Drilon to Duque: Take full responsibility, find ways to solve fund disbursement woes

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (left) and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon (INQUIRER file photo)

MANILA, Philippines — Instead of “passing the buck,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should assume full responsibility for the problems arising from the supposed deficiencie in his department’s handling of pandemic funds, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Thursday.

Drilon said that Duque, as the head of the Department of Health (DOH) primarily tasked to respond to the pandemic, should just find solutions to these problems, particularly the non-payment of benefits promised to many health care workers.

“For Sec. Duque to blame the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) for the delays or the hospitals, that’s totally passing the buck…he must assume full responsibility for this,” the minority leader said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.

“I’m sorry to tell Sec. Duque na hindi dapat ganon. Do not point fingers. See what the problem is, see how it can be solved,” he added.

During Wednesday’s Senate hearing, the DOH and the DBM pointed fingers over supposed time constraints that led to the delayed disbursement of allowances to frontliners.

DOH Assistant Secretary Maylene Beltran told senators that the DBM only released the funds for the special risk allowance (SRA) of healthcare workers on June 25, giving them only a few days to disburse it since the law authorizing the release of the benefits expired on June 30.

The DBM, however, refuted this and said it took the DOH a while to sign the joint circular prescribing the amended guidelines for the continued grant of special risk allowance to health workers.

At the same hearing, Duque said private hospitals are accountable for the release of the frontliners’ benefits since they are the ones with the list of qualified recipients.

“Blaming each other and pointing fingers at each other when the COVID-19 response is your primary responsibility does not speak well of the leadership of the DOH. They should assume responsibility and do something about it,” Drilon said.

The Senate hearing was triggered by a Commission on Audit report flagging “deficiencies” on how the DOH managed pandemic funds worth over P67 billion.

The Senate is set to conduct another hearing on Aug. 25.

gsg