Mike Defensor hits ‘overpriced’ QC grocery packs; exec says purchases got COA nod

AnaKalusugan party-list Representative Mike Defensor on Friday alleged an overpricing in the purchase of the Quezon City government's grocery packs distributed to residents as pandemic aid.

During the House Committee on Appropriations’ hearing on the proposed P14.46-billion 2022 budget of the Commission on Audit (COA), Defensor claimed that the 350,000 grocery packs purchased by the local government were overpriced by P179,893,000.

Presenting actual retail prices of several grocery items included in the QC’s grocery packs, the lawmaker said that a pack only costs P636.

When multiplied by 350,000 packs the amount should only be P222,600,000 but the QC government’s total purchase amount was P402,493,000.

“If you put it all together P179 million ang overprice,” Defensor said.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist para makita ang mga presyo nito, in fact retail price ito. Pumunta kayo sa grocery makikita niyo ang presyo (If you go to a grocery you can check the prices),” he said.

Apart from the grocery packs, Defensor also claimed an overpricing in the city's purchase of 350,000 portable face mask storage cases at a per unit cost of P90.97, amounting to P31,839,500, when its retail price only ranges from P15 to P30 per piece.

The party-list lawmaker also flagged the QC government’s purchase of 352,034 COVID kits amounting to P281,609,589.30 at a per unit cost of P799.95.

Defensor said the retail price of a COVID kit - which include towels, alcohols, and sanitizers, bath soaps, face masks, and plastic pouches - is only at P430.

Multiplied by 352,034 kits, the total purchase price should only be P151,374,620, leaving an alleged overpriced amount of P130,234,978.30.

The lawmaker also alleged that the QC government purchased another batch of 526,934 food packs totalling to P426,737,499.90.

Defensor claimed that the retail prices of the food packs should only be P560, thereby the total amount purchased by the city government was overpriced by P131,654,460.

“I don’t think there was any report on this,” he said.

“Nakita po ba to ng COA?” he asked.

(Did the COA look into this?)

COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo said, “We’ll look into it… we can have the local government sector have a look at it.”

Defensor ended his interpellation by saying that “under a calamity or public health emergency that we are in, we should have parameters in prices.”

The lawmaker also recommended to have pre-audits of purchases “kasi pag natapos na wala na ang pera after a year.”

QC answers new ‘drama’

In answer to the claims, the city government said the price of the food packs was high as they were purchased during Christmas time amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“[T]umaas ang presyo ng mga basic and essential goods; halos walang laman ang mga gorcery, at mababa ang imbentaryo sa kahit saang lungsod,” QC Legal Department head Orlando Casimiro said.

(The prices of basic and essential goods increased; grocery stores were almost empty, and inventory was low in every city.)

“Sa madaling salita, ang presyo ngayon ng mga bilihing nakalista sa purchase order ay mas mababa sa kumpara sa presyo noon. Sana po gumawa sila ng konting research, tutal libre naman po ito,” he added.

(In other words, the prices listed on the purchased order are lower today than the prices before. I wish they did some research.)

Casimiro also pointed out that 12 line items were listed on the original purchase order, but only nine items were shown.

According to the lawyer, the allegations did not include the cost of the packaging, labor, repacking, delivery, warehousing, and other fees that will be paid to the supplier.

“Halatang-halata ang malisya sa sadyang pagtanggal nila nitong mga bagay na ito,” he said.

(It’s very obvious that the removal of these items is malicious.) 

Casimiro stressed that COA had inspected and found the said purchases to be above board.

“Sa kanilang audit nakita nila na lahat po ng ating mga transaksyon ay above board at binigyan tayo ng pinakamataas na marka sa buong kasaysayan ng QC,” he said.

(In their audit they found that our transactions were above board and they gave us the highest mark in the history of the QC.)

“Alinsunod dito, muli naming itatanong: kanina tayo maniniwala? Sa COA, o sa bayarang troll?” he alter added.

(In line with this, we are again asking: who should we believe? The COA or a paid troll?)

The lawyer recalled that Defensor had previously sought an investigation into the alleged overpriced face shields procured by the QC government, a claim the city later said lacked context and was unfounded.

“Pagkatapos nilang mabigo sa mga nauna nilang pekeng pasabog, ngayon naman ay overpriced food packs-kuno naman ang ginagawan nila ng kwento,” he said.—LDF, GMA News