Senate urged to file cases instead of wasting officials’ time

MANILA – Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea urged senators to “just file the necessary cases” against the government over the alleged overpriced Covid-19 pandemic purchases instead of wasting officials’ time.

“I have a suggestion to those conducting the Senate hearings. Just file the necessary cases and leave it to the experts tasked to investigate them while you do your jobs to legislate or conduct investigation properly in aid of legislation. By doing so, you can preserve your energy for the coming elections,” Medialdea said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

He questioned the objective of senators probing in aid of legislation, reminding them that they are being conducted amid surges in daily Covid-19 cases.

“We have 26,303 cases today (September 11). A surge has been going on for several days now. And yet, key officials in charge of protecting our people from this surge are being required to attend hearings for an alleged ‘grand plunder’,” Medialdea said.

As of Friday, Medialdea said five hearings have been conducted and another hearing is set again on Monday.

“What do we want to achieve here? Break the record of Binay Senate Hearing which totaled 25 days while people are suffering and dying? To prove ‘grand plunder’?” he said.

He was referring to the 25 Senate blue ribbon subcommittee hearings on corruption allegations against former Vice President Jejomar Binay in 2016.

Surrounded with speculations

Medialdea said the ongoing Senate hearings have to date “shown nothing to prove their case except to surround it with speculations drawn from bullying of resource persons most of whom have already been criminally condemned without due process.”

He urged senators to go over the provisions of the Bayanihan Law, noting that it already provides for the Office of the President to render a weekly report to the Senate and the House for all purchases and all other activities related to the pandemic.

“To our Senators, kindly go over the provisions of the Bayanihan Law which you yourselves proudly crafted to address the pandemic,” he said.

Even if these reports were religiously submitted, he said only a few bothered to give a comment on those reports.

“Perhaps, if you had done so, you could have avoided calling for a blue ribbon hearing which has ripped a lot of time, effort and money for government to the detriment of the more serious problem of addressing the pandemic,” he said.

Citing President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, he said the government should be prioritizing the Covid-19 pandemic above anything else.

“PRRD stated that we have to bear with this pandemic. It is worldwide and each country has to address their own concerns. I agree. In our case however we have a pandemic and at the same time, we have a circus in the very House where people are supposed to care for us,” he said.

‘Bad circus’

Meanwhile, he urged those suffering because of the pandemic to “keep on praying for healing”, saying it is bad for the nation’s morale to be watching “a bad circus” amid an ongoing health crisis.

“Let us all do something worthwhile to alleviate the sufferings of our people,” he added.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee is currently probing supposed deficiencies of the Department of Health (DOH) in spending Covid-19 response funds, including the purchase of allegedly overpriced personal protective equipment (PPE) from a foreign firm.

The Commission on Audit (COA) earlier flagged the DOH transfer of PHP41.8 billion to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) to procure PPE sets and other medical supplies for healthcare workers at the onset of the pandemic last year.

In his prerecorded Talk to the People aired on Saturday morning, Duterte said the Senate hearing has something to do with the 2022 national and local elections.

“Well, anyway, I’d tell you why, the reason? It’s because election time and they want exposure. And they think that if they come up with certain corruption cases, true or false, they could get the mileage,” Duterte said.

He said the Senate hearings hamper the efforts of the government to deliver necessary responses against the surge in daily Covid-19 cases triggered by more contagious Delta variant.

“There are so many things to take care of actually on the home front. And if you keep on calling people to testify there, how can they work? For example, si Secretary Galvez pati si ikaw pati si… Papaano tayo makatrabaho nito kung nandoon kayo? (For example, Secretary [Carlito] Galvez. How we can work if you are there?),” Duterte said.

Duterte assured that the procurement of the medical supplies was not tainted with corruption.

“Well, I made this guarantee: that these transactions are legal, that there is no wrongdoing, there is no crime involved here, that I am willing to resign kung may corruption. Iyan ang binigay ko and I will do it at kung may makita sila (That’s I can offer and I will do it if they can find corruption),” he said.