MALACAÑANG on Thursday, September 1, 2021, maintained that the medical supplies procured by the government from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation were not overpriced.
In a televised press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the personal protective equipment (PPE) bought from Pharmally at P1,700 per piece was priced lower than the PPEs bought by the previous administration in 2015 and 2016 at P3,000 each.
Roque maintained that the basis for the procurement of medical supplies was the price and quality of the products, not the people involved in the company.
"Ultimately, it's the price and the specification that matters. Sa presyo po ang labanan, kahit sino ka man," he said.
"Unfortunately, wala pong ibang kompanya makakabigay ng (mas mababa sa P1,700)... Wala pong kinalaman ang mga personalidad, ang tiningnan presyo at saka kalidad," he added.
National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr., who was among the officials to receive the order from President Rodrigo Duterte to procure the said medical supplies for the healthcare workers, said they were given only a maximum of three days to ensure the delivery of 600,000 to one million PPE sets.
He reiterated that the government’s goal is to save lives and not to make money.
Roque noted that it is not the company’s capitalization that is important but the ability to deliver the procured items on time.
"Naka-deliver naman sila e... Siguro po kung hindi naka-deliver, puwedeng magreklamo," he said.
Pharmally was awarded by the Procurement Service (PS) of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) a contract to supply P8.86 billion worth of face masks, Covid-19 test kits and PPEs in the early stage of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic in 2020.
The contract was discovered during a Senate blue ribbon committee inquiry into the Department of Health deficiencies in the use of Covid-19 response funds.
The focus of the investigation is the transfer of P42 billion Covid-19 funds from the DOH to the PS for the procurement of face masks, face shields and other medical supplies.
Lawmakers scrutinized the contract and questioned why it was awarded to a small company like Pharmally.
A document presented by Senator Franklin Drilon showed that Pharmally offered the face masks for P27.72 per piece while other bidders offered the same item for only P13.50 to P17.50 apiece.
Drilon said Covid-19 test kits from Pharmally cost P1,720 per kit while there was an offer for only P925 each.
Drilon said the PS bought PPEs from Pharmally at P1,910 per piece while other bidders offered it for only P945 each.
He said the government could have saved billions of pesos had the deal been made with other companies that submitted lower bids.
Among the personalities whose names surfaced in the course of the investigation were PS former head Lloyd Christopher Lao, who is being linked to Senator Bong Go, who is also the former long-time aide of Duterte, and businessman Michael Yang, the administration’s former adviser for economic affairs.
Senator Richard Gordon said the investigation can go as high as Duterte. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo / SunStar Philippines)