencies” in the agency’s management of the funds.

Robredo was particularly concerned about the reported P95.6 million worth of expired medicines because it could have provided maintenance medicines for thousands of Filipinos.

READ: DOH says P67.3 billion flagged by COA ‘accounted for’

She also called the attention on billions worth of funds that could have covered the dialysis sessions of some 4,500 beneficiaries or about 6.5 million dialysis sessions.

“Di ba grabe iyong disconnect kasi madaming mamatay dahil hindi kayang uminom ng gamot tapos gumagastos iyong pamahalaan nang napakamahal para sa mga gamot na na mag-e-expire lang. Sobrang sayang (There is a lot of disconnect because a lot are dying because they could not afford medicines then the government is spending on expensive medicines that will just expire. It is really a waste),” she said.

Aside from the DOH, Robredo also lamented the other agencies that COA flagged in its report such as the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The lady official threw her support to the Senate’s plan to investigate the issue, saying this cannot continue especially at a time that the country needs money for the pandemic response.

It doesn’t make sense that there are underutilized and unspent funds in a “crisis situation” because the government could have saved a lot of lives, she said.