At the height of the pandemic, the Philippine government had to take out loans just to have the available funds for crisis spending.
At first glance, there is nothing wrong here — cash is needed to purchase life-saving vaccines, procure medicines for the critically ill, and stock on other equipment or medical paraphernalia just to save lives, protect medical frontliners, and generally keep Covid at bay. After the “storm” has passed, aren’t we curious if funds from these loans (that would somehow be eventually “paid” by us, taxpayers) were used correctly, judiciously, and honestly?
Perhaps, it was not only “curiosity” that moved Commission on Audit (COA) chairman Gamaliel Cordoba to declare the need for a special audit on loans granted to the Philippine government for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, but also the “call of duty.” In front of lawmakers comprising the Commission on Appointments last Nov. 29, 2022 during the hearing of his ad interim appointment as COA chair (he was eventually confirmed), Cordoba said that even the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) were requesting for a special audit.
“You have our (COA) commitment that we will not allow the non-auditing of government expenditure, especially that our lenders, the World Bank and the ADB, are requesting for a special audit,” Cordoba responded during an inquiry from Sen. Risa Hontiveros.
Hontiveros, on her part, reminded Cordoba of COA’s mandate: “All government transactions and all government entities, including government-owned or controlled corporations with original charters, shall be examined and audited by the COA on their expenditures and uses of public funds. There are no exceptions to this constitutional mandate.”
The senator also noted that the Covid-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021 under RA 11525 and the Government Procurement Reform Act under RA 9184 “unequivocally demand transparency and accountability in the government's procurement process.”
“As of this month, the COA has yet to audit the 2020 and 2021 government procurement of vaccines due to the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that were entered into by the Philippine government and the vaccine suppliers. News reports have only stated that the government allocated around ₱300 billion for the Covid-19 vaccines as there was no official information from the Department of Health (DOH) or Department of Finance (DOF). The NDAs also infringe on the Constitution, which mandates the COA to audit government expenditures,” said Hontiveros.
Cordoba expressed agreement with the senator’s request to look into the auditing of funds for vaccine procurement, and clarified the COA legal office’s position that they “are not bound by the NDAs.” As of the moment, he said that COA resident auditors are coordinating with the DOH to secure copies of contracts and other documents related to the vaccine procurement.
On the part of the DOH, it said that it will “support and cooperate with the audit process.” DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire disclosed that they had already proactively requested the COA to conduct a special audit on the procurement deals for Covid-19 jabs.
“Rest assured that the DOH is aware of the commitments that it needs to uphold as it relates to the loans we secured for the Covid-19 vaccine procurements, and that it will continue to be proactive in ensuring that our taxpayers’ money is well-spent,” she said. "We just need to ensure that we won't violate the signed NDAs. This is being discussed by our legal experts.”
Auditing funds shouldn’t be a surprising move as it is the responsibility of the state to use each centavo as efficiently as possible. A transparent, impartial, and extensive auditing is necessary to quell any doubts on mismanagement and corruption. After all, numbers don’t lie.