Kinuwestiyon ng COA sa kanilang ulat ang pamamahala ng DOH sa pondong nakalaan para sa COVID-19 response

Ayon sa think-tank, ang ulat ng Commission of Audit patungkol sa “deficiencies” sa pamamahala ng bilyon-bilyong pondo para sa COVID-19 response ng Department of Heath (DOH) ay ang kwestunableng pamumuno ni Sec. Francisco Duque III.

Na-flag ng COA ang DOH nitong Miyerkules dahil sa hindi pag-sunod sa mga umiiral na batas at regulasyon sa pagmamahala ng P67.323 bilyong pondo para sa COVID-19 response, ngunit ayon sa DOH, “the funds are accounted for.”

“It’s less of an accounting question. It’s more of a governance question,” sinabi ni Institute for Leadership, Empowerment at Democracy Executive Director na si Zy-Za Suzara sa ANC’s “Rundown.”

“It is more of a leadership and management question on the part of Secretary Duque and the other officials of the DOH,” aniya.

“No sense of urgency”

Ayon kay Suzara, tila hindi nakikita ng DOH ang sense of urgency sa paglabas ng pondo upang labanan ang pandemiya.

Dagdag pa niya na maraming kang maririnig na kwento tungkol sa mga taong namamatay sa hospital beds, sa mga parking lots, mga ibang hindi makahanap ng hospital para sa kanilang pamilya, makikita mo rin ang kakulangan sa supply ng oxygen at iba pang medical equipment, ngunit ang pondo para dito na nakalaan sa DOH, ay hindi nagamit.

“It makes you wonder if DOH had any sense of urgency in terms of using those funds, because those funds were provided precisely in order to respond better to the pandemic,” binanggit niya.

Pahayag ni Suzara na ang “undisbursed funds” ay nagamit sana para mapaunlad pa ang contract tracing system ng bansa at para ma-compensate ang mga healthcare workers sa tamang oras.

Dagdag niya rin na ginamit sana ng DOH ang pondong ito upang matulungan ang mga areas sa labas ng Metro Manila.

“So that really means an inability to on the part of DOH to buttress the pandemic response as the COA audit report rightly pointed out,” aniya.

“What’s happening behind the scenes?”

Binigyang diin rin ni Suzara na ang health emergency ay hindi excuse para gumawa ng procurements ang DOH nang walang wastong dokumentasyon.

“Yes the government allowed emergency procurement, but emergency procurement also doesn’t mean that government can go ahead without the necessary documentation, without following the processes that are you know, stipulated in the government procurement law.”

“The emergency procurement system that was allowed by the government last year is basically just to speed up the process, but it doesn’t mean setting aside the rules, especially the transparency regulations required there,” sabi niya.

Batay kay Suzara na dapat tiniyak ng financial at administrative departments ng DOH na ang bureau ay sumunod sa wastong procurement procedures, kahit na nakakaranas ito ng uphill battle laban sa pandemiya.

“It’s something that I really don’t understand. How could this happen, especially when it involves huge amounts of funds? They ran to the billions of pesos.”

Sabi ni Suzara na ang ulat ng COA “puts into question” kung paano pinamamahalaan ng DOH ang kanilang pondo.

“Obviously, it’s a huge amount of money, so if DOH is not really being very transparent about how these funds are used, what the status of those funds are, what exactly those funds are for, it makes you wonder, what other types of transactions, or are there other types of irregularity happening behind the scenes?”

Source: ABSCBN