The congressional inquiry into the alleged mismanagement by the Department of Health (DOH) of over P67-billion in COVID-19 funds will expand into the alleged hoarding of P11-billion in government money by the state-run Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC).
Public accountability advocate and Probinsyano Ako Partylist Rep. Jose “Bonito” C. Singson Jr. made this disclosure as he set at 1:30 pm tomorrow, August 17 the DOH 2020 Annual Audit Report briefing that the Commission on Audit (COA) will give to the House of Representatives.
Singson, chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, aired the strong possibility that the PITC issue will be raised during the briefing, adding that an investigation into the firm’s government procurement negotiations may be initiated.
Singson lamented that the 2020 AAR released by COA showed that PITC failed to construct in 2017 the proposed hospital for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases although it has received from the DOH-Research Institute for Tropical Medicine a total P126-million for the project.
The DOH-RITM has also advanced to the PITC over P826.71 million for the design and construction of the proposed National Reference Laboratory Building that was expected to provide guidance and support to clinical laboratories for microbiological analysis and in the surveillance of infectious diseases.
The DOH-RITM fund transfer to PITC that totaled P952.71 million is part of the P11 billion that the state-owned firm kept in years after failing to disburse the money in delivering goods, supplies, equipment and services to the DOH and other government agencies.
Headed by former Laguna provincial board member Dave Almarinez, PITC said it is ready to open bids for projects worth P3.228 billion this year, thus, saw no obligation to return the money to the concerned national government agencies.
“The COA reports gave us a glaring yet sickening visual of how the PITC squandered an opportunity for our country to have a better fighting chance against the COVID-19 pandemic which started in 2020, or three years after the trading firm got the money to implement the projects,” noted Singson.
The partylist lawmaker said Almarinez must clarify what his firm did to the P11 billion that various government firms and agencies transferred in order to finance important supplies, equipment and infrastructure projects since 2017.
“He should be able to explain how much of the money belonged to DOH? How much and what it did to the bank interests, if any, the PITC got? And why he should remain head of the firm?” said Singson.
The PITC AAR showed that aside from vital public health supplies, equipment and infrastructure, the PITC was also unable to deliver some P668.21 million worth of body armors for enlisted personnel of the Philippine Army.
Supplies, fiber optic system and other technical equipment were likewise not procured by the PITC despite receiving from 2017 to 2018 over P1.08 billion from the Department of Information and Communications.
The DICT also advanced P729.012 million for the procurement of Provincial Wi-Fi Infrastructure Network for 83 provinces yet did not get the services required.