News Roundup 20 August 2021
Aug 20, 2021 • 5 min Read
Philippines sees another 17,231 coronavirus infections in new record high | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health on Friday reported 17,231 more COVID-19 infections, bringing the national caseload to 1,807,800. This is the highest number of new cases recorded since the start of the pandemic, surpassing the previous record high of 15,310 recorded in April last year.
- Active cases: 123,251 or 6.8% of the total
- Recoveries: 5,595, pushing total to 1,653,351
- Deaths: 317, bringing total to 31,198
DOH spent P380K for videoconferencing equipment that retails for P120K | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health spent a total of P11.9 million for 31 units of videoconferencing equipment, spending around P380,000 for each unit, when it retails for just around P120,000 each. Enrique Tayag, director of DOH’s Knowledge Management and Information Technology Service, admitted Friday during a House hearing on the adverse reports of the Commission on Audit on the agency that they did buy 31 Cisco Webex DX80 units at around P380,000 each. But Cisco’s website states that one Webex DX80 should only cost $2,390, or just around P120,000. It notes, however, that the final price of the touch-screen videoconferencing equipment, depends on the final price set by a Cisco partner. Deputy Speaker Bienvenido Abante, who raised the issue during the hearing, noted that a high-end Apple Mac desktop would only cost around P125,000, while a one-year license for 50 Zoom users only costs P600,000. Tayag explained that the procurement for the Webex DX80s was done through public bidding, which he said is not based on the lowest price but based on the lowest calculated bid. “Hindi lang po tinitingnan ‘yung presyo, kundi ‘yung kakayahan po ng supplier or ng proponent na ito po ay made-deliver ayon sa specifications sa tinakda naming panahon na made-deliver niya,” he said. (We’re not just looking at the price, we also look at the capability of the supplier or the proponent to deliver these according to the specifications, according to the time we want it to be delivered.) He said these videoconferencing units will be distributed to three hospitals, so that patients would be able to interact with healthcare workers without them being physically present.
China fires flares at PH military planes patrolling West PH Sea | INQUIRER.NET – China recently fired flares at Philippine military planes conducting security patrols in the West Philippine Sea. These were recorded at least five times near Chinese outposts in the West Philippine Sea, according to Lt. Col. Bill Pasia, of the Palawan-based Western Command, at an online forum on Friday (Aug. 20). “China uses pyrotechnic signals or flare warnings to ward off our ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) team,” he said. The flares were fired from buildings on these Chinese outposts last June:
Chigua (McKennan) – 1
Calderon (Cuarteron)- 2
Burgos (Gaven) – 1
Mabini (Johnson)- 1
Pasia also said that Philippine aircraft received Chinese radio warnings at least 218 times while patrolling the West Philippine Sea. “As part of China’s assertiveness, while we are patrolling the West Philippine Sea, our ISR team are consistently receiving radio challenges from Chinese navy or reefs during routine flight patrols,” he said. China, using its fictitious nine-dash line, had laid claim to nearly the entire South China Sea but this had already been rejected by an international court in 2016. Some Southeast Asian countries have overlapping claims in the South China Sea but none as brazenly fraudulent as China’s.
COA hits controversial DBM agency for ‘parking’ P10.8-B for years | Manila Bulletin – The controversial Procurement Service (PS) under the Department of Budget and Management has kept over P10.8 billion in transferred funds for years without returning the money to the Bureau of Treasury. The Commission on Audit disclosed in the 2020 annual audit report (AAR) for the PS that over P8.9 billion had been hoarded for over four years until 2020 while the remainder have aged two to three years. “Inter-agency transferred funds and other Payables totaling P10.870 billion pertaining to advances for CSE (commonly used supplies and equipment) which remained undelivered/unutilized and dormant for years were still not remitted to the Bureau of the Treasury, thus, depriving the government the use of funds in the implementation of its project/programs,” COA said in the report. The relatively-unknown DBM agency has been under fire lately after its former executive director, Christopher Lao, was mentioned in the Senate inquiry on the reported mismanagement of P67.32 billion in COVID-19 funds/ Lao, who resigned from the PS last June, is being sought by lawmakers for him to shed light into allegations that the DBM office procured overpriced face masks, face shields and other medical supplies that the DOH ordered using at least P43-billion it transferred to PS last year. At least P2 billion is left of the DOH fund transfer, it was revealed during a congressional hearing conducted by the Lower House Committee on Public Accounts on Friday, August 20. COA auditors said the PS must not continue keeping the unspent funds. The procurement agency, audit examiners stressed, has the responsibility to surrender the advances given by client-agencies to the Bureau of Treasury. The PS was also asked by COA to inform the client agencies of the remittance to the BTr “so that proper adjustments will be made in the client agencies’ respective books of accounts.” “The non-remittance of the total advances of P10.870 billion representing unutilized or undelivered CSEs and unidentified depositors in the books, deprived the government of the sue of funds in the implementation of its projects/programs,” said COA.
