President Rodrigo Duterte appealed to lawmakers to stop investigating the government's ongoing projects, saying these probes will only delay the implementation of the programs.
The President issued the appeal as the Senate pressed forward with its investigation of the government’s handling of billions of pesos in COVID-19 response funds.
“All of you in the Senate—do not investigate programs which are ongoing,” the President said during his public address on the pandemic response. “You will derail it, you will delay it by your incessant penchant for investigating government offices. You want to poke your nose into everything,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The President argued that although lawmakers have an oversight function, the legislative branch does not have the monopoly of running the government through its inquiries.
He then questioned the Senate’s inquiry of the Department of Health’s (DOH) pandemic response despite having no clear indication of the funds being misspent.
“If the money is there, it is unspent, nobody is stealing it, it is there, and the department has so many programs,” he said.
At the same time, the President expressed concern that the legislators may widen their investigation to include other departments such as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the task force headed by vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
“You are poking into the business of Secretary Galvez. You’re trying to muddle up everything by questioning every time how or why he spent the money,” he said.
“The guy is simply trying to even explain to you at every opportunity whether it be a program of government or whether it is really a forum sponsored by government such as this.”
Dismayed by the ongoing inquiry, Duterte said he hopes that someday members of Congress face similar questioning regarding their conduct.
Some lawmakers also committed misdeeds, he said, adding “you are the one making a noise, a noise that is just really a noise for no purpose at all but to create a noise.”
But senators on Friday slammed Galvez for blaming senators for making the government lose focus on the "pandemic response urgency" due to Senate investigations over disbursement of funds flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA).
Conceding that COA is duty bound to come out with that kind of audit report, Galvez said that from what's happening in the Senate hearings now, he believes most of the agencies including DOH and even the OCD have been scared of the so-called adverse reporting.
"They are afraid of being dragged in the Senate hearings," said Galvez, chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19.
But Senator Francis Pangilinan said they should not put the blame on the Senate investigations.
"No investigations yet, but they have already been snail-paced in the vaccination and other actions to curb the alarming increase of coronavirus cases,” he said.
He also assailed Galvez and other concerned agencies for their ever-changing policies in their COVID-19: response.
Pangilinan said the mounting complaints from medical frontliners triggered the Senate probe which unearthed other anomalies in the DOH.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara told Galvez not to blame the Senate because "we are acting as the people's representatives and not for our own benefit."
"Many of us there want to help them so we gave them everything they asked for. You see Bayanihan laws," he said.
Senator Risa Hontiveros said that being in a "state of emergency” doesn't mean that the Senate should be lax in watching over the nation's coffers.
Since there are many emergency purchases during this pandemic, she said "we need more and better, not fewer and weaker mechanisms for accountability."
She said government employees need not bother if they remain honest especially since COA is giving them all the chance to fix discrepancies in their audit findings.
"Nothing to fear if all transactions are above the board," she said.
"Speed should not do away with built in protection mechanisms. Those are not mutually exclusive," she said.
Senator Panfilo Lacson on Friday said the Senate is composed of 24 republics.
"We ourselves cannot impose on each other," he said.
“While we always respect the decision of the majority, we also make sure that they follow their individual convictions and beliefs, based on conscience,” Lacson said.
"I cannot see how anybody, even if he is the President of our country, can influence us especially on an issue involving public funds–and most especially in the middle of a pandemic," Lacson said.
Sotto said the Senate is simply doing its job.
He said government offices have nothing to worry about if they are doing nothing wrong.
He also pointed out the Senate is investigating issues of the past not ongoing, contrary to the claim of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Sotto also assured the public he will not allow skirmishes to derail important pieces of legislation, especially the General Appropriations Act.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said "let the Senate leadership respond to that, as it is the Senate as an institution that is being lectured upon."
Meanwhile, Lacson insisted it is not important how he discovered this latest anomaly–the overpriced ambulances.
"I have a way of validating as I always do whenever a whiff of corruption catches my attention."
In this instant case, Lacson said he checked the official records of such procurements–one by the DOH, the other by the LGU.
He noted that the difference in their purchase prices were too glaring to ignore.
Lacson said he will definitely ask the DOH to explain it in the next Senate Blue Ribbon hearing on Tuesday, or during the budget deliberations.
The Senate Blue Ribbon committee, chaired by Senator Richard Gordon is set to resume its fourth hearing on the DOH's misuse of COVID response funds.
Angered by the probe, the President threatened not to allow his Cabinet officials to attend the ongoing Senate investigations.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) on Friday justified the procurement of allegedly overpriced ambulances that were distributed in Calabarzon.
In an online briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the department had procured Type 1 ambulances, which contain medical equipment and instruments such as automated external defibrillator (AED), portable suction machine, and oxygen cylinder.
The procurement cost also covered training for ambulance drivers and health care workers.
“This is a complete package of what was stated in the specifications. The price that we got is the lowest calculated bid. It went through our bids and awards committee,” Vergeire said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“We are very transparent in this process. Our documents are posted on the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and these ambulances are now being used by the different implementing units.”
Vergeire issued the statement after Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday claimed that each ambulance was overpriced by at least P1 million.
The senator cited DOH documents showing that the department spent P2.5 million for each ambulance, including an AED.
Without the AED, which costs around P300,000, the ambulance must only be worth around P1.27 million, he said, citing the procurement of some local government units.