President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said the country would remain under state of public health emergency until the end of the year to ensure government procurement during the pandemic will not be hampered.
Marcos said the extension of the health emergency also aims to give the government enough time to amend existing procurement laws.
“We are looking at amending the law in terms of procurement and all of that in the middle of an emergency,” Marcos said in an ambush interview.
“But that will take time. So probably, we will extend it [state of public health emergency] until the end of the year,” he added.
Former President Rodrigo R. Duterte placed the country under a state of public health emergency through Proclamation No. 922 at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The proclamation aims to “capacitate government agencies and local government units to immediately act to prevent loss of life, utilize appropriate resources to implement urgent and critical measures to contain or prevent Covid-19.”
The declaration will remain in effect until lifted by the President.
During the said emergency, the Department of Health will be allowed to use negotiated procurement to secure common-use supplies and equipment (CSE) instead of the usual public bidding, which usually takes a longer time to complete, as stipulated under Government Procurement Policy Board Resolution No. 03-2020.
Among the CSE are alcohol, sanitizers, gloves, common medicine, and testing kits.