Name: Rosos, Abigail D.

Course and Section: BSA-1

Subject: GE-3 Purposive Communication
Assignment Title: Semi-Final Assignment #1 – Political Science Paper
Number of words: 1506 words
Originality Percentage:
Submitted to: Angilly C. Librea, LPT, MAED-ELT
Date and Time Submitted:
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Transparent Vaccine Procurement Transactions: Essential in Strengthening Public Trust on
Public Funds

Within the scope of the present Philippine constitution, the 1987 Constitution hereby
declared, that Philippines is a democratic and republican state. Twinned with this political
system is the entitlement of its citizens to be informed on matters of public concern such that
they shall afford to access official records, documents, papers pertaining to official acts,
transactions, and decisions (The Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, 1987). In a
journal article, Veal et al. (2015) stressed that transparency is a fundamental component of
democratic government and addresses citizens' rights to know about their government's
activities as it also mentioned that an excessive secrecy within the government can fuel up
abuse of power and lack of accountability. With this truth, it is no longer a shock these days,
to hear an echoing noise of varying opinions, complaints and queries from senators, lawyers,
and the public, concerning the unavailability of reports regarding the acquisition of COVID-19
vaccines as this lacking may threaten to decrease public trust to the government specially
when talking about another release of confidential funds to the preceding administrations.

These days, the issue on the missing reports of the procurement of COVID-19
vaccines, took place in the daily aired news. The unliquidated amounts used in COVID-19
vaccine purchase has been criticized by some senators and former politicians, pointing out
that the transaction is not exempted to further liquidation and audit. The former Senate
President Franklin M. Drilon and Former Senator Panfilo Lacson demanded the COA to
audit every COVID-19 vaccine supply procurement made during the past administration,
which totaled billions of pesos in cost. Their demand is justifiable since even though the
Non-Disclosure Agreement is always brought up to shut the topic, still, the definition of the
purchase of vaccines does not qualify to the definitions of confidential expenses stipulated in
the Joint Circular No. 2015-01 or the Guidelines on the Entitlement, Release, Use, Reporting
and Audit of Confidential and/or Intelligent Funds.

Looking back on the timeline of events, it was dated March 4, 2021 when thousand
doses of COVID-19 vaccines started to arrive in Philippines in response to the threatening
spike of COVID-19 cases in the country during that period (United Nations International
Children’s Emergency Fund [UNICEF] 2021). Antecedent to the arrival, United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC, 2020) released a solid global framework to guide in
achieving their aim of preventing procurement corruption and to aid advance access to safe
and effective COVID-19 vaccines by the entire population. It was mentioned in the article
that the procurement process might be linked to a great risk for corruption among all
government functions, which can amplify the damage in times of crisis. This risk is
exemplified by the urgency of needs, required flexibility and requested speed. In order to
prevent such, UNODC stated in their framework, that a transparent and accountable public
emergency procurement processes are essential during a pandemic and can be fostered
through open contracting and e-procurement. This system is expected to ward off corruption,
or at least to lessen the possible effects of the drama as it provides the public with
information about who is buying, what is bought, for whom, and what price and quantity
(UNODC, 2020). This clarifies that, before the country acquired the vaccine, guidelines from
UNODC was released which is expected to be strictly followed or imposed throughout all
nations for the prevention of the occurrence of corruption.
 However, recently, it was again aired in the news that another senator, in the person
of Chiz Escuderdo, asked about the COA’s audit of the purchase of COVID-19 vaccinations
in the late 2020 to early 2021, and still, end up without receiving any reports as per
statement of COA that they are not yet been able to do the liquidation due to the Non-
disclosure agreement between the Philippine Government and the vaccine suppliers that
was signed in the midst of the race of reservations of vaccines (Pinlac, 2022). This only
exemplified that the country failed to adhere the guidelines provided by UNODC as they
failed to provide a report for transparency. On the other end, recalling the statement of the
former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, the former president stipulated that since many
countries are scrambling to meet the scale of demand for Covid-19 vaccine supply, signing
the NDA is needed to secure a supply that would satisfy the needs of the nation (Parrocha,
2021). The restrictions and protections outlined in this legally binding Non-Disclosure
Agreements cover the confidentiality of medical trade secrets, preferential pricing for a
particular nation, the release date of the vaccine, and anyone else who is involved in
endorsing or guaranteeing the deal or any other engagements. Despite the highlighted need
on that moment to sign the agreement, this NDA, if viewed deeply, is actually a threat to
transparency as it covers the information needed in order to guarantee that the budget
allotted to this purchase is used legally. Actually, NDA has been cited frequently as a
response to the query of liquidation where in fact, the signing of NDA counters the
international standards of transparency as well as the country’s own law on transparency of
public procurements.

Internationally, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stressed out that everyone
has the right to freedom of thought and expression, which includes the freedom to hold
beliefs without interference and to look for, receive, and share information and ideas via any
means and without regard to geographical boundaries (United Nations, 1948, art. 19). This
right is being violated by the signing of NDA as it prohibits the public to view the transactions
of procurements. This action can be termed as a critical move, specially, that it is a medical-
related purchase, which sets risk both to the safety of the citizens and the safety of the
public funds. Moreover, the absence of liquidation also violated the guidelines provided by
UNODC in terms of the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

Additionally, it also violated some of the existing Philippine Law regarding the
transparency of funds. First, the absence of the financial report and its claim to NDAs breach
the Joint Circular No. 2015-01 or the Guidelines on the Entitlement, Release, Use, Reporting
and Audit of Confidential and/or Intelligence Funds. Under the General Guidelines of the
Joint Circular, it cited the qualifications of the entitlement to Confidential expenses includes
purchasing the data needed for formulation and putting into practice programs, projects, and
activities related to peace and order, as well as, national security; rental of transport vehicles
relating confidential activities; rentals and incidental expenses related to the maintenance of
safehouses; acquiring or renting supplies, tools, and equipment for operations that are
confidential; payments of rewards to informers; and to uncover or stop illegal actions that
presents danger and threat to agency personnel, staff of property. These purchases are
entitled to be provided with confidential funds and to follow the sealed envelope liquidation
system. Along in the listed qualifications, the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines does not fall
into any of those categories. Thus, it needs to adhere to the regular public audit of the
Commission on Audit. Furthermore, it was also highlighted in the Republic Act No. 11525 or
also known as the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, under section 6 that the
COVID-19 vaccine procurement should reflect transparency and accountability through
posting the following information: approved budget for the contract; name and details of the
COVID-19 vaccine or ancillary service or supplies; name of the supplier, manufacturer, or
distributor; and the amount of contract as awarded. These lists of information are advised to
be posted in the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Online Portal within thirty
days after the award execution. However, due to the existence of NDA, the transparency
was not reached which cause the formation of a common query to every concerned citizen:
are the confidential funds for the purchase of vaccines spent correctly and legally?

The question is yet to be answered as there is still no available data. It is hard to

track if who is the agency mainly responsible for this lacking. Is it the COA to be held liable
for the unavailability of liquidation for not doing its obligation to audit? Or is it the Department
of Health to be pressed for its failure to release reports? The answer is still unclear but there
are two things that are certain: there is something wrong and that this something needs
actions. The suggestion of COA to use its Supoena power would be a great avenue to
provide answer to the public query regarding the details of the transaction. In this way, the
truth behind the transaction will be uncovered, wherein innocents will have their names
cleaned, and to impose penalty on those that are corrupt. To sum up everything,
transparency is indeed an essential tool for a healthy nation. This is a call to the government
to strictly adhere to the existing laws and policies that protects the rights of the public to be
informed combat corruption and to strengthen public trust to public funds.
 References

Bordey, H. (2022, November 15). COA yet to audit billions used to buy COVID-19 vaccines
due to NDAS—Angara. GMA News Online. https://www.gmanetwork.com/

Casayuran, M. (2022, November 16). Drilon, Lacson: COA must audit all COVID-19 supply
purchases worth billions of pesos. Manila Bulletin. https://mb.com.ph

Commission on Audit. (2015).Guidelines on the Entitlement, Release, Use, Reporting and

Audit of confidential and/or Intelligent Funds. Retrieved from: https://gcg.gov.ph

COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021(O.G). s.6 (Ph.).

Department of Budget and Management. (2015). Guidelines on the Entitlement, Release,
Use Reporting and Audit of Confidential Ann/or Intelligent Funds. 2015-01.
dilg.gov.ph

Parrocha, A. (2021). Vaccine prices can’t be disclosed yet due to NDA: Duterte. Gov.ph.
pna.gov.ph/

Pinlac, B. (2022, November 15). COA “willing to use” subpoena powers to audit purchase of
COVID-19 vaccines. Inquirer.Net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net

The Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines | GOVPH. (n.d.). Official Gazette of the
Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1987-
constitution/

United Nations General Assembly. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights

United Nations International Chrildren’s Emergency Fund. (2021). Philippines Welcomes the
Arrival of COVID-19 Vaccines via COVAX Facility. https://unicef.org/

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2020). Covid-19 Vaccines and Corruption Risks:
Preventing Corruption in the Manufacture, Allocation and Distribution of Vaccines.

Veal, D. T., Sauser, W., Tamblyn, M., Sauser, L., & Sims, R. (2015). Fostering Transparency
in Local Government. Journal of Management Policy and Practice