The procurement dilemma at the local level is so frustrating.  Please pay particular attention to this: how health services are being adversely affected.

Requesting for medicines in our LGU is dependent upon the report of the General Services Office (GSO), since all our medicine stocks are there and no longer placed under our accountability.

Because of patients’ complaints, I demanded a copy of the stocks which made me confused because I received a zero balance report on medicine stocks, even if I personally saw the high piles of boxes of available medicines in the stockroom.  Nevertheless, I still requested for some medicines, which, during that same week, were all made available.

I figured out that there was hanky-panky going on among our local government’s various offices.  The procurement papers were typed and priced at the mayor’s office by his secretary; the mayor then requested me to sign in front of him without a chance to read and scan the list.  So the dilemma there was, would I sign or not?  Eventually, I did, even if I knew that there was no transparency in the transaction.

I knew the risks.  If I signed the form, I probably wouldn’t sleep well because of moral questions.  If I didn’t sign, then I probably wouldn’t sleep well either, and maybe by now, I would be dead! (And I’m not kidding.)

Why did I sign the procurement form?  I thought of my kids primarily, and my longing to be with them.  That was the first time.

The second time was a challenge.  The story was the same: I had to sign a Purchase Order I didn’t have a hand in preparing.  However, I had to stand firm, using the techniques I learned from HLMP.  I went to see the mayor personally and had a dialogue with him.  We both agreed: I am not going to sign Purchase Orders and other forms (disbursements, etc.) but I will remain as end-user of the requested supplies.  And so now, my office doesn’t have a budget for medicines and supplies; the budget is placed under the Mayor’s Office.  Similarly, I don’t have possession of the stocks of the medicines; the dispensing is handled by our GSO.  I simply do the prescribing.

This is what I thought: Why will I make my job hard to do if I can establish good terms with those in power and stay alive? The key here is I didn’t have to join them; I just stepped aside so I could keep my sanity.

Discussion questions:

1. If you were the writer, how would you have handled the situation?
2. How often in your professional life do you encounter Local Chief Executives who are as brazen and irresponsible?
3. Would you have had the chutzpah to confront your mayor regarding such a system?  Why, or why not?
4. What is your reaction to the writer’s last paragraph?  What can you say about the overall tone of the writer’s essay?