Duque insists P41B fund transfer to PS-DBM legal, necessary

Former Health secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday maintained that the transfer of over P41 billion to the Procurement Services of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) in 2020 for the purchase of COVID-19 supplies was necessary and legal despite facing graft charges over it.

“Given the severity of the public health emergency, we deemed it best to rely on the expertise of the PS-DBM and its network of suppliers for sourcing of the much needed PPE (personal protective equipment) along with other essential goods and services for emergency response, given the lives of our healthcare workforce depended on the procurement of PPEs. In doing so, we were guided by the authority of PS-DBM granted by various laws and regulations,” Duque told the House appropriations panel during a briefing on DOH’s performance.

Duque said such laws include Executive Orders 385 and 285, Letter of Instruction, Administrative Order 17 of 2011, and Section 53 of the Procurement law.

“Our overriding consideration was to prevent, if not mitigate the risk for our healthcare workers waiting for local suppliers whom we knew had no capacity, initially, to supply large volumes of PPEs and other COVID-19 supplies needed. We could not negligently put the lives of our healthcare workers at risk of widespread infections and countless deaths, possibly leading to the collapse of the entire healthcare system,” he added.

“We would not have stood a fighting chance without the first tranche of PPEs which was the lifeline of our healthcare workers. Throughout our pandemic response, we were guided by singular, overriding consideration that is the best interest of our people in general and our healthcare workers in particular who are indeed the backbone of our healthcare system,” he further said.

Duterte's directive

During the same hearing, Duque also said the transfer was upon the directive of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

"Publicly, this was made by the President in our meetings in the weekly meeting or Talk to the People,” Duque said upon the questioning of House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro who asked him if he made the decision to transfer the funds on this own.

But when House Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin, herself a former DOH secretary, asked Duque the same question, his answer was different, this time saying he acted on the basis of existing laws and Duterte’s declaration of a public health emergency.

"The question is did you unilaterally decide to transfer billions to PS-DBM?" Garin asked.

"No is the answer," Duque responded. "I'm just complying with the rules of the PS-DBM. Again, I do not want to belabor the laws that authorize the PS-DBM to procure in a state of public health emergency materials."

Transfer recommended

Duque further explained that the decision was based on recommendations of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), which he also headed.

Garin then asked if such recommendation was documented, but Duque did not give a categorical answer.

"I will check on it but I would like to reiterate that even without it, I have the authority to effect the transfer [of fund to PS-DBM] because of public health emergency when there were not enough common use supplies such as PPEs and other COVID-19 supplies,” he said.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires has already ordered the filing of graft charges against Duque and former Budget undersecretary Christopher Lao, saying the transfer of P41 billion for the procurement of COVID-19 supplies in March 2020 to PS-DBM was illegal because it did not fall under common use supplies (CSE) which the PS-DBM is allowed to procure. 

Duque has since appealed the decision of the Ombudsman. —AOL/KBK, GMA Integrated News