DTI warns against fake ‘commission’ scamming gov’t suppliers

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) warned businesses about a fictitious private sector commission claiming to be involved in the procurement of supplies for the government.

Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo, who heads the department’s consumer protection group, said during her weekly program at radio station DZBB that the trade department was in no way connected to the group calling itself as the “Philippines National Project Procurement Commission (PNPPC).”

“There is no such thing. It’s a non-existent commission,” Castelo said.

The claim that former Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez was part of this commission was likewise exposed as a lie.

The fake commission claimed to have other incumbent Cabinet secretaries and government officials as members of the group, the DTI official said further.

It was also claiming to be managed by the private sector and other “unscrupulous” individuals, added Castelo.

“We have issued a lot of advisories on social media. Please share it with your friends so that more people will know about this,” she said further.

On its website, which was still online as of Saturday afternoon, the PNPPC claimed on its profile that it has partnered with the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a multibillion dollar sovereign lending program back in 2018.

Another fake claim is that the group was headed by a former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary.

The group also falsely claims to have connections with other high-ranking former government officials, including, among others, DOF officials and legislators.

Moreover, Castelo said that this fake commission was trying to mimic the functions of the embattled Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PSDBM), which is now under threat of abolition.

The PS-DBM is engaged in the procurement of common-use goods for all government agencies, including the purchase of ballpens, papers, folders, paper clips, staplers and other office supplies.

It was recently embroiled in a P2.4-billion controversy involving the purchase of outdated laptops for the Department of Education intended for the use of teachers conducting online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before that, the PS-DBM had also been scrutinized by lawmakers back in 2020 after it reportedly purchased “overpriced” pandemic response supplies amounting to P8.6 billion from Pharmally.