DOH vows cooperation, transparency in probe

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health yesterday welcomed the investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman of Secretary Francisco Duque III and other DOH officials over alleged irregularities in the response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

In a statement, the DOH assured the ombudsman of compliance with all its directives.

“DOH officials will willingly cooperate with the authorities to ensure utmost transparency throughout the duration of the investigation and beyond,” the agency said.

But DOH maintained that the agency “has been transparent in the COVID-19 response, including procurement transactions and the provision of benefits to healthcare workers.”

It added that they already issued all checks to the heirs of 32 healthcare workers who succumbed to the virus and the 19 frontliners who acquired severe COVID-19 infections last June 9.

New claims are currently being processed.

Under the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act, the kin of fallen frontliners shall receive P1 million in compensation while those who were severely ill stand to get P100,000 each.

The DOH said it has been doing regular reporting of cases and deaths through pressers, situation reports and its tracker, publicly available in the official channels.

“As firm believers of transparency, the Department has likewise religiously informed the public of corrections and clarifications raised by all sectors as it continues to validate all submitted data,” the agency added.

Malacañang will not meddle in the move of the ombudsman to look into the liability of Duque and other health officials, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said yesterday.

“We respect the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) to probe Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III and other health officials over the alleged irregularities in the COVID-19 response,” he said.

President Duterte knows very well that the Office of the Ombudsman is independent from the executive branch.

“The ombudsman, as we all know, is an independent constitutional body; thus, we will let the process run its course as we enjoin Secretary Duque and the entire DOH bureaucracy to cooperate with the investigation and respect the orders of the ombudsman,” he said.

Meanwhile, Roque also challenged Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales to shape up or be shipped out for failing to act on alleged corruption activities within the agency.

PhilHealth is under supervision of the DOH.

Roque ranted on his Twitter account why Morales has not pursued the filing of charges against the former members of the board due to alleged fraudulent claims and overpayments estimated at P154 billion by mid-2019.

“Then he will complain about not having funds. That’s the natural (consequence) because there are still many corrupt officials there in PhilHealth,” he said.

Roque urged Morales not to turn a blind eye on the alleged corruption practices, which the Palace official suspects to have not been stopped even during the pandemic.

He lamented that the PhilHealth top official has dragged his feet on allegations of corruption in the agency.  Christina Mendez