"Breeding ground of corruption."
That was how Senator Risa Hontiveros described the Department of Budget Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM) after the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged billions-worth of allegedly irregular procurements made by the department.
Hontiveros made the statement on Thursday before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which was conducting a hearing on the overpriced laptops procured for the Department of Education (DepEd) by PS-DBM.
"The PS-DBM is a breeding ground of inefficiency, negligence, and corruption," the opposition senator said.
In 2021 alone, Hontiveros noted COA has unearthed irregularities as well as dubious transactions by PS-DBM worth P6.5-billion based on their reports.
"At hindi pa kumpleto ang mga COA reports niyan (And the COA reports are not yet even finished). What has been uncovered so far is just the tip of the iceberg. Mukhang nakasanayan na ng PS-DBM ang modus nila (It seems PS-DBM is already used to that modus)," she added.
According to Hontiveros, "the fact that this spans multiple agencies is a huge red flag."
"So many government programs are affected by this, and during a pandemic year at that. Ang dami sana nating nagawa at natulungan," she lamented.
In their 2021 annual report, COA flagged the PS-DBM for its failure to provide proof of purchases, or the non-delivery of items amounting to the following: P1.696-billion between 2010-2021 for the Philippine National Police (PNP), P795.7-million for the Department of Agrarian Reform, P704.9-million for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and P60.36-million for the Department of Technology and Information (DTI). The P2.4-billion worth of overpriced laptops for the DepEd and P185.6-million worth of deficiencies in PS-DBM's distribution of COVID-19 items in relation to the Department of Health (DOH) were also included in the report.
COA also flagged unliquidated amounts of PS-DBM transactions for the following agencies: BFAR at P31.1M, Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries at P22.73M, Philippine Trade Training Center at P11.828M, Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority at P8.975-million, the Mines and Geosciences under DENR at P8.125-million, Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines at P3.192-million, National Water Resources Board at P176,000 and P1.646 million for prior years, Board of Investments at P1.053-million and P635,570 for prior years, and NAMRIA attached to DENR at P358,802.68.
The independent audit agency reported that large unutilized or excess advances in the PS-DBM budget were unremitted to the Bureau of Treasury: P511.37-million for the Bureau of Fire Protection, P22.99-million undelivered under the Philippine Navy, P17.5-million for the Public Attorney's Office (PAO), P13.86-million for the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), and P10.64-million unremitted for the Bureau of Immigration.
Thus, Hontiveros expressed "strong" support for her fellow senators' calls to abolish the PS-DBM, although she believed it is the "just the first step." She said it is "urgent."
Hontiveros said she will file a resolution for the Senate's consideration to abolish the PS-DBM and investigate all its transactions. She also urged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the COA reports.