Mahal talaga kasi walang supply! Duterte insists no overpricing in PS-DBM’s purchase of face masks, PPEs

President Rodrigo Duterte defended on Thursday (Sept. 2) the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service’s (PS-DBM) purchase of COVID-19 medical supplies, which some senators alleged to be overpriced.

In a televised briefing, Duterte said PS-DBM procured the supplies—which include face masks and personal protective equipment—below the suggested retail prices of the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

He said it was inaccurate to compare prices of the items bought by the government at the time the pandemic started in early 2020 and now, when supplies have increased to meet demand.

“If you compare the prices of the mask and the PPEs, ikumpara mo iyan ngayon, noon, tapos sabihin mo isang presyo lang gusto mo at the height of the pandemic when it began, we had nothing, wala tayo. Kaya we had to look for the gadgets, the PPEs, and the masks wherever we can and there was no supply kasi bigla ang putok ng pandemic,” Duterte explained.

A number of senators have pointed out during the Senate investigations into DOH’s spending of COVID-19 funds that the items bought by PS-DBM were five times more expensive than similar supplies purchased by the Philippine Red Cross, a non-government organization. A PPE, for instance, cost P1,700 each.

DOH had transferred P42 billion to PS-DBM for the purchase of some COVID-19 supplies beginning last year.

However, the President said the items bought by PS-DBM were more expensive because demand was higher than supply.

“So ang presyo na ‘yun mataas kasi kung kakaunti lang kasi ang supply because manufacturers were just producing it at that time, eh mahal talaga kasi walang supply so agawan,” he said.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)