MANILA, Philippines — Three government agencies which have significant roles in the national government’s COVID-19 response have allegedly failed to fully account for all the funds that they had disbursed under the Bayanihan 1 and 2 laws.
Citing 2020 reports from the Commission on Audit, The Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition said that the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) supposedly failed to fully document and comply with procurement rules as well as to pay out certain contractors for the supplies they purchased for the country’s COVID-19 efforts.
The audit reports also indicated that the agencies’ projects were not fully delivered, according to the group.
“The aggregate amount they gave bad contractors and bad projects ran into hundreds of millions of pesos. A composite 100-plus supply contracts they had separately awarded were either not reported in the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) website, had incomplete documentary requirements, and were not supported by market price research,” the coalition said.
“Too, these agencies separately but similarly spent hundreds of millions of pesos on innumerable catering services, hazard pay, local transportation, hotel accommodation, PPEs, relief goods, and meals for their personnel. In many cases, a dozen suppliers got several repeat contracts from these agencies,” it added.
Source: GMA News