Legarda: We cannot allow approved funds to remain idle amid the pandemic

Three-term Senator, now Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, urged the Department of Health (DOH) to be transparent and clarify the findings highlighted by the Commission on Audit’s (COA) 2020 consolidated annual report on the deficiencies in handling the 2020 budget allocated to the Department that the state auditors reported as a significant contributor to the challenges encountered in the country’s pandemic response.

“The people deserve a clear and detailed explanation from the Department of Health. We cannot allow government funding to remain idle and unutilized. The budget allocated to the Department came from the people’s taxes and was intended to cater to the public’s needs, especially amid this health crisis,” Legarda said.

The COA report revealed the Department’s various deficiencies and mishandling of procured supplies. Among these is the Php 67.3 billion intended for COVID-19 response fund for the procurement of health supplies, equipment and services for the general public and health workers.

Legarda, who chaired the Senate Committee on Finance during the 16th and 17th Congresses slammed the slow and inefficient use of public funds and welcomes the congressional hearing to serve as a venue to hear both the side of the COA and the DOH. The three-term Senator said that “we are talking about billions of pesos here that could have been used for the immediate needs of the people. We do not approve funds to go stale, unobligated and undisbursed.”

The COA report also showed that there were equipment procured under the Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) that were undelivered and unutilized. At the same time, there are HFEP infrastructure projects that were either idle or delayed in implementation. The report also highlighted that medicines and other types of inventories were found nearly expired or have expired with a total value of Php 95.67 million.

“These findings are very disappointing, especially for the Filipino people who are expecting us, the national government, to provide quick response and quality service as we tread the path towards recovery. We have recorded 1.8 million total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic started more than a year ago. Marami na ang nawala at nasayang na buhay at ngayon mayroon na naman tayong kinakaharap na panibagong hamon sa pagpasok ng mga bago at mas nakakahawang variants. As public servants, we owe it to our people to lead this fight against an unseen enemy. We cannot fail them and have them lose their trust in us because we can only win this fight if we work on this all together,” Legarda lamented.

“We need to have compassion and urgent action. The funds allocated will save many lives. It is allocated for the people and if it is not utilized judiciously and expeditiously, it defeats the purpose of Congress for creating such allocation. Any delay or questionable implementation of public funds is an injustice to the Filipino people,” Legarda concluded.***