Ang non-disclosure agreement (NDA) sa pagitan ng gobyerno at ng mga pharmaceutical company sa pagbili ng COVID-19 vaccines ay maaaring pang-cover up umano sa maling paggamit ng kaban ng bayan.

Ito ang sinabi ni dating senador Panfilo Lacson matapos mabunyag na hanggang sa ngayon ay wala pang audit report kung paano nagastos ang pera ng dating administrasyon sa COVID-19 vaccine.

“There are hundreds of billions of reasons to audit the government procured vaccines especially after the issues that we repeatedly raised in the last Congress have not yet been answered concerning the grossly overpriced Chinese brand vaccine Sinovac compared to the other brands like AstraZeneca, Moderna and even the US brand Pfizer,” sabi ni Lacson.

“The NDA could very well be a ‘cover-up’ for the unconscionable misuse of public funds at a time when our economy was already taking a beating because of the Covid 19 pandemic,” dagdag pa ng senador sa kaniyang text message sa mga reporter.

Matatandaan na palaging iginigiit ng mga dating opisyal ng nagdaang administrasyon ang NDA sa iba’t ibang supplier ng bakuna na imbestigahan ng Senado ang di umano’y overpriced na pandemic supplies.

Sabi ni Lacson, sinubukan nila noong pigain ang tungkol sa NDA’s kahit na sa executive session nabigo sila.

“The new administration should pursue and resolve this matter to its logical conclusion. The Filipino people deserve no less,” sambit ni Lacson.

Maging si dating Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon ay sinabing wala siyang nakitang anumang NDA ng gobyerno sa pharmaceutical firms.

Hindi rin umano maaring i-classify Department of Health (DOH) at Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) ang nasabing pondo sa pagbili ng bakuna bilang confidential o intelligence funds na puwede namang i-liquidate sa pamamagitan ng Sealed Envelope system.

At kahit emergency purchase ang COVID-19 vaccines, sinabi ni Drilon na dadaan pa rin ito sa regular public audit ng Commission on Audit (COA).

“All the COVID supply purchases should be subject to COA audit. This is an obligation imposed by the Constitution on COA,” saad ni Drilon.

“The NDA cannot be cited to prevent an audit and full public disclosure of how public funds were spent. Should PS-DBM, as the purchasing agent, refuse to give COA access to the documents, COA can refuse to approve the expenses, and consider the amounts unliquidated,” diin pa niya. (Dindo Matining)

The post Lacson: Di pagbunyag ng COVID-19 vaccine deals, ‘cover up’ sa maling paggamit ng pondo first appeared on Abante TNT.


Source: Abante TNT