Reyes to hospital operators: Identify officials in extort

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) asked hospital operators to identify its officials allegedly involved in extortion so administrative and criminal charges can be filed against them.

Environment and Natural Secretary Angelo Reyes said the erring officials must be identified to spare "the majority of the DENR’s hardworking and honest personnel from being stigmatized by sweeping generalizations."

"There may be a few bad eggs in the DENR that I fully intend to weed out from the service. But mostly, DENR workers are professionals who do not deserve to be at the receiving end of wholesale condemnation," he said in a statement.

Reyes reacted to allegations by the Philippine Hospital Association (PHA) that some DENR officials in the provinces were allegedly extorting money from hospitals.

"We will attend to that. If you have specific information, give it to us. Specify the DENR officials who are doing this and we will take action," he said.

"It takes two to tango. Let me warn those alleged extortionists as well as those who bribe them in order to get away with violations of environmental waste management regulations to be ready to face the dire consequences of (their) actions," he added.

Reyes said he would not hesitate to crack the whip on hospital operators violating environmental laws, including the proper disposal of highly infectious hospital wastes like used medical materials and toxic fluids.

"I ask all operators of hospitals and clinics nationwide to please ensure the proper disposal of (their) pathological wastes so as not to endanger public health, and so as not to give unscrupulous people reasons to extort from (them)," he said.

In a report, the Asian Development Bank said 27 tons of healthcare wastes are generated daily in Metro Manila alone.

Reyes encouraged hospitals to put up their own waste treatment plants on properties which the government may provide.

"Maybe the hospitals can group together to put up a special treatment plant so (they) can throw (their) garbage there," he said.

In a forum, PHA president Tiburcio Macias said DENR officials extort P50,000 from each hospital they alleged to be violating regulations on waste management.

However, he said some of the complaints were only relayed to him through text messages from hospitals in South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.

Hospitals in Tarlac and Isabela have aired similar complaints, he said.

Macias said the extortion racket started when the DENR and the Department of Health issued a joint administrative order requiring hospitals to register with the DENR before they are issued licenses by the DOH.