Duterte: No reason to prosecute Duque

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte does not see any ‘good reason’ to file charges against Health Secretary Franciso Duque III over alleged corruption in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

Duterte said he has to follow the rule of law and that he could not prosecute Duque just for the sake of seeing someone prosecuted.

“I have read...and even some advised me... Duque, you sir, should be dismissed because you are not good for my administration.
 For some people, that’s possible. You go for the safe side. And there are a lot of people who do it; they want to get rid of the problem. They would just say, ‘Go ahead, dismiss him, tell it to him.’ I}m not like that,” Duterte said during a televised public address last Monday.

“I have read the findings and for the life of me, I cannot really find a good reason to prosecute an innocent man. Mine is to not really prosecute just for the sake of (seeing) somebody being prosecuted. My job is to see to it that the rule of law – the rules for or against a person – are followed,” he added.

Duterte also praised Duque during the meeting, calling him a “hard-working government worker.”

The President made the remarks hours after Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told senators that the multi-agency task force probing PhilHealth may identify more “big fish” as it continues with its investigation. Guevarra is the head of the task force, which is composed of the Civil Service Commission, Office of the Executive Secretary, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission and Palace Undersecretary Melchor Quitain.

Guevara also said President Durterte’s saying there’s no reason to indict Duque for possible links to PhilHealth anomalies may have been an “expression of trust, not of exoneration.”

“I view the President’s statement as an expression of trust, not of exoneration. If evidence should turn up against anyone, regardless of position, I believe that the President, who has prosecutorial blood running in his veins, will not impede the legal process from taking its due course,” Guevarra said.

Last Monday, the President said that he had been advised to let Duque go for being a burden to his administration. But the President, who is a lawyer, said he is aware of what should be done before a case could be filed. He said he had read the findings of the report of the DOJ-led Task Force PhilHealth and could not find enough ground to prosecute Duque, whom he called an “innocent man.”

Aside from being the health chief, Duque also chairs the PhilHealth board.

While the task force has already filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against nine former and incumbent PhilHealth officials, additional complaints are expected to be lodged against other officials as the investigation continues, the DOJ chief said.

“The DOJ will simply continue what it has been directed by the President to do; that is, to bring any and all lawbreakers at PhilHealth before the bar of justice,” Guevarra said.

Two composite teams have taken over the next stage of the investigation after the 30-day period given by the President to investigate anomalies in the state insurer ended last Sept.14. The current probe is focused on the legal and the information technology sectors.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque also said Duterte was not trying to influence the outcome of the investigation.

“The President still has full trust in Secretary Duque and he has repeatedly said that. Nevertheless, the investigation of different government agencies will continue...and the President respects the results of the investigation,” Roque said at a press briefing yesterday.

“The President is a lawyer and he has repeatedly said he does not see any evidence against Secretary Duque and that explains why he still has trust and confidence on Secretary Duque,” he added.

“Our precedence is (retired) general Morales. The President trusted Morales, he did not see evidence against him. If you are a lawyer and you don’t see the evidence, you go by your overall assessment and right now, the overall assessment of the Presidente (is) he has full trust and confidence still (on) Secretary Duque,” Roque said.

“But as a lawyer, of course he is also open-minded to the fact that he created a task force. The Senate has the power to investigate and if there is evidence, the President will look at the evidence,” he added.

Roque noted that Morales was not absolved by the multi-agency task force and Duterte did not discourage the filing of charges against the former PhilHealth chief.

“Let’s just say the President has not seen any evidence (against Duque) and we let the investigating agencies do their job,” the Palace spokesman said. “If there is evidence, he would let the process move,” he added.

Meanwhile, Duque said he is leaving it up to the lawmakers to decide if charges should be filed against him.

But Duque said in an interview with The Chiefs Tuesday night he hopes that due process would be observed should a case be pursued against him.

“Even if they decide to file a complaint against me with the ombudsman, I trust due process will be observed by the ombudsman and by everyone,” he noted.

He also said he should not be “distracted from my work, this is a very difficult job,” referring to his role in the country’s COVID-19 response.

The health chief underscored that the task force’s recommendation was “a very correct assessment and evaluation by the investigation body,” adding the allegations against him are “baseless.” – Evelyn Macairan, Sheila Crisostomo