The House Makabayan Bloc on Monday, August 16 filed House Resolution 2129 proposing a thorough congressional inquiry into the “grave inefficiency, gross incompetence and criminal negligence” allegedly committed by the Department of Health (DOH) in its management of P67.32 billion in funds to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The six-member opposition group filed HR 2129 even as the House leadership under Speaker Lord Allan Velasco invited the Commission on Audit (COA) to conduct a briefing on its 2020 Annual Audit Report (AAR) on DOH.
Probinsyano Ako Partylist Rep. Jose “Bonito” C. Singson Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, said the briefing has been set on Tuesday, August 17.
Makabayan solons headed by Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said they are aware of the briefing scheduled by Singson.
They asked Singson and DIWA Partylist Rep. Michael Aglipay, chairman of the House Committee on Good Government, to jointly conduct the DOH probe.
Aside from Zarate, the other members of the Makabayan bloc are Reps. Eufemia Cullamat and Ferdinand Gaite of Bayan Muna; France Castro of ACT Teachers Partylist; Arlene Brosas of Gabriela Partylist and Sarah Jane Elago of Kabataan.
Apparently, the progressive group of lawmakers want a full-blown probe into allegations that the DOH had mismanaged funds allocated by government to address the killer COVID 19 pandemic.
“The inefficiency, delay and the incompetence in the delivery of the much-needed services to the public already amount to criminal negligence as thousands of Filipinos already died and are dying of getting infected of the viral disease,” Makabayan lawmakers explained
Lawmakers aired these allegations as they cited numerous adverse audit findings the COA disclosed in the 2020 AAR of DOH and previous years reports.
The audit deficiencies flagged by COA involved COVID-19 funds amounting to over P67 billion. Cited for mismanagement of the funds, DOH under Secretary Francisco Duque had allegedly failed to comply with pertinent laws, rules and regulations in the handling of the COVID-19 funds, thus “contributed to the challenges encountered and missed opportunities of the DOH” in combatting the pandemic.
In HR 2129, the Makabayan bloc noted the audit deficiencies found by COA which include the following:
-P11,890,217,589.50 worth of unobligated allotments to strengthen DOH’s capacity to address the COVID-19 pandemic; -P3,421,390,418 funds for foreign assisted projects that were not completed as of December 30, 2020;
-P5,038,428,371.74 worth of contracts with procedural deficiencies;
-P69,942,628.00 worth of medical equipment and supplies for COVID 19 that were not utilized or not immediately used during the year;
-P42,412,302,819.95 worth of funds intended for COVID 19 programs that were transferred to procurement/ implementing partner-agencies without required memorandum of agreement; and
-P4,885,000.000 worth of unpaid claims for financial assistance due to delayed downloading of cash allocations