From vaccines now to syringes.
No ball was dropped according to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, as he expressed dismay anew on Monday, Dec. 13, over the recent "dropped the ball" remark made by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.
"Ah wala, wala yun, hindi totoo yun. Kasinungalingan yun, puros kasinungalingan yun. Hindi totoo yan (That's not true. It's untrue, it's all lies. That's not true)," Duque said in a radio interview on DZBB.
He also disputed the claim of Locsin who said in his tweet that there were some 50 million syringes that could have been donated to the country.
"Walang donasyon yan, kalokohan yan. May nagbebenta oo, ang gusto ni Locsin sumunod kami dun sa gusto nung supplier na presyo. E, hindi naman pwede yun di naman kami gago para gawin yun diba (There's no donation, that's untrue. There were those who were selling, what Locsin wanted was for us to follow the supplier's offered price. But that's not possible, we're not stupid to do that)," Duque explained.
"Gusto nila mas mataas yung ibibid nila more than the approved budget contract of P111.5 million for 50 million syringes yung .5ml automatic discharge, auto-discharge syringes so lalabas yun P2.38 per syringe (They wanted their bid to be higher than the approved budget contract of P111.5 million for 50 million syringes the 0.5ml autod-discharge syringes which falls at P2.38 per syringe)," he added.
READ MORE: COVID vax donation from US: 'We dropped the ball again', says Locsin
Duque said that he does not know what company Locsin was referring to since he did mention in his tweet the name of the company who backed out of the bidding because of the Department of Health's low budget, thus dropping the ball.
"Walang katuturan yung sinasabi niya. Unang-una nag back out ka kasi di maka supply at that budget o bat naman kami susunod doon edi maggraft naman kami magkakaroon kami ng violation ng RA 9184 sa procurement act (He's talking nonsense. First of all they backed out because they cannot supply at that budget so if we followed them we'll be charged with graft since it is a violation RA 9184 or the procurement act.)," he said.
Duque said that he was disappointed that Locsin didn't call him to ask him since they belong to the same administration.
"Siyempre tweet nang tweet ito hindi man lang ako tawagan. Open naman ang communications namin pareho naman kaming nasa administrasyon madali naman mag-usap for clarification kung may tanong sasagutin naman kung susulat siya sasagutin ko rin siya in a letter, official correspondence (He keeps tweeting without calling. Our communication lines are open since we are both in the administration we can easily talk for clarification, or if he has any questions I can answer him or if he would write to me I'll answer him through a letter, an official correspondence)," Duque said.
The health secretary said that they have not spoken even about the first time Locsin said that the DOH "dropped the ball" on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines back in January 2021. Duque called this one a lie as well. He also mentioned that he will discuss the matter with the President.
In a statement on Sunday, Dec. 12, the DOH said it has procured 100 million pieces of 0.5ml auto-disable (AD) syringes in April 2021 for P2.38 per piece, from an initial approved budget of P2.50 per piece. It added that P2.38 per piece or $4.8 cents (P50 = USD 1) was used as a basis for the ongoing emergency procurement of another batch of 50 million pieces of 0.5ml AD syringes.