DOH Chief: No Money Went Into Corruption
“You will be assured that no money went into corruption. None was stolen. I am sure of that,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III declared.
Embattled Health Secretary Francisco Duque III
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Saturday, Aug. 14 that “no money went into corruption” as he vowed to disprove “discrepancies” flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) in the health department’s handling of some P67.32 billion in COVID-19 funds.
According to Duque, the DOH is collating the documents that will shed light on COA findings in its audit report for 2020.
“Yes of course (I am confident) and we’ll share our response to the COA findings to the public during our meeting with the President in Davao (on Monday, Aug. 16),” he told The Philippine STAR when asked for comment.
In an interview with radio station dzMM also on Saturday, Duque said nothing was stolen from the COVID-19 funds.
“You will be assured that no money went into corruption. None was stolen. I am sure of that,” he said.
Earlier, COA reported that it found deficiencies in DOH’s handling of the funds. It described the lapses as “non-compliant (with) pertinent laws, rules and regulations.”
But on Friday, Aug. 13, COA clarified in a statement that the deficiencies were results of “non-submission of documentation or supporting papers, which the DOH may still submit in compliance with the auditor’s recommendations.”
COA underscored that its report “does not mention any findings by the auditors of funds lost due to corruption” and that the amount “cannot be accounted for.”
COA stressed it is “premature at this stage to make any conclusions” on its findings in its audit report.
“Accompanying the (audit) observations and findings are the recommendations made by the auditors for the management of DOH to address the observation and findings,” COA said. “These are part of the audit process, which allows the audited agency to comply with the recommendations and rectify any deficiencies,” it added.
COA has given the DOH until Sept. 27 to submit its explanation on the audit findings. Duque, however, said his office will be ready with its response by early next week.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire asked the public to withhold any judgment until they have submitted evidence.
“We’d like to tell the public that we hope they can judge us after we have completed all our (pieces of evidence)… We are open to all types of investigation and we will not back down,” she said at a public briefing.
Vergeire added the DOH has always been “transparent” and its priority has always been to provide “utmost services to the public.”
She maintained they have “never engaged in corruption.”
She also assured the public that the P67 billion is “all well accounted for” and that the DOH was able to utilize “almost 98%” of the fund.
Funds utilized
On the issue of some P11.8 billion in “unobligated allotment,” DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said that 83% of this amount has been utilized by the agency.
“When we had this report coming from COA, we did the reconciliation of all the funds that we released, and the Special Allotment Release Order. The total exact figure is actually P10 billion,” he told “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News on Friday night, Aug. 13.
Included in the P10 billion is the P5 billion that is part of the Continuing Appropriation for 2021.
Vega said the P5 billion was utilized until July 30, primarily for COVID-19 response such as the payment of salaries for additional health workers, and “for the personal protective equipment and augmentation of MOE (maintenance and operating expenses) of different operating units.”
“The rest of the difference is from the foreign-assisted projects and we were able to utilize that after Dec. 31 because it needs some amount of procurement and bidding,” he added.
Among those procured by the DOH are 119 ventilators and 200 X-ray machines.
The unspent funds were supposed to be used to procure COVID-19 vaccines last January but the procurement did not happen.
Vega said the transaction did not materialize “because the Vaccine Cluster was not able to get the guarantee of the suppliers that they were able to deliver.”
“So this was returned back to the, it’s foreign-assistance project, to the ADB (Asian Development Bank,) or to the general fund,” he added.
On Saturday, Sen. Richard Gordon said the Senate hearing on the issue on Wednesday, Aug. 18, will focus on the DOH’s failure to release various special allowances for nurses, doctors and other medical and health workers as mandated by emergency laws on the pandemic.
Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee, said if the matter would not be immediately taken up by the Senate, the crisis could worsen as the medical and health workers are already threatening to walk out. He disclosed reports that several nurses have already resigned from various private hospitals.
“I’ve also received reports of unauthorized grant of allowances and those (health workers) who got sick of COVID have yet to receive their compensation. We cannot be deaf to their pleas,” he told radio station dwIZ.
The senator admitted he was reluctant to conduct an inquiry, especially now that the government needs to focus all its attention on stemming the surge of the Delta variant.
But he explained that he – along with Sens. Risa Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan – have held several online meetings with various nurses’ and health workers’ groups as well as private hospital owners, who all made an urgent appeal for drastic and immediate action from the DOH regarding the disbursement of pandemic funds and reimbursement from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation.
Unacceptable
Gordon said Duque told him at a meeting after the COA report came out in the news that the funds for health workers have already been downloaded to the DOH regional offices.
But the senator said this was not an acceptable explanation, as Duque must make sure that health workers actually received the money.
“He should ask ‘have they received it?’ Along the way there are many delays so he should not just rely on (the system). That’s where I’m disappointed with Secretary Duque. He’s intelli-gent but he relies too much (on his subordinates),” Gordon said.
He lamented that the Senate has clearly put in the law the provision to compensate health workers who get sick or die of COVID-19.
Gordon said the hearing on Wednesday would be brief with Duque, representatives of health and nurses’ groups as well as those from private hospitals and the COA invited as resource persons.
He said Duque, however, has indicated that he may not be able to attend due to a prior commitment to a similar inquiry in the House of Representatives.
Gordon, however, said it was still premature to call for Duque’s resignation until his side is heard, adding it would be President Duterte who may have to decide whether his much-criticized health chief gets to stay or go in light of the COA report.
“If you look at the death-to-population, it’s low. But my worry there always is we really did not do testing. The DOH, for me, is a failure in testing. That’s important. We don’t have – we’re late in vaccinations, they’ve also failed there,” Gordon said.
He said his committee would also look into the possible criminal liability of Duque.
“That’s (deficiency) like graft – there’s damage to persons. Here in the Blue Ribbon we determine if there was some mistake, that’s malfeasance; if you did not do what you’re supposed to do, that’s nonfeasance; if they intentionally did something wrong, then that’s misfeasance and they have to answer for that,” Gordon said.
He said if there are unspent funds, “you’re negligent, you’re remiss.”
No honor
Sen. Leila de Lima, for her part, said Duque’s refusal to resign and leaving his fate to President Duterte “only highlights what the real problem is and has always been: their first loyalty is to themselves and to their cabal of patrons, cronies and minion; the public interest doesn’t even come into the equation.”
“Of course, no one expects a public servant to resign just because some people call for him to do so. But the least that such public servant ought to do is hold himself accountable to the public, to the people that he serves. Duterte is not his king; it is to the Filipino people that he owes first and foremost loyalty and accountability,” De Lima said in a statement.
“The mentality that he would refuse to yield until Duterte asks him to is the mentality of patronage politics. Accomplishing goals, serving the public interest, saving and preserving peo-ple’s lives should have been his first defense, not a recourse to the blunt weapon that is Duterte’s tyranny,” she said.
She said she longs for the day when a system of honor, meritocracy and accountability in government service is again the norm as mandated and upheld in the Constitution.
The country is battling one of Asia’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks, and the spread of the virulent Delta variant is overwhelming hospitals and health care workers, some of whom have warned of mass resignations over unpaid allowances.
With more than 1.71 million infections and 29,838 deaths, the Philippines has the second highest COVID-19 cases and fatalities in Southeast Asia, next to Indonesia.
Only around 11% of the country’s 110 million people are fully immunized.
Nearly a quarter of the country’s 1,291 hospitals are at the critical risk level – with occupancy rates at or above 85%, government data showed. – With Paolo Romero, Reuters
According to Duque, the DOH is collating the documents that will shed light on COA findings in its audit report for 2020.
“Yes of course (I am confident) and we’ll share our response to the COA findings to the public during our meeting with the President in Davao (on Monday, Aug. 16),” he told The Philippine STAR when asked for comment.
In an interview with radio station dzMM also on Saturday, Duque said nothing was stolen from the COVID-19 funds.
“You will be assured that no money went into corruption. None was stolen. I am sure of that,” he said.
Earlier, COA reported that it found deficiencies in DOH’s handling of the funds. It described the lapses as “non-compliant (with) pertinent laws, rules and regulations.”
But on Friday, Aug. 13, COA clarified in a statement that the deficiencies were results of “non-submission of documentation or supporting papers, which the DOH may still submit in compliance with the auditor’s recommendations.”
COA underscored that its report “does not mention any findings by the auditors of funds lost due to corruption” and that the amount “cannot be accounted for.”
COA stressed it is “premature at this stage to make any conclusions” on its findings in its audit report.
“Accompanying the (audit) observations and findings are the recommendations made by the auditors for the management of DOH to address the observation and findings,” COA said. “These are part of the audit process, which allows the audited agency to comply with the recommendations and rectify any deficiencies,” it added.
COA has given the DOH until Sept. 27 to submit its explanation on the audit findings. Duque, however, said his office will be ready with its response by early next week.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire asked the public to withhold any judgment until they have submitted evidence.
“We’d like to tell the public that we hope they can judge us after we have completed all our (pieces of evidence)… We are open to all types of investigation and we will not back down,” she said at a public briefing.
Vergeire added the DOH has always been “transparent” and its priority has always been to provide “utmost services to the public.”
She maintained they have “never engaged in corruption.”
She also assured the public that the P67 billion is “all well accounted for” and that the DOH was able to utilize “almost 98%” of the fund.
Funds utilized
On the issue of some P11.8 billion in “unobligated allotment,” DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said that 83% of this amount has been utilized by the agency.
“When we had this report coming from COA, we did the reconciliation of all the funds that we released, and the Special Allotment Release Order. The total exact figure is actually P10 billion,” he told “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News on Friday night, Aug. 13.
Included in the P10 billion is the P5 billion that is part of the Continuing Appropriation for 2021.
Vega said the P5 billion was utilized until July 30, primarily for COVID-19 response such as the payment of salaries for additional health workers, and “for the personal protective equipment and augmentation of MOE (maintenance and operating expenses) of different operating units.”
“The rest of the difference is from the foreign-assisted projects and we were able to utilize that after Dec. 31 because it needs some amount of procurement and bidding,” he added.
Among those procured by the DOH are 119 ventilators and 200 X-ray machines.
The unspent funds were supposed to be used to procure COVID-19 vaccines last January but the procurement did not happen.
Vega said the transaction did not materialize “because the Vaccine Cluster was not able to get the guarantee of the suppliers that they were able to deliver.”
“So this was returned back to the, it’s foreign-assistance project, to the ADB (Asian Development Bank,) or to the general fund,” he added.
On Saturday, Sen. Richard Gordon said the Senate hearing on the issue on Wednesday, Aug. 18, will focus on the DOH’s failure to release various special allowances for nurses, doctors and other medical and health workers as mandated by emergency laws on the pandemic.
Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee, said if the matter would not be immediately taken up by the Senate, the crisis could worsen as the medical and health workers are already threatening to walk out. He disclosed reports that several nurses have already resigned from various private hospitals.
“I’ve also received reports of unauthorized grant of allowances and those (health workers) who got sick of COVID have yet to receive their compensation. We cannot be deaf to their pleas,” he told radio station dwIZ.
The senator admitted he was reluctant to conduct an inquiry, especially now that the government needs to focus all its attention on stemming the surge of the Delta variant.
But he explained that he – along with Sens. Risa Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan – have held several online meetings with various nurses’ and health workers’ groups as well as private hospital owners, who all made an urgent appeal for drastic and immediate action from the DOH regarding the disbursement of pandemic funds and reimbursement from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation.
Unacceptable
Gordon said Duque told him at a meeting after the COA report came out in the news that the funds for health workers have already been downloaded to the DOH regional offices.
But the senator said this was not an acceptable explanation, as Duque must make sure that health workers actually received the money.
“He should ask ‘have they received it?’ Along the way there are many delays so he should not just rely on (the system). That’s where I’m disappointed with Secretary Duque. He’s intelli-gent but he relies too much (on his subordinates),” Gordon said.
He lamented that the Senate has clearly put in the law the provision to compensate health workers who get sick or die of COVID-19.
Gordon said the hearing on Wednesday would be brief with Duque, representatives of health and nurses’ groups as well as those from private hospitals and the COA invited as resource persons.
He said Duque, however, has indicated that he may not be able to attend due to a prior commitment to a similar inquiry in the House of Representatives.
Gordon, however, said it was still premature to call for Duque’s resignation until his side is heard, adding it would be President Duterte who may have to decide whether his much-criticized health chief gets to stay or go in light of the COA report.
“If you look at the death-to-population, it’s low. But my worry there always is we really did not do testing. The DOH, for me, is a failure in testing. That’s important. We don’t have – we’re late in vaccinations, they’ve also failed there,” Gordon said.
He said his committee would also look into the possible criminal liability of Duque.
“That’s (deficiency) like graft – there’s damage to persons. Here in the Blue Ribbon we determine if there was some mistake, that’s malfeasance; if you did not do what you’re supposed to do, that’s nonfeasance; if they intentionally did something wrong, then that’s misfeasance and they have to answer for that,” Gordon said.
He said if there are unspent funds, “you’re negligent, you’re remiss.”
No honor
Sen. Leila de Lima, for her part, said Duque’s refusal to resign and leaving his fate to President Duterte “only highlights what the real problem is and has always been: their first loyalty is to themselves and to their cabal of patrons, cronies and minion; the public interest doesn’t even come into the equation.”
“Of course, no one expects a public servant to resign just because some people call for him to do so. But the least that such public servant ought to do is hold himself accountable to the public, to the people that he serves. Duterte is not his king; it is to the Filipino people that he owes first and foremost loyalty and accountability,” De Lima said in a statement.
“The mentality that he would refuse to yield until Duterte asks him to is the mentality of patronage politics. Accomplishing goals, serving the public interest, saving and preserving peo-ple’s lives should have been his first defense, not a recourse to the blunt weapon that is Duterte’s tyranny,” she said.
She said she longs for the day when a system of honor, meritocracy and accountability in government service is again the norm as mandated and upheld in the Constitution.
The country is battling one of Asia’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks, and the spread of the virulent Delta variant is overwhelming hospitals and health care workers, some of whom have warned of mass resignations over unpaid allowances.
With more than 1.71 million infections and 29,838 deaths, the Philippines has the second highest COVID-19 cases and fatalities in Southeast Asia, next to Indonesia.
Only around 11% of the country’s 110 million people are fully immunized.
Nearly a quarter of the country’s 1,291 hospitals are at the critical risk level – with occupancy rates at or above 85%, government data showed. – With Paolo Romero, Reuters
