The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) on Monday said it has yet to receive the delivery of fire trucks procured from 2015-2017 by the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (PS-DBM) and the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC).
“The problem is that the procurement in 2015 to 2017 was still undisbursed, undelivered by the PITC and DBM,” BFP officer-in-charge Louie Puracan said at the House budget hearing on the proposed P248.5 billion budget for 2022 of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
BFP is one of the agencies under the DILG.
According to Puracan, a total of 28 fire trucks were not delivered in 2015, and 126 more from 2016 to 2017. The undelivered fire trucks in 2015 amounted to P240 million.
During the hearing, Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate called out the P4.1 billion supposed “parked funds” of the BFP in PS-DBM and PITC.
“Bilyong-bilyong pondo na nandyan lang sa mga procuring agencies na ito (Billion of funds are just stuck in these procuring agencies), PITC, PS-DMB. Why is that so?” Zarate said.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said that starting 2018, he instructed the BFP to buy its own fire trucks.
“When I joined the department, that is basically the first problem that I saw,” he said.
“Maraming pong procurement na binigay sa PS-DBM at saka sa PITC na hindi nila na-deliver (Many procurements were given to PS-DBM and PITC that they failed to deliver),” he added.
Earlier, Senator Imee Marcos called for the abolition of PS-DBM and PITC which she said have outlived their usefulness.
The Department of Health has been flagged over the transfer of at least P42 billion to the PS-DBM for the procurement of COVID-19 supplies. The matter was also raised by the COA in its 2020 audit report.—LDF, GMA News
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