The Department of Health (DOH) is planning to buy 758,700 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) next year at an average cost of P1,079 each, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said.

The P819 million needed for the purchase has been included in the 2022 national budget, Recto said.

Recto urged DOH to buy the PPEs and “shun the trend” of paying the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) or the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) to do the procurement.

“Kung ipa-pasa-buy mo sa dalawa, baka walang nang COVID, hindi pa nabi-bid,” he said.

“DOH na bumili. Mga doktor at nurses nila ang gagamit. Sila ang nakakaalam kung ano ang maganda. Asking PS and PITC to buy is like asking a clueless male to buy the best woman’s bra,” he said.

If DOH will do the procurement, it will save money from not having to pay a commission to PS or PITC, which could jack up costs by 5 percent, Recto said.

The DOH, Recto said, could avoid delays in procurement by doing pre-procurement groundwork ahead of the enactment of the 2022 national budget.

He said both the 2021 General Appropriations Act and the 2022 New Expenditures Program (NEP) have a section allowing early procurement activities for anticipated projects.

“Nasa Section 19 ng General Provisions ng NEP ‘yan. Ang sabi doon, agencies may undertake early procurement activities as soon as the proposed national budget is submitted to Congress. But they should hold off the notice of award of contract until they have gotten the allotments,” Recto said.

He urged the DOH to publish the specifications and volume of the PPEs to be purchased in order to draw as many interested parties as possible.

“Make public the details. As they say, sunlight is the best disinfectant,” he said.

Recto also urged government to buy from Filipino producers of world-class medical-grade coveralls, masks and other PPE.

“There is a capable and competent local PPE manufacturing sector whose products, if patronized by their own government, will save jobs and save lives,” Recto said.

Instead of some “sweatshop from abroad cornering the contract,” let Filipino companies supply it, Recto said.

“Bakit ba imbis na tangkilikin ang sariling atin, na de-kalidad naman, mas gusto pa yung mga produkto na may foreign language markings?” he said.

“Yung mga Philippine-made medical-grade masks, ini-export. What is loved by other countries should not be officially snubbed here,” Recto said.