NO OVERPRICING, NO CORRUPTION, NO GHOST DELIVERIES: COA

What is serendipitous about the accusation that the Duterte government committed overpricing re: PPE is that it didn’t happened, therefore, it was fake news. The media really knew what and how to make their news to get under the skin on PRRD. But scamming the public through fake news was like the Titanic that after it hit the iceberg, it kind of reclined to the left and taking on water and sinks to another whole new level. Alas, from sunrise to sunset and into the night, wherever there’s an opportunity to take advantage of something, the fraudsters and the crooks in the Senate are quick to pounce taking advantage of mass media focus. Now, all of them are about to get their comeuppance.

In fact and in law, no matter how heroic and historical PDu30 is doing, the media are tone deaf, if not, twisted stories will lead the news. Hereunder would be worth its weight in gold.

“Wala po sa COA report ng PS-DBM ang statement na may overpricing (There is no statement in the COA report on the PS-DBM saying that there was overpricing). There's no statement to that. The observation is related more to inventory management than overpricing. So it's not right to say that COA mentioned something about overpricing because nothing of that sort was in the report." Aguinaldo said.. 

Aguinaldo said the process of emergency procurement is consistent with existing laws such as Republic Act (RA) 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, Government Procurement Policy Board issuances (GPPB), and other further of RA 11469 of Bayanihan to Heal As One Act. "Under the law, Bayanihan 1, the President was authorized to procure expeditiously as an exemption from [RA] 9184 and related laws. But nonetheless, the DBM, and I'm guessing the Office of the President as well, agreed to apply the rules on emergency procurement with perhaps little modifications, which is reflected in the GPPB circular 01-2020," Aguinaldo said. 

During the same hearing, former PS-DBM director and now deputy Ombudsman Warren Liong said the medical supplies were not overpriced, noting that the prices were lower compared to the suggested retail price of the Department of Health.

Supervising auditor for the Department of Health (DOH) Rhodora Ugay, meanwhile, said the COA report did not flag the health agency for corruption, overpricing, or ghost deliveries.