Be transparent on COVID expenses, DOH urged
A party-list solon has called on the Department of Health (DoH) and other agencies directly involved in official COVID response to fully disclose all appropriations, disbursements and fund utilization.
Anakalusugan Representative Ray Flores made the call after the World Health Organization (WHO) ended the public health emergency of COVID 19.
Reyes said the DoH should fully disclose all appropriations, disbursements and fund utilization from March 2020 up to the present, including all expenditures in accordance with Bayanihan Acts 1 and 2.
“There is a need to disclose how much was spent and how it was allocated. Let us be transparent and use this momentum to analyze best practices,” he said.
“In doing so, the government can be accountable and ensure that the people’s money was spent wisely and appropriately from start to finish.
We must hold ourselves to the mark,” the neophyte solon added.
As of May 4, 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee discussed the pandemic during its 15th meeting on Covid-19, and concluded that the public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, declaration should end.
A PHEIC creates an agreement between countries to abide by the WHO’s recommendations for managing the emergency.
Each country, in turn, declares its own public health emergency – declarations that carry legal weight so that they can use it to marshal resources and waive rules in order to ease a crisis.
Now that the transition to the new normal is in full swing, it is high time that we make ourselves accountable and transparent.
