Vax card fee deal ‘patently illegal’ – lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — Hundreds of millions of pesos in fees for vaccination cards might have been collected by a remittance firm with a “patently illegal” contract with the government, a senior administration lawmaker said over the weekend.

Rep. Jericho Nograles said money transfer company Pisopay should “refund all fees” it collected from fully vaccinated individuals for purposes of issuing “Quarantine Passports” and the printing of identification cards because it “lacked the requirement to enter into a contract with the government.”

The Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list congressman learned about this after Pisopay president Ariel Surca admitted before lawmakers that his firm did not have the “net financial capacity” to negotiate with the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ).

“We accept that in the financial level we’re quite negative,” Surca said during the House committee on overseas welfare hearing last Thursday in which panel chairman Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza filed House Resolution 2198, questioning the “exorbitant fees” charged for the issuance of BOQ vaccine cards.

“This could amount to hundreds of millions of fees that were collected under an illegal contract,” said Nograles.

BOQ Director Ferdinand Salcedo admitted to the panel that they committed a mistake in dealing with Pisopay, but that they already terminated the deal as a preliminary corrective measure.

Nograles exposed the alleged anomalous deal between the BOQ and Pisopay after he discovered that their contract did not undergo any competitive selection process and that the contracting firm was insolvent.

While Surca maintained that Pisopay complied with the legal and technical requirements in entering into a contract with the BOQ, Nograles and Mendoza pointed out that it is obliged to comply with all the requirements set by law.

They said that failing to comply with one aspect already means that it is “legally infirm” and should be voided.

Nograles went further, saying that since Pisopay also entered into a similar deal with the Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), these contracts should also be cancelled.

“Pisopay should be required to return all monies collected. They have failed in legal, financial and technical capacity to contract with the government. Pisopay contracts with the government, specifically LTFRB and Marina are all in danger,” said the congressman, citing the Procurement Act (Republic Act 9184).

“There is already an admission on the side of BOQ that this didn’t go through the Procurement Law. Then there is this admission on Pisopay of having no financial capacity to contract, which the BOQ set aside (in violation of RA 9184) based on a phone call,” Nograles said.

“The phone call was made to the Government Procurement Policy Board. This is a government contract, not a game show like ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ where you can just phone a friend,” he added.

Nograles also gave the National Bureau of Investigation a heads-up that Pisopay submitted proposals for an online payments solutions contract with the bureau and it should be halted.