IT seems that Department of Health (DOH) regional director for Region 6, Dr. Lydia Depra Ramos, rides again. She has been trumpeting that she is “untouchable” and was reported to have brazenly purchased millions of pesos worth of sterilizing and disinfecting solutions which were described as “state-of-the-art” in an attempt to justify the overprice of about 50 percent of the actual cost.

I received pictures of the product, the “MD Sterilizing and Disinfecting Solution” manufactured by Henkel (Phils.) Inc., with address at Techno Park, Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and made for a company called Sanitation Concepts Inc., located at 44 Topaz Street, DJS, Pasig City, with BFAD Registration No. HSR 959. The pictures I received contained the Lot number, the date of manufacture: 4-26-04 or April 26, 2004, and an expiry date: 04-26-06 or April 26, 2006. It, therefore, appears that these sterilizing solutions purchased at a cost of millions of pesos by Region 6-DOH under the watch of Regional Director Depra Ramos have already expired and, therefore, are obsolete, useless.

I was informed by insiders at the DOH-R6 offices that these sterilizing solutions are due to be buried because they have expired and should be kept away from prying eyes. They will probably suffer the same fate as the medicines which are supposed to represent a 500-year supply, also purchased by R6 under Depra Ramos. Talagang very resourceful itong Boss ng DOH-Region 6. Meron kayang pumarte dito?

In one of my recent conversations over breakfast with my good friend Secretary Pinggoy Duque, a member of the Cabinet whom I greatly respect, there was a mention that Depra Ramos may finally exit from Region 6 sometime this August. We in Iloilo City and an overwhelming number of the rank- and-file of DOH-R6 may at last heave a sigh of relief. According to the good health secretary, Depra Ramos is still to finish certain projects already started which need winding up. Ano kayang mga projects ’yon? More projects to purchase more medicine or solutions? Or is it because, as I was told, she wants to celebrate her birthday in Iloilo City? I hope we get invited to the party, but one thing is sure: She can expect me to direct the National Bureau of Investigation to check on those shady purchases, where millions of the people’s money was wasted.

The President, in her State of the Nation Address (Sona), emphasized her campaign against graft and corruption. Since Depra Ramos has pending cases before the Ombudsman, as well as in the Presidential Antigraft Commission which are still unresolved, I believe it is a good time to start investigating DOH-Region 6’s purchases of overpriced medicine under Madame Depra Ramos’s watch of nine years since she assumed her fiefdom as a protégé of Typhoon Frank.

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President Arroyo’s 8th Sona will undoubtedly be criticized by her detractors. This is a given considering the crab mentality of many of those who salivate for her job and are unhappy of the bold measures she has introduced for the welfare of her country which produced positive results. Confident of her solid accomplishments, the President cited a lot of facts and figures which are on record and cannot be disputed. There is no question about the validity of her claims because the personalities involved were present to give due testimony by their presence alone, and Doubting Thomases can easily verify their truthfulness. This is one of the reasons the opposition was initially noncommittal on the high-end presentation of the President and, for a time, refrained from coming out with their own counter-Sona, a queer fact that signals a new development in the political climate of our republic.

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Good news! A 13-year-old Filipina, Catherine Loria, bagged the gold in the Junior Category of the 12th Annual World Championships Olympics of Performing Arts (WCOPA) held in Hollywood, California, just recently. Catherine is the second Filipino to win this contest in a row, as the first was Aria Clemente, while another Filipino, Jed Madela, won in 2005 in the Senior Category. What is outstanding about this feat is that contestants coming from more than 50 countries have made it their goal to beat the Filipino contestants in the WCOPA, which they view as a “World Championships for Filipino Talents.” It is a tribute more precious and significant than a gold trophy. Mabuhay!

2 Responses to “Graft in solutions”

• 1
  E.V. Choy
  August 23rd, 2008 14:31

  While browsing the internet our secretary came across this article which we find very disturbing & besmirch the reputation of our product MD Sterilizing & Disinfecting Solution (MD/SDS) and reputation of our company. For the record, we fully support our President in her campaign against graft & corruption most especially in government agencies providing basic services to our people. We also deplore corrupt government & private individuals in Region 6 who influence high ranking government officials who are unwittingly blinded by their influence in region 6 to further their resolve. Our dealings with the DOH Regional Director 6, Dr. Lydia Depra Ramos is on the highest professional level and as an accredited supplier of the DOH under SSRS NO. 2008-307. For almost 20 years we have been accredited suppliers of the DOH & The Department of Agriculture and have no derogatory record. Our customers include the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, The Lung Center of the Philippines of the DOH, The National Meat Inspection and the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture to name a few, without any record of infection or product failure in these institutions. For almost 5 years we have a uniformed pricing for our MD/SDS nationwide especially for line agencies of the government. We have just recently adjusted our prices last June 2008 because of our increased operational cost at this time. We are confident that these agencies nationwide have records to support our claim. “Wala pong partihan dito.” Our product MD/SDS is duly registered with the BFAD & has been widely tested by prominent & respected institutions here & abroad & our track record of almost 20 years is evident to our claim. MD/SDS is truly “The State of the Art” product which can protect & preserve the health & well-being of health workers without undue toxic chemical exposure outlawed by the Clean Air Act of 1999. It is environmental friendly, multipurpose & economical to use. It can save the government millions of pesos in operating cost for public health and eliminate the use of ineffective, pricey & padded prices of toxic chemicals & pesticides in our country sold by unscrupulous crooked individuals. We most welcome an investigation by the NBI but for justice & fair play we hope that the persons who supplied the pictures & false information in relation to this article be identified so that we can protect our reputation & interest in the proper legal courts and expose their nefarious intentions. This is the second time we have faced this adversity, the first coming from the unsupported and baseless audit report from the State Auditors of the DOH Region 6 wherein again they have refused to identify the persons who instigated the report. It is however clear that these blatant article & report are baseless & incorrect whose only intention is to maligned & destroy the reputation of the personalities mentioned in the article. – E.V. Choy / Sanitation Concepts, Incorporated
• 2
  E.V. Choy
  August 23rd, 2008 14:37

  we find this article very disturbing & besmirch the reputation of our product MD Sterilizing & Disinfecting Solution (MD/SDS) and reputation of our company. We fully support our President in her campaign against graft & corruption most especially in government agencies providing basic services to our people. We also deplore corrupt government & private individuals in Region 6 who influence high ranking government officials who are unwittingly blinded by their influence in region 6 to further their resolve. Our dealings with the DOH Regional Director 6, Dr. Lydia Depra Ramos is on the highest professional level and as an accredited supplier of the DOH under SSRS NO. 2008-307. For almost 20 years we have been accredited suppliers of the DOH & The Department of Agriculture and have no derogatory record. For almost 5 years we have a uniformed pricing for our MD/SDS nationwide especially for line agencies of the government. We are confident that these agencies nationwide have records to support our claim. “Wala pong partihan dito.” Our product MD/SDS is duly registered with the BFAD & has been widely tested by prominent & respected institutions here & abroad & our track record of almost 20 years is evident to our claim. MD/SDS is truly “The State of the Art” product which can protect & preserve the health & well-being of health workers without undue toxic chemical exposure outlawed by the Clean Air Act of 1999. It is environmental friendly, multipurpose & economical to use. It can save the government millions of pesos in operating cost for public health and eliminate the use of ineffective, pricey & padded prices of toxic chemicals & pesticides in our country sold by unscrupulous crooked individuals. We most welcome an investigation by the NBI but for justice & fair play we hope that the persons who supplied the pictures & false information in relation to this article be identified so that we can protect our reputation & interest in the proper legal courts and expose their nefarious intentions. This is the second time we have faced this adversity, the first coming from the unsupported and baseless audit report from the State Auditors of the DOH Region 6 wherein again they have refused to identify the persons who instigated the report. – E.V. Choy / Sanitation Concepts, Incorporated

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