Former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and former Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao FILE PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines — Healthcare workers welcomed as a “big relief” the filing of graft charges against former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and former Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao over their respective roles in the anomalous medical supply contracts won by Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. during the pandemic.
The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), a longtime advocate for health workers’ rights and welfare, praised the Office of the Ombudsman for heeding its call for accountability and transparency in the use of public funds, especially during the COVID-19 health crisis.
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“The Ombudsman’s order to file graft charges against Duque and Lao is a big relief and a good development to us health workers and the patients who have been victims of the criminal neglect of the DOH (Department of Health) and the Duterte administration,” AHW national president Robert Mendoza said in a statement on Saturday.
“It sends a strong message that those in positions of power and other government authorities who abuse power will be held accountable for their wrong actions, especially when it comes to the handling of public funds,” he added.
At the peak of the pandemic, healthcare workers faced several challenges, including a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), long working hours, and inadequate compensation.
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104 front-liner deaths
Based on data from the DOH, a total of 24,234 healthcare workers contracted COVID-19, of whom 104 died while serving on the front lines, including some of the country’s best doctors and nurses.
“We are enraged, and we will never forget that during the first surge of pandemic in our country, many from our ranks had been infected with the deadly virus, and worst, died because we lacked quality PPE, [had] no medicines and medical supplies due to the negligence and incompetence of the DOH and Duterte administration,” said Cristy Donguines, a nurse and president of Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center Employees Union-AHW.
“Then we found out that there is a P41-billion anomaly in the Pharmally deal,” she said, referring to the contracts for COVID-19 test kits, face shields, PPE and other medical supplies secured by Pharmally through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), headed at the time by Lao.
Pharmally had been awarded the contracts despite having a paid-up capital of only P625,000.
AHW also called for the accountability of DOH officials responsible for the wastage of medicines and supplies stored in DOH warehouses that expired without being distributed to health facilities that needed them.
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“As the country continues to grapple with the challenges posed by extreme health, economic and political [crises], health workers are counting on the government to uphold integrity and accountability in the management of public funds,” the group said.
‘Illegal’ fund transfer
In a May 6 order, the Ombudsman endorsed criminal charges against Duque and Lao over the “illegal” transfer of P41.46 billion in public funds from the DOH to the PS-DBM in 2020, in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
It said Duque and Lao “acted with evident bad faith or gross, inexcusable negligence,” when they authorized the movement of funds from March to December 2020.
The Ombudsman also found Duque and Lao guilty of grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, for which they were meted perpetual disqualification from reemployment in government service and forfeiture of retirement benefits.
In an earlier order, Ombudsman prosecutors also named Lin Weixiong, a close associate of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic adviser Michael Yang, in the graft complaint over the questionable multi-billion contracts awarded to Pharmally.
The fund transfers were flagged by the Commission on Audit in 2020 and became the subject of an inquiry by the Senate blue ribbon committee from 2021 to 2022.
Duque said he planned to file a motion for reconsideration and submit a dossier of documents to prove that the transfer of the funds was regular and legal.
The DOH, meanwhile, said it would “act accordingly” on the Ombudsman’s recommendation, without elaborating.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa served as a special adviser to the National Task Force Against COVID-19, the implementing arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, which Duque chaired during the last administration.