Senator Mar Roxas last month said the Ombudsman’s announce-ment that its fact-finding body has found evidence against 17 public works officials involved in a World Bank bidding mess is another sorry attempt to paint a picture that it is acting on widespread graft in the administration of Ms. Gloria Mapacagal-Arroyo.
“The announcement actually confirmed that the Ombudsman has filed no charges yet against those involved in the bid rigging that allegedly included First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and several politicians,” said Roxas.
As it is, the Ombudsman’s action could be aimed only at influencing votes in the House of Representatives on the impeachment complaint filed against her, Roxas said. Assistant Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni’s announcement only recommended the filing of graft charges by his boss, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, who is facing impeachment charges in Congress for failing to act on big graft cases pending in her office.
“Why only now? Why not when the issue was first raised to her years back?” Roxas asked, recalling the revelation of WB Country Director Bert Hofman that the issue of rigged biddings in the country’s road projects were first brought to the attention of Gutierrez in 2005.
“We’ve seen she can act fast. Why then did she not act on this sooner? The case has formed cobwebs in her office! She ignored it for years and then suddenly, she’s out with this recommendation. Has this anything to do with the impeachment pending at the House?” he asked.
Various non-government and people’s organizations led by former Senate President Jovito Salonga have filed an impeachment complaint against Gutierrez for alleged violation of the Constitution and breach of public trust with her deliberate inaction on controversial cases, like the WB bidding mess report, the P728 million fertilizer fund diversion scam, the NBN-ZTE bribery scam and the Euro Generals intelligence fund controversy.
Put Tamiflu In MRP List
Senator Mar Roxas also suggested this week that Tamiflu be included in the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) list submitted by the Department of Health for Ms. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s approval. Roxas said the DOH is short of committing gross negli-gence by not acting decisively to bring down the price of Tamiflu to the reach of the public.
The DOH, he said, should move more aggressively to bring down the oppressive price of Tamiflu (generic name Oseltamivir) and other drugs against A(H1N1) Influenza in the market since this is the only protection of the people if a more virulent strain rears its head in the future.
The Primary Author of the Universally Accessible, Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act also stressed that the government knows very well that Tamiflu is not patent-protected in the country, and thus, there is no legal impediment to government or local pharmaceutical companies from producing it.
Roxas noted that the price of Tamiflu has tripled since the AH1N1 virus hit its first victim in the country during the summer.
Senator Roxas recalled that local firm, United Laboratories Inc. (Unilab) is able to manufacture a generic version of Tamiflu. In 2005, Unilab was tapped by the DOH to locally manufacture Tamiflu as an integral part of the country’s bird flu preparedness program. /MP
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