MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte will hold back judgment for now on the alleged deficiencies of the Department of Health (DOH) in managing the P67.32-billion worth of pandemic funds until the agency submitted its response to the Commission on Audit (COA), Malacañang said Thursday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte has already instructed the DOH to answer the findings of COA that deficiencies in the utilization of funds are caused by non-compliance with pertinent laws and regulations, resulting in missed opportunities for the department primarily tasked with managing the pandemic.
“Importante na sagutin nang mabuti ang mga observation na ito at ang President naman ay withholding judgment until after makasumite ng komento ang DOH at magkaroon ng final report ang COA,” he said in a Palace briefing.
(It is important that DOH answers these observations and the President is withholding judgment until after DOH submits its comment and COA will have its final report.)
Roque said that the President, a lawyer and a former local chief executive, knows that issues could be cleared once the department submits its response. He added that the issue could likewise worsen if the final report of COA would find anomalies.
“Pero ngayon premature pa. Sasagot pa lang ang DOH, antayin natin ang sagot. The President is keen to read the answers dahil medyo mabigat ang observation sa DOH,” Roque said.
(For now it’s premature to conclude since DOH is yet to submit its answer. We should wait for the answer. The President is keen to read the answers because the observations are serious.)
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said the DOH is already preparing its response to the COA and is aiming to submit it by next week, ahead of the September 27 deadline of the COA.
While giving assurance that all transactions are documented, Duque admitted that submission of documents is sometimes late due to the skeletal force system currently imposed over the agency due to the pandemic.