Gov’t reviewing ‘procurement issues’ in Red Cross, PhilHealth contract
THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DoJ) is reviewing the memorandum of agreement (MOA)between Philippine Red Cross and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) before releasing payments for coronavirus swab tests to the former, citing “procurement issues” in the deal.
Red Cross announced last week that it will temporarily stop accepting RT-PCR tests chargeable to PhilHealth until the state insurer settles dues amounting to about P930 million.
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra told reporters via Viber that they will render an opinion within the week after reviewing the whole agreement, “but more particularly on procurement issues.”
“The DoJ opinion was requested by PhilHealth before it makes a decision to pay its indebtedness to the Philippine Red Cross,” he said.
Mr. Guevarra said the review on the validity of the agreement may result in civil liabilities but they are not ruling criminal liability.
“We are not ruling out anything until we have completed a thorough review of the subject MOA and laws applicable to the said deal,” he said.
Under the agreement, PhilHealth provided an advance payment of P100 million to Red Cross for testing service.
Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque on Wednesday said the government will be paying half of PhilHealth’s debt by next week as he appealed to Red Cross to resume its testing services. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
Out-of-school youth to get free tech-voc training under OVP, USAID, PBED program
A PROGRAM that will provide free technical-vocational skills and employability training for at least 1,000 out-of-school youth in the country was launched Thursday.
The program is a collaboration among the Office of the Vice President, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), with a combined P17 million commitment.
“We are grateful for this partnership with USAID and PBEd, which will allow us to open more doors for young people, who may need to support themselves and their families, especially during the COVID-19 crisis,” Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo said during the virtual launch.
PBEd Chair Ramon R. Del Rosario, Jr. said the partnership “is a massive boost towards empowering young Pinoys (Filipinos) who are disproportionately affected by this crisis.”
Interested applicants can register through youthworks.pbed.ph/trainee-registration/form. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
FDA says Chinese firm Sinovac has passed pre-vaccination screening
THE FOOD and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday said Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is the only company so far to pass the pre-vaccination screening phase locally among three applicants and is expected to begin clinical trials soon.
FDA Director General Rolando Enrique D. Domingo, in a briefing, said out of the three applicants that approached the Department of Science and Technology’s vaccine expert panel, only Sinovac has completed the pre-screening process.
“They applied today with the FDA for clinical trial permission to conduct a clinical trial here,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
The FDA official said the Sinovac vaccine for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will still go through the local regulatory process despite being already administered in China.
Mr. Domingo said the other two applicants in the pre-screening process, the Gamaleya Research Institute in Russia and Janssen Pharmaceutical of Johnson & Johnson from the United States, are still being studied by the panel.
Meanwhile, Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Santa Romana said November is the “optimistic” projection as to when China will mass produce vaccines for the COVID-19.
“Hopefully, mass production and distribution will happen in the near future, as early as November and December in terms of production. And it will depend on our capability to receive the vaccines in terms of our facilities, in terms of distribution. So, the prospects are bright in terms of a breakthrough in vaccine,” he said.
He added that even if the Philippines is one of the priority recipients, Chinese pharmaceutical firms will first be assessing the country’s capability to store the vaccines, especially given the tropical climate. — Gillian M. Cortez
Group calls for independent task force to probe DPWH anomalies
THE GOVERNMENT should consider allowing independent experts to investigate the alleged corruption within the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), an infrastructure think-tank said Thursday.
DPWH Secretary Mark A. Villar earlier this week formed a task force composed of department officials to probe anomalies inside the agency.
InfrawatchPH Convenor Terry L. Ridon, however, said an internal investigation would be regarded as merely for show after President Rodrigo R. Duterte lashed at the department last week for corrupt practices.
“The department’s anti-corruption task force requires independent views to ensure that its findings will be transparent and made with integrity,” he said, “Anything less will be perceived by the public as a ‘komite de abswelto’ if the task force will be composed of agency officials and personnel.”
Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque said on Wednesday that it is not “inconceivable” that Mr. Duterte may create a separate task force for DPWH “in the same way he formed one for PhilHealth.”
Mr. Ridon said “legal bid rigging” of government contracts is the main problem in government projects.
“A review of infrastructure projects with only single bidders would show that its project prices offer no substantial variation from its approved budget, which is the ceiling price for all projects. In one of the more controversial DPWH projects in Metro Manila, the final contract price of P389-Million only had a 2.04% variance from the approved project budget of P398-Million,” he said.
This system, he said, allows private contractors and government employees to collude.
The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission has previously listed DPWH as the most corrupt government agency. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
Budget chief defends reduced allocation to Housing department
BUDGET SECRETARY Wendel A. Avisado on Thursday defended the reduced allocation of the newly-created Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) for 20221, noting that the agency is not tasked with the actual construction of houses.
In a briefing on Thursday, Mr. Avisado said the DHSUD is mainly responsible for policy-setting, coordination, and monitoring while the National Housing Authority is in charge of building socialized housing projects.
“DHSUD has its own mandate. And if we look at the law itself, it says that it will be the sole and main planning and policy making regulatory, program, coordination and performance monitoring of all housing human settlement and urban development concerns,” he said.
Lawmakers on Wednesday questioned the P4 billion DHSUD allocation under the 2021 proposed budget, which is about half its P7.83-billion budget this year.
“Housing production is with the National Housing Authority and the National Housing Authority receives minimal subsidy from the national government because it has its own corporate funds. So that’s the reason why there’s not much funds that we can see at the department (DHSUD) itself because its function is not on housing production,” Mr. Avisado said. — Gillian M. Cortez
