Press Release
Zubiri: LGU Vaccine Procurement Bill to Augment National Government Vaccine Program
Amid questions and concerns from the health sector, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri has clarified the scope of Senate Bill 2042, which he filed earlier this week. Senate Bill 2042 is not going to give LGUs precedence over the national government in terms of vaccine procurement. National government pa rin ang masusunod LGUs still need to follow the national guidelines for vaccine deployment set by the Department of Health and the National Task Force against COVID-19, Zubiri said. So no one should fear inequitable distribution. Whether through the national government or the LGUs, our frontliners will still be prioritized for vaccination. The vaccines purchased by LGUs will augment the supply of the national government. LGUS who will not be able to purchase vaccines on their own will still be covered by the national government vaccine roll out.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri
(Alexis Nueva España/Senate PRIB)
Zubiri’s statement released today follows:
“Senate Bill 2042 is not going to give LGUs (local government units) precedence over the national government in terms of vaccine procurement. National government pa rin ang masusunod (National government will still be followed) LGUs still need to follow the national guidelines for vaccine deployment set by the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Task Force against COVID-19,” said Zubiri, principal author of SB 2042.
“So no one should fear inequitable distribution. Whether through the national government or the LGUs, our frontliners will still be prioritized for vaccination. The vaccines purchased by LGUs will augment the supply of the national government. LGUS who will not be able to purchase vaccines on their own will still be covered by the national government vaccine roll out.
The Office of the President is drafting a memorandum order that will authorize an increase in the advance payment for coronavirus vaccines, the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) said Thursday.
Commission on Audit (COA)
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Based on the 2019 audit of the High Court, “out of the 48 infrastructure projects on the Halls of Justice for calendar years 2016 to 2019, 39 projects or 81.25 percent were not constructed or repaired.”
The state auditors also noted that five projects or 10.42 percent were not yet completed since 2016, and four projects or 8.33 percent were completed but beyond the scheduled dates of completion.
“The causes were due to inadequate planning, slow procurement activities, lack of coordination with LGUs concerned/Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and lack of technical personnel, resulting in idle/unutilized funds of P3.902 billion, denoting a low absorptive capacity of the agency in the efficient and effective utilization of its budgets for infrastructure projects funded under the General Appropriations Acts (GAA),” the report said.
CALOOCAN CITY, Jan. 22 (PIA) A portal designed to simplify and improve the efficiency of preparing bidding documents that are crucial to initiating procurement of goods and infrastructure projects was recently launched as a highlight of Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) three-day F.Y. 2021 Procurement Forum.
With the theme Procurement Innovations in Times of Pandemic: Leveraging Technology and Cultivating an Agile Procurement Regime, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary and GPPB Chairperson Wendel Avisado said that “new procurement reforms and digital platforms shall define and serve as the hallmark of a responsive and agile public procurement system.”
Avisado said the challenges magnified by the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak in 2020 had pushed the GPPB to adapt and innovate while keeping true to its mandate.