Monday, June 29, 2020

READ: Duterte’s 14th report to Congress on emergency powers

By Prince Golez

President Rodrigo Duterte submitted on Monday his 14th report on the government’s response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis to Congress.

Duterte’s weekly report came after Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act expired last June 24.

The measure gave him extra powers to counter the pandemic that has infected 36,438 Filipinos and killed 1,255 as of Monday afternoon.

In his 18-page report, Duterte said P45.6 billion worth of subsidies for two months has been credited to the beneficiaries of the Small Business Wage Subsidy program.

For the first tranche, 3.08 million qualified beneficiaries have received their cash grants amounting to P23.52 billion while 3.05 million have received their second tranche of wage subsidies totaling P22.10 billion.

On allegations of overpriced procurement of urea fertilizers, Duterte said the centralized fertilizer bidding is “above board, transparent, and has in fact brought urea prices down.”

He cited data from the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority that the national average price of urea fertilizer from February 2020 to April 2020 was P1,051 per bag, a lower amount compared to the P1,200 to P1,400/bag in previous years.

“The award bidding price for P1.8 million worth of bags of urea fertilizers ranged from P900 to P995/bag,” according to him.

Duterte also reported a total of 24 Covid-19 referral hospitals and 1,888 Covid-19 accepting hospitals, with a total of 13,909 dedicated beds and an average of 37.43 percent occupancy rate nationwide.

647,804 tests have been conducted on 596,058 individuals as of June 24, with an increase of 86,539 from June 17, the chief executive added.

He likewise noted the steady increase in the country’s Covid-19 testing capacity, as the Department of Health has accredited a total of 68 active testing laboratories.

In relation to the personal protective equipment (PPE) sets procured by the DOH, 2,069,760 of the total 6,062,019 PPE sets have been delivered as of June 25.

“From the procurement of nine different types of RT-PCR test kits worth P1.6 billion, 13,439 test kits or 45.08 percent have been delivered, with the rest expected to be delivered by July 2020,” said Duterte.

According to him, the second tranche of RT-PCR test kits worth P2.5 billion for eight different types is awaiting delivery while the third tranche worth P6.9 billion for 10 different types is at different stages of the procurement process.

“Five out of the 10 units of Automated Nucleic Acid Extraction Machines procured through PS-DBM for P400 million have been delivered, with four units scheduled to be delivered within the week and the remaining one unit expected to arrive on June 29.

“The 1,000 units of mechanical ventilator amounting to P946,400 each are expected to be delivered from July 2020 to March 2021,” he added.