President Rodrigo Duterte slammed on Wednesday Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan for raising questions about the P500 million worth of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test kits procured by the government which have short shelf life and eventually expired without being used.
“Senator Pangilinan is overly engrossed over the test kits expiration that is borderline pharisaical. After two months of hearings, paulit-ulit pa rin ang tanong kahit paulit-ulit ang sagot ng Department of Health (DOH),” Duterte said during his pre-recorded Talk to the People.
(After two months of hearings, the question was still repeatedly answered by the DOH.)
During the continuation of the Senate blue ribbon panel’s probe into the alleged overpriced pandemic supplies last Sept. 21, Pangilinan stressed that the government lost around P1.25 billion for paying in full the procured COVID-19 test kits which have short shelf life or near-expiry.
“This is the reason why I don’t want government workers to attend these hearings anymore, they are just wasting their time, these senators will not evenly listened to their explanation and answers,” Duterte said.
Duterte then asked Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to explain the expiration period of the procured test kits.
“Ang test kits may expiration period of six months, may pinadala kaming retrato sa Senate Blue Ribbon Commttiee nakalagay dun ang production date na mag-eexpire ng November so that is may June, July… November so six months na po,” Duque answered.
Duque told Duterte that the agency did not accept expired test kits. The secretary, however, did not indicate during the event that some P550 million of test kits paid for by the DOH had expired last year.
According to Duque, the senators asked why the Health department did not get test kits that have a shelf life of 12 to 24 months.
“Kami naman ang sinabi namin na standard we will get test kits with expiry period of 12 to 24 months, prior to pandemic yun ang ginagamit namin na procure,” he said.
“However, it has been reported to us na bago ang COVID-19 yung mag test nila wala pong manufacturing companies, yung gumagawa ng test walang suficient data to show that it can last in 6 months,” he added.
During the Senate blue ribbon panel’s probe, Pangilinan presented a letter dated December 7, 2020 which was signed by Health Assistant Secretary Nelson Santiago.
The letter was addressed to former chief of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) Christopher Lloyd Lao.
“DOH was requesting a rescheduling of the delivery of Pharmally testing kits because the test kits that were delivered expired. Hindi nagamit… They paid in full for testing kits that were due to expire in six months,” Pangilinan said.
Santiago confirmed the letter obtained by Pangilinan. He added that 7,925 test kits have expired.—LDF, GMA News
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