BUDGET Sec. Amenah Pangandaman on Friday appealed to lawmakers to give the controversial Procurement Service (PS) of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) a chance following calls for its abolition, saying it was responsible for the P18 billion savings generated from 2017 to 2019.

During Friday’s briefing of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) for the proposed 2023 P5.268-trillion national budget before the House Committee on Appropriations attended by Speaker Martin G. Romualdez, Pangandaman said it was the time of then Budget Sec. Benjamin Diokno, now secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF), that seen the benefits of PS-DBM.

While it is Congress’ prerogative to abolish the PS-DBM, Pangandaman said there are programs to fix the problems.

“I will defer to the wisdom of the Congress if they really wish to abolish PS-DBM. But let me just say that during the time when I was with [then] Secretary [Benjamin] Diokno [from] 2017 to 2019, one of the benefits of the PS- DSM, is actually the savings that the government incurred during the time, which is worth P18 billion,” Pangandaman said who vouched for the integrity of PS-DBM executive director Atty. Dennis Santiago.

“So I think if we give a chance to PS-DBM and if we clean the process and the system of the procurement of PS-DBM, maybe we can go back to its old glory,” Pangandaman said after AAMBIS-OWWA Party-list Rep. Lex Anthony Colada asked her position on the proposal to abolish the PS-DBM after its involvement in the procurement of alleged outdated and overpriced laptops for public school teachers.

“So, if I may, if you will be giving us a chance to, at least, clean PS-DBM, we will be highly happy with that,” Pangandaman said.

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Ryan Ponce Pacpaco