I don’t remember.
Thus, said former president Rodrigo Duterte does not remember authorizing the transfer of P47.6 billion to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) for the purchase of COVID-19 protective equipment, as claimed by former health secretary Francisco Duque III.
However, Duterte conceded: “Maybe what I said is, ‘go ahead.’ ”
“I could not recall, for the life of me. Maybe what you are saying is true,” Duterte said during an interview with social media personalities in Davao City Tuesday night.
The former president said “Considering the huge amount of (fund) transfer, I would have insisted as a lawyer to put it in a memo or something.”
On Monday, former Health secretary told the House committee on appropriations that Duterte authorized the transfer because of the public health emergency.
While Duterte insists that he “cannot recall accurately” what he said, he conceded that he might have given the transfer a go-signal.
Duterte explained that since it was a pandemic, the government was hard-pressed to find a solution on how to protect the health workers.
“I ordered everybody to do everything they can do,” he said.
Salvador Panelo, who served as Duterte’s chief presidential legal counsel, said that Duterte’s directive was “regular” and was meant to protect the public from COVID-19.
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