Senator Risa Hontiveros showed Tuesday 11 government contracts on the personal protective equipment (PPEs) purchased from April to May, to support her allegations that those bought from China were overpriced.
“You want evidence? Here are 11 pieces. DBM [Department of Budget and Management] should plainly explain these contracts. Huwag nilang linlangin ang taumbayan gamit ang pagpapa-ikot ng maling impormasyon. What we need is clarity,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
Hontiveros repeatedly claimed the PPEs procured during the peak of the pandemic were overpriced, adding the government lost P1 billion for choosing supplies from China over locally made PPEs.
The opposition senator showed the copies of notices of award and contract agreements with the following information:
- April 3, 2020
- Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Imp. and Expo. Co. Ltd.
- 250,000 sets of PPE at P2000 each
- P446 million
- Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Imp. and Expo. Co. Ltd.
- April 3, 2020
- Wen Hua Development Industrial Co.Limited
- 42,000 sets of PPE at P1,768 each
- P74.3 million
- Wen Hua Development Industrial Co.Limited
- April 7, 2020
- Chunshen Company Limited
- 588,000 sets of PPE at P1,767 each
- P1.04 billion
- Chunshen Company Limited
- April 22, 2020
- Nikka Trading (Makati City)
- 50,000 sets of PPE at P1,980 each
- P99 million
- Nikka Trading (Makati City)
- April 24, 2020
- Pacific Field Ltd.
- 28,000 sets of PPE at P1,900 each
- P53.2 million
- Pacific Field Ltd.
- May 6, 2020
- Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation (Taguig City)
- 2,000,000 sets of PPE at P1,910 each
- P3.8 billion
- Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation (Taguig City)
- May 7, 2020
- Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Imp. and Exp. Co. Ltd.
- 1,000,000 sets of PPE at P1,898 each
- P1.9 billion
- Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Imp. and Exp. Co. Ltd.
- May 11, 2020
- Wen Hua Development Industrial Co., Limited
- 800,000 sets of PPE at P1,716 each
- P1.3 billion
- Wen Hua Development Industrial Co., Limited
- May 11, 2020
- Shanghai Puheng Medical Equipment Co., Ltd
- 200,000 sets of PPE at P1,716 each
- P343 million
- Shanghai Puheng Medical Equipment Co., Ltd
- May 11, 2020
- Wamrus Trading Inc. (Las Pinas City)
- 20,000 sets of PPE at P1,898 each
- P37.9 million
- Wamrus Trading Inc. (Las Pinas City)
- May 19, 2020
- Hafid N’ Erasmus Corporation (Taguig City)
- 30,000 sets of PPE at P1,700 each
- P51 million
- Hafid N’ Erasmus Corporation (Taguig City)
Hontiveros reveals gov’t contracts of alleged overpriced PPEs
The Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), for its part, defended that the capacity of a supplier to produce PPEs in a short period was a factor at the time.
“Binase natin iyon sa initial capacity kasi tinatanong din namin ilan ba ang kaya mo i-supply, pag nag-bid kami. Puwede tayong mag-award kahit milyon-milyon sa local eh, the question is can they perform? Kasi based din iyan sa capital nila, they have to invest capital,” Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao said.
“Di lang ho ganoong kadali ito. Even if you want to supply, if you don’t have capital, paano ka makaka-supply sa amin? Magka-capital ka niyan,” he added.
But Hontiveros did not accept this explanation.
“Huwag din sabihin ng DBM na walang kakayanan nung umpisa ng pandemya ang lokal na mga kumpanya. As early as February 6, binalita na na ang Bataan-based firm called Medtex ay kayang gumawa ng 2 million face masks monthly. At meron din silang sister company under the Medtec Group of Companies na nagproproduce ng PPEs. Bakit hindi sa mga katulad nila nag-negotiate ang DBM? Bakit inuna ang foreign companies?” she said.