Duque must explain PhilHealth building lease issue, says Gordon

HIS TURN IN HOT SEAT Health Secretary Francisco Duque III faces Tuesday’s Senate inquiry via teleconferencing. —SCREEN GRAB/SENATE PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Richard Gordon on Thursday revived the issue on the leasing of a building owned by the family of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to one of the regional offices of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), saying the latter should explain it to the Office of the Ombudsman.

“Duque’s frailty came from the fact that noong sya ay Civil Service Commission umupa ang PhilHealth sa kanyang probinsya sa bahay ng kanyang pamilya na medyo malaki ang presyo,” Gordon said on ABS-CBN News Channel.

(Duque’s frailty came from the fact that when he was at the Civil Service Commission, PhilHealth rented a family-owned building in his home province at a considerably high price.)

“Ang nakikita ko dyan, he has to explain to the Ombudsman bakit nagkaganoon,” said Gordon. “Ang importante, did he participate, did he say na may conflict of interest ako dyan. That is what he has to explain to the Ombudsman.”

(As I see it, he has to explain to the Ombudsman why it happened… It is important to know if he participated in the process of leasing, if he did say there was conflict of interest. That is what he has to explain to the Ombudsman.)

In June last year, Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed that the PhilHealth Regional Office 1 in Pangasinan is renting out a building in Dagupan City that is owned by Duque’s family.

Duque explained that in 2015, he became president and chief executive officer of his family’s Educational and Medical Development Corporation that owns the building.

He, however, pointed out that PhilHealth has been renting the space since 2012. Duque also said he had resigned from the corporation when he became health secretary in 2017.

Duque was serving as chairman of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) under the Aquino administration at the start of lease period. As CSC chairman, he was an ex-officio member of the PhilHealth board.

Also in June 2019, parents of children who died due to supposed adverse effects of the Dengvaxia vaccine filed graft and plunder complaints against Duque before the Office of the ombudsman over the alleged conflict of interest in the leasing of the building.

Gordon asked Duque to explain the issue to the Ombudsman after former PhilHealth anti-fraud officer Thorrsson Montes Keith claimed that Duque could be the “godfather” of the so-called mafia that has been defrauding the state insurer for several years.

Duque branded this allegation as “malicious and without basis.”  

Asked if he thinks there was proof in the hearing that established this allegation, Gordon said: “In my years of investigation, malalaman mo naman eh, madaling magtwist the blame. Hit the big guy and then come out with some imagined attack, madadali mo ‘yan. Public perception will kill instead of justice. I don’t believe in that.”

(In my years of investigation, I have learned that it is easy to twist the blame. Hit the big guy and then come out with some imagined attack to pin him. Public perception will kill instead of justice. I don’t believe in that.)

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