DOH vows to be proactive in ensuring COVID-19 vaccine funds well-spent

The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said it will be proactive in ensuring that the public funds used for the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccines are well-spent after the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) demanded a special audit on the loans they have granted to the Philippine government.

In a statement, DOH said it asked the Commission on Audit (COA) to conduct the special audit as part of its commitment specified in the loan agreements with WB and ADB.

The Health Department said it sent a letter to COA in September to request for the special audit, and it also chose COA to be its auditing firm in the agreements.

“So rest assured that the DOH is well 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,” the agency said.

It was COA chairman Gamaliel Cordoba who disclosed on Tuesday about the special audit request of WB and ADB, as he committed to ensure a complete audit of the public funds used for the vaccine procurements.

Cordoba said DOH sent a letter to COA asking for a complete audit of the vaccine deals as it was mandated by the ADB and the WB to liquidate the loans that were granted to the Philippine government.

He said former Health secretary Francisco Duque III previously wrote COA that they cannot provide the documents as they have signed non-disclosure agreements with the suppliers.

In a text message to reporters, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said the DOH, together with the Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases should cooperate in auditing all government expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic response.

“Sad to note that DOH is making the audit of the COVID-19 expenses more difficult than it should be. All the more they are inviting our attention to the matter and impliedly giving us the impression that there might be something to be discovered therein,” he said.

“In the name of transparency, the DOH, DOF, DBM, THE IATF-EID, and others involved, should all cooperate in the matter of auditing our total expenses related to COVID-19,” he added.

Senator Sonny Angara, who defended the proposed P13.1-billion budget of the state audit agency for 2023, earlier bared that DOH has yet to liquidate billions in public funds used to procure COVID-19 vaccines because its hands are tied by the NDA that were entered into by the Philippine government and the vaccine suppliers.

The lawmaker said there was P8.93 billion under the 2021 national budget allocated for vaccine procurement and almost P70 billion from foreign-assisted loans. He also added that there are other appropriations for COVID-19 vaccines that were included in other laws.

However, Senator Francis Escudero raised the lack of official information from the government regarding the COVID-19 vaccine procurement. He said audit reports on these procurements should be given by now since the purchases were made late 2020 or early 2021.

He then cited news reports saying that the government allocated around P300 billion for the vaccines.

GMA News Online asked the DOH for data on the estimated cost of the vaccine procurement, but it has yet to reply as of posting time.— with Hana Bordey/AOL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News