The swift delivery and distribution of personal protective equipment, face shields and face mask last year caused the significant reduction of COVID-19 deaths and ailments among the country’s medical frontliners, Health Secretary Francisco Duque has told the House of Representatives.

During Wednesday’s initial hearing of the legislative inquiry conducted by the Lower House on the reported overpricing of medical supplies and equipment in 2020, Duque stressed that as a result of the arrival of the PPE’s and other protective supplies, doctors, nurses and other medical workers succeeded in addressing the rising cases of deaths and serious illnesses among the country’s population.

“We were raising against time back then,” Duque told the House Committee on Good Government during the hearing.

He said the DOH made the right decision to assign the procurement of vital medical and safety supplies to the Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management which was able to make immediate deliveries.

“Sometime in March (2020) nung nag-umpisa ito, meron tayong ilang libo na nahawaan ng COVID-19 (when it started, there were several thousands who became infected with COVID-19) the first reported deaths were about 27 healthcare workers.” Duque said.

“We have no luxury of time, we cannot wait until the supply stabilizes because we wanted immediate protection for our healthcare workers,” he recalled.

The DOH official also explained that the department’s procurement absorptive capacity dropped significantly because the pandemic and lockdowns caused a big reduction in number of personnel.

Quezon Rep. Jayjay Suarez noted that based on the testimonies of resource persons who appeared in the hearing, the “law of supply and demand” prevailed and thus, forced the PS-DBM and DOH to procure urgently-needed PPE’s, face masks and face shields at prevailing prices during the time.

“Following the law of supply and demand, sadyang mataas po talaga ‘yung presyo nung panahong ‘yon kung ikukumpara natin ngayon (prices then were really high compared to the current prices). We can't compare the prices now to the prices then because the situation is totally different then,” he said.

Former PS-DBM chief Christopher Lloyd Lao disclosed that supplies have become scarce because manufacturers were flooded with orders for immediate delivery.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez told lawmakers incidences of “hijacking” of orders that have been previously placed by a certain country but were later sold to another at higher prices.