A party-list lawmaker on Friday sought a congressional investigation into the procurement by the Quezon City local government of 400,000 face shields which allegedly have been overpriced by as much as P24 million.
In House Resolution 2143, Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor asked the proper committee of the House of Representatives to launch an inquiry in aid of legislation into the purchase.
“Since we are investigating alleged wrongdoing by the Department of Health in the use of pandemic response funds, we might as well look into similar irregularities committed by local government units (LGUs) like Quezon City,” he said.
Defensor said national agencies, as well as LGUs, should not take advantage of the health crisis “to overprice the purchase of goods or services in the guise of helping people.”
“We should not allow corruption, whether by national officials or local leaders,” he stressed.
Based on documents by QC LGU insiders “who are scandalized by the scale of corruption in City Hall,” Defensor revealed that the city procured 400,000 pieces of face shield on Dec. 21, 2020 at P67.50 apiece for a total of P27 million.
He identified the supplier as Strength Medical and Drug Supply, which he said is a single proprietorship.
At the time of the purchase, he said the prevailing price of face shields in Binondo, Manila was P10 per unit.
“The price paid by the Quezon City LGU was more than 600 percent higher than the going rate. There was an almost P60 premium paid per unit, or a total overprice of at least P24 million for a single procurement,” he said.
Aside from the excessive price, the procurement did not go through the required public bidding process, he said.
“Had there been public bidding, City Hall would have discovered that the prevailing price was not more than P10 per face shield and it could have bought 2.7 million pieces instead of just 400,000,” he stressed.