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Duque, ex-DBM official 'culpable' in overpriced PPE procurement: Drilon

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Health Secretary Francisco Duque III gives updates to President Rodrigo Duterte during the meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Compound in Davao City on June 7, 2021. Joey Dalumpines, Presidential Photo" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/10/02/20210607-duterte-iatf-eid-mnib-2.jpg"/><figcaption>Health Secretary Francisco Duque III gives updates to President Rodrigo Duterte during the meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Compound in Davao City on June 7, 2021. <em>Joey Dalumpines, Presidential Photo</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - Health Secretary Francisco Duque and a former Department of Budget and Management official are &quot;culpable&quot; over the &quot;planned plunder&quot; in government&#x27;s overpriced medical supply procurement last year, Senator Franklin Drilon said Thursday.</p><p>Duque&#x27;s authorization of the <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/18/21/doh-transferred-p42b-to-dbm-to-mask-unobligation-rate-inefficiency-drilon" target="_blank">transfer</a> of P47.5 billion in health department funds to DBM&#x27;s procurement service (PS-DBM) was the beginning of the &quot;grand corruption,&quot; Drilon said. PS-DBM was then headed by former Undersecretary Christopher Lao.</p><p>&quot;First it was Secretary Duque who authorized the transfer to DBM without a memorandum of agreement that allowed Undersecretary Lao to do the shenanigans he appears to have been done. I will suspect that all of this is planned scheme from the very start to commit this grand corruption,&quot; Drilon told ANC&#x27;s Headstart.</p><p>&quot;Secretary Duque by his act of transferring these funds is principal by an indispensable cooperation because without his action this could not have happened. I can see the culpability of Secretary Duque and Undersecretary Lao.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/27/21/ombudsman-sought-to-probe-ex-dbm-official-over-pharma-firm-contracts">Drilon wants Ombudsman to probe ex-DBM official over pharma firm contracts</a></li></ul><p>The senator said Lao had admitted to him that he did not conduct due diligence in awarding the P8.68 billion worth of government contracts to Pharmally Pharmaceuticals.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/31/21/what-is-pharmally-pharmaceuticals-who-controls-it">What is Pharmally Pharmaceuticals? Who controls it?</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/09/02/21/hontiveros-pharmally-officials-wanted-in-taiwan-for-fraud-embezzlement">Hontiveros: Pharmally officials wanted in Taiwan for fraud, embezzlement</a></li></ul><p>&quot;All I will say is that Pharmally was favored. It doesn’t require much intelligence to realize if you only have a P625,000 paid up capital, common sense but more important due diligence would have told you should not award supply agreements worth P8.7 billion in a span of two months to this company,&quot; he said.</p><div><strong>PLANNED PLUNDER</strong></div><p>Drilon likened corruption in government to COVID-19 variants mutating.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/08/30/21/drilon-cites-premeditated-plunder-in-mismanagement-of-covid-funds">Drilon cites &#x27;premeditated plunder&#x27; in mismanagement of pandemic funds</a></li></ul><p>&quot;The (Senate) Blue Ribbon (Committee) has discovered there is a new variant called ‘planned plunder’. It is a virus that’s spread all over the bureaucracy,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;You hear about the pastillas, commissioners who extorted P50 million, corruption in the Customs. It mutates, you see it in the bureaucracy as you examine.&quot;</p><p>The Senate will &quot;not be distracted&quot; following Malacañang&#x27;s allegations of overpriced purchases during the Aquino administration, Drilon said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/01/21/govt-says-aquino-admin-bought-costlier-ppes">Facing Senate probe, gov&#x27;t claims Aquino admin bought costlier gear</a></li></ul><p>&quot;Secretary Harry Roque, you act like a troll but you should be man enough to know that when a P625,000 company [is] awarded supply contracts of over (P8.7) billion in 2 months&#x27; time there&#x27;s a whiff of corruption that you should be man enough to admit merits an investigation,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;That was 5 years ago, sir. We’re now in 2021. There is no COA (Commission on Audit) report of questionable transaction so please, we will not be distracted and we’ll get to the bottom of this.&quot;</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1762573" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Health Secretary Francisco Duque and a former Department of Budget and Management official are 'culpable' over the 'planned plunder' in government's overpriced medical supply procurement last year, Senator Franklin Drilon said Thursday.