Thread by @prinzmagtulis

This is a personal evaluation of events:

We’ve been following up on the story on gov’t funding and procurement in this time of COVID-19 crisis for nearly a month now and I’m telling you I’ve never been so confused until President Duterte spoke last night.

Duterte spoke of a P200-billion package to help the poor only on the third week of the Luzon lockdown tonight, the same day when the Bureau of the Treasury said it had already received the P300-billion infusion from the BSP.

It’s also been a week since the emergency powers were given but it was only last night when Duterte begin to lay out definite plans.

It bears noting as well that it was only last night that the DOH made its first-ever statement on supposedly 1 million PPEs “procured” worth P1.8 billion. I have so many questions on this and foremost of that is: are we just procuring them now? If not, why was it just announced?

Since March 9, gov’t has eased procurement process for medical supplies, including PPEs. It means that instead of undergoing public bidding, gov’t may enter on negotiated contracts— DOH can tap a single contractor, finish the negotiations in a day or two, and wait for delivery.

We were repeatedly told on the ground about the supposed tightening of global supply for testing kits and PPEs, causing late deliveries of these supplies. Even if that’s the case though, with procurement accelerated, supplies should already been here.

There were unconfirmed reports of DOH supposedly stuck in bureaucratic red tape that delays the release of PPEs, a supposed victim of gov’t centralized approach to the crisis. But if the release of PPE is the only problem, why is DOH’s saying that it just “procured” 1M PPEs now?

Saying that DOH just procured PPEs make it appear that the whole process of buying has just begun. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said they are just awaiting delivery. But negotiated procurement can be done a day or two. Why are you just announcing the orders now?

The gov’t went on a fund-raising mode last week to respond to this crisis. Around P800-billion was raised and counting, mostly from loans, and bonds. Part of that was BSP’s P300B supposedly given yesterday. DOF even indicated readiness to borrow more if the need arises.

I understand the propensity of the situation and being caught off guard by it and the need to borrow. But basing alone on the sequence of events, it appears that at the onset of the crisis nearly a month ago, the gov’t was looking cash-strapped. Which does not breed confidence.

Another indication: Duterte even mentioned on his speech that “matagal na tayong may problema sa pera.” Was it a slip of the tongue of just or plain generalization Nevertheless, absence of planning is becoming really obvious. And the gov’t not being transparent is not helping.

Again, the first question is why are we just “procuring” now? When were orders made? Because if donors and other agencies can buy out supplies and quickly get them, then we may as well know why can’t gov’t do the same.

We made a report on how gov’t was raising funds for COVID-19 response. The report dealt with most of what I said, except actual programs fund will finance. Why? Because they are just starting to get clear now— when gov’t already received funding from BSP.

philstar.com/business/2020/…

An update on this: news reports now quote DOH to have said that the first batch of 200,000 PPEs will arrive from April 1-6, while 700,000 would arrive April 7-24.

The announcement comes a day after @DOHgovph said it “procured” these PPEs.

There is still one question left to be answered: when were the orders or the actual procurement made? Bearing in mind, of course, that for nearly a month into the outbreak, no such announcement on PPE orders were made..., except the other day.