TRANSPARENCY | DOH vows cooperation with COA in examining procurement of COVID-19 vaccines

December 15, 2022 , 01:58 PM

By Beatrice Puente

(December 15, 2022 – UPDATED) – With lawmakers seeking transparency, the officer in charge of the Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday submitted relevant documents to the Commission on Audit (COA) regarding the government’s procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

DOH undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire stressed that the agency has maintained its commitment to cooperate in the special audit.

“Handa pong harapin ng Kagawaran ng Kalusugan ang anumang katanungan ukol sa ating vaccine procurement sapagkat kampante tayo na lahat ng mga prosesong isinagawa ng ating pamahalaaan sa pagbili ng mga bakuna upang maprotektahan ang ating mga kababayan ay nakaayon sa batas,” said Vergeire.

In an earlier statement, the DOH noted that only Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca have allowed the disclosure of the purchase agreement but specific conditions must be followed. The DOH added that it is already coordinating with the manufacturers “to secure their consent to disclose information” as early as last year.

“The DOH and NTF (National Task Force) will comply with all COA audit requirements. The agency explained that disclosing information covered by the confidentiality agreements without explicit consent from the manufacturers has legal as well as public health repercussions,” read the statement.

Last year, under the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, P82.5 billion was allocated for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. The administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte later added P50 billion for the procurement of booster shots this year.

Based on the report of CNN Philippines, the government purchased around 250 million COVID-19 vaccines.

In the hearing, the former officials under Duterte denied that they refused to have the documents audited on the basis of the non-disclosure agreements.

Former Department of Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez III maintained that they never expressed that these agreements were exempted from audit. Meanwhile, Carlito Galvez Jr., the former chief implementer of the NTF Against COVID-19, claimed that their negotiations were “above board.”

“Our vaccine procurements were largely financed by official development assistance from our reputable multilateral development partners and the related loan agreements mandate the audit of the supply agreements precisely to ensure these are corruption-free,” said Dominguez.

Even former DOH secretary Francisco Duque III claimed that he sent a letter to former COA chairperson Michael Aguinaldo to initiate a special audit on the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

While the DOH did turn in the files in the past, the COA said the documents were redacted, making it difficult for state auditors to scrutinize the files.

“Our last communication was dated December 6, asking for the documents that are not redacted, and still, we do not have these documents,” said COA director Jocelyn Ramos.

Sen. Francis Tolentino, who heads the blue ribbon panel, said they will hold an executive session to look into the NDAs. Officials from the DOH, COA, and other relevant agencies will be invited to attend.

“The only remaining issue now is the NDA which this committee, during the next hearing, would probably require in an executive session. We will have an executive session with the COA and the other resource persons present here, the members of this committee, come 2023,” said Tolentino.

(PM | With reports from Camille Samonte, News5)

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