Rody won’t heed Senate over Duque’s fate
Why not read first Senate report of PhilHealth, Senate President Vicente Sotto III tells Palace
PRESIDENT Duterte and the Senate are not seeing eye-to-eye over the fate of Department of Health (DOH) secretary, Francisco Duque III, after the chamber, sitting as a ‘Committee of the Whole,’ came out with a report last September 1, 2020, asking the Chief Executive to appoint a new health secretary “who has a stronger will to fight corruption” within the DOH as well as on agencies under its jurisdiction such as the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
The 88-page, Committee Report 107, also said the Ombudsman should investigate, for administrative and criminal offenses, Duque, resigned PhilHealth president, Ricardo Morales and the following officers:
Atty. Rodolfo B. del Rosario, SVP, Legal Cluster; Jovita Aragona, SVP, Chief Information Officer, Information Management Sector; Calixto Cabuya Jr., acting senior manager, IT and Management Department; Arnel de Jesus, EVP/COO; Renato Limsiaco; SVP, Fund Management Sector; and, Israel Francis Pargas, SVP, Health Finance Policy Sector.
The Senate also recommended that similar charges should be filed against “all other PhilHealth officials and employees who connived with and participated in the consummation of the punishable/illegal acts.”
At the end of August, Morales tendered his resignation, taking a cue from Pres. Duterte’s “suggestion” that he should resign because of his poor health. Morales has contracted cancer.
He was replaced by former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director, Dante Gierran, who is not only a lawyer, but also, an accountant.
Incidentally, the NBI has also been tasked by Malacañan to probe the corruption at PhilHealth where Duque sits as its board chairman.
While not objecting to the inclusion of Duque in the Senate’s ‘charge sheet,’ the Chief Executive, for the nth time, also defended the health secretary from any wrongdoing during his regular public briefing last Monday, September 7, 2020.
The reaction immediately drew an expression of dismay from Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III and Sen. Panfilo Lacson.
Lacson, said Pres. Duterte’s expression of support to Duque essentially cleared the latter of any wrongdoing.
Sotto, for his part, suggested for the Chief Executive to first read the Senate’s report before believing any of Duque’s “excuses.”
For his part, Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary Menardo Guevarra also last week the special task force headed by his department and ordered created by the Palace to probe PhilHealth would be ready to submit its report to Pres. Duterte by September 14 this week.
