‘Systemic corruption’ in military hospital to be fixed within a month, AFP chief says

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s military chief on Monday vowed to address the alleged “systemic corruption” at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center, also known as V. Luna Medical Center, in a span of one month.

Armed Forces chief General Carlito Galvez Jr. made the promise after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the relief of officials of the AFP-Health Service Command over supposedly anomalous transactions.

The officials who were ordered dismissed from the service, who include AFPHSC commander Brigadier General Edwin Leo Torrelavega and V. Luna Medical Center commander Colonel Antonio Punzalan, were linked to 17 questionable procurements of overpriced medicine and supplies worth at least P17 million.

The chiefs of the management and fiscal office and the logistics office of the AFPHSC will also be relieved.

READ: Duterte sacks AFP officials for alleged anomalous transactions

“The report of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is very extensive because it also points out to a system and those who were really involved. We have to correct. I’ve given a statement that the AFP will fix this in one month,” Galvez said in a press briefing.

In an earlier statement, Galvez said he would order a “major revamp” in the AFP Health Services Command.

“I will cause the installation only of officers and staff with the necessary qualifications, competencies, integrity and unquestionable reputation to run this institution which is vital to the health and well-being of our personnel and their dependents,” he said.

The AFP chief also said that court-martial proceedings would be “fast-tracked.”

Galvez, who was the commander of the AFP Western Mindanao Command during the Marawi siege, added he was hurt that the prostheses for soldiers who lost their limbs in the five-month-long urban warfare were overpriced.

“There is an allegation that prostheses from Ottobock (prosthetics company) is worth P330,000. The price of V. Luna's supplier is P1.4 million,” he said.

In a press briefing Monday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said there was “institutional corruption” in V. Luna Medical Center.

He also said that Duterte was “ballistic” and “personally aggravated” when the information on corruption was confirmed.