If the national government could afford to purchase overpriced face shields, then there is no problem in allocating funds for free testing as cases of COVID-19 continue to spike, opposition Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Tuesday, January 11 said.
Pangilinan, a vice presidential aspirant, is referring to the government’s procurement of billions of pesos worth of face shields and face masks from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.
The alleged overpriced contracts was signed last year by Procurement Service, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) with Pharmally that had only a P625,000 paid up capital.
“Panahon na na dapat libre ang testing (It is time for free testing). Dalawang taon na. 2022 na (It has been two years). Sa kabila ng pagdami ng kaso ng Covid-19 sa bansa, nakakadismaya na patuloy pa rin ang pagbibingi-bingihan ng maraming opisyal ng ating pamahalaan (It îs depressing to know that government officials are deaf to the problems). Dalawang taon na tayong nasa sitwasyong ganito ngunit parang hindi pa rin tayo natututo (We have not learned from the mistakes the past two years),” Pangilinan said.
“Kung mayroon ngang budget para sa overpriced face shields, ang tanong natin ay bakit parating sinasabing walang budget para sa free testing (Since we had an overpriced face shields contracts, why do they say we have no money for free testing?) Wala raw budget pero kung makagasta sa mga bagay na napatunayan nang hindi nakakatulong sa epektibong Covid response ay sobrang wagas pa din (They say we have no budget but they were able to buy things that do not help for an effective COVID-19 response?),” he asked.
The country tallied 33,000 new infections on Monday, January 10, and Pangilinan believes this number remains far from reality as some people who manifest symptoms refuse to get tested because of its high price tag.
If government personnel who have jobs complain of pricey swab tests, how much more to ordinary Filipinos, he pointed out.
Kahit naman sino’ng ordinaryong mamamayan ay hindi basta-basta magpapaluwal ng minimum P3,000 para lang sa swab testing (An ordinary citizen has a difficult time coughing up with P3,000 for a swab testing). Ang kanilang priority siyempre ay ang pangkain nila sa araw-araw (Their priority of course is food on the table every day),” Pangilinan said.
“Kaya mahalaga na gawing libre ang testing (Testing is important). Kapag libre ang testing , ma-e-engganyo ang mga tao na magpa-test (Citizens would be encouraged to undergo testing if it is free). Kapag sila'y nagpa-test, mas maaagapan natin ang paglaganap ng nakamamatay na virus (Free testing will lead to the control of the deadly virus),” he added.
Local and international health experts earlier proposed that the Philippines should perform at least 120,000 tests daily in order to have efficient Covid-19 handling.
The country’s current test is nowhere near half of the recommended number, which experts attributed to the swift spread of the Omicron variant.