Former Vice President and senatorial aspirant Jejomar Binay. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, and not former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Eric Domingo, should have resigned from his post.
Former Vice President and senatorial aspirant Jejomar Binay had this to say Tuesday after Domingo announced his resignation as head of the FDA.
“The wrong person resigned. It should have been the Health Secretary for his mismanagement of the medical response to the pandemic,” Binay said in a tweet.
The wrong person resigned. It should have been the Health Secretary for his mismanagement of the medical response to the pandemic.https://t.co/T4Rfblhpfp
— Jejomar C. Binay (@JojoCBinay) January 4, 2022
In a separate statement, Binay said Duque’s “failings” have “unduly compromised the safety of health workers and other frontliners, and eroded the chances of an early economic recovery.”
“If we want the economy to recover, the solution is to improve our medical response to the pandemic. That will never happen under the present DOH leadership,” Binay said.
“We need a competent person leading the department. So I will say it again. The wrong person resigned,” he added.
There have been calls in the past for Duque to resign from DOH over his “dismal” performance in responding to the pandemic.
Calls for the health secretary’s resignation were further fueled by the Commission on Audit’s (COA) report flagging deficiencies in the handling of DOH funds back in August 2021.
INQUIRER.net has reached out to Duque for a comment on this story but has yet to receive a reply as of posting time.
In announcing his resignation, Domingo said he has already done his part amid the pandemic.
“The FDA is now stronger, more efficient and systems are in place. It’s time for me to move on to other things,” Domingo said.
The DOH said that FDA Deputy Director General Dr. Oscar Gutierrez was assigned as officer in charge.
Domingo was one of the people responding to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as the FDA is responsible for the approval of the vaccines’ emergency use authorization, among other responsibilities.