‘If the time comes when I need to resign, I will,’ Duque tells senators
MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told senators he would resign when the “time comes that he needs” to do so, explaining that he needs to resolve issues regarding the “deficiencies” flagged by state auditors on his agency’s use of pandemic funds.
“I have been attending all these hearings both in the House and the Senate with one goal in mind: That is for me and for the DOH to clear all of these COA (Commission on Audit) observations and findings and deficiencies,” Duque said in a Senate blue ribbon committee.
“We want to clear everything. So if the time comes when I will need to resign, I will. It’s no problem with me. What is important is we clear all of these findings of purported deficiencies and we will address them squarely,” he added.
Duque made the statement after Senator Bong Go advised him to “make the supreme sacrifice.”
“Make no mistake, sabi nga ni Pangulong Duterte, may tiwala siya sa ‘yo until the end, you’ve done so much already for Filipinos, we don’t want that because of issues about you, your output will be compromised, especially now that we both know lives are at stake,” Go said.
“My word of advice is to make the supreme sacrifice when the right time comes. For now…clear yourself and the DOH and address COA’s findings,” he added.
The Senate blue ribbon committee is looking into the “deficiencies” flagged by COA in the DOH’s handling of pandemic funds worth over P67 billion.
“We’ve worked so hard to lead the fight against this pandemic for 18 months and we have been relentless. Many of our workers have even died, some got sick, some had to be isolated and so we are confronted with a very unique situation,” Duque went on.
“This is a state of public health emergency. We cannot assume that we are operating under normal circumstances…Each one of us in the DOH has been so dedicated and committed if not passionate about really leading the way,” he added.
Duque also said criticisms against him and the DOH on how they are handling the pandemic will not deter their service.
“Our doctors, our scientists, all, everyone has a major contribution in our fight against this pandemic and if it’s not enough, people will be the one to judge me, the people will judge everyone from the DOH and we are undeterred in service, we want to work, we want to get the vaccinations ramped up as much as we can and I owe it to the DOH. All my people in the DOH have supported me in this fight against the pandemic,” he said.
“If I will need to leave, there’s no problem with that. I just want to be cleared of all this COA findings at saka sana…maabot po natin ang herd immunity [and I want to see us reach herd immunity],” the health secretary added.
Calls for Duque’s resignation have mounted during the course of the pandemic, with several groups and lawmakers questioning how he is leading the DOH in its pandemic response.
Recently, President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been consistent in defending his appointed health chief, said he would accept it if Duque would offer to “voluntarily” quit.
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