Gordon: Duque can't skip next Senate hearings on PhilHealth

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III cannot skip succeeding Senate hearings on the issues hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) if he will not show up on the first scheduled hearing.

Senator Richard Gordon, who chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that will handle the investigation, made the remark after Duque, in a letter sent to the Senate, begged off from attending the hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Duque will supposedly be visiting dengue-infested areas on the day of the first hearing of the Blue Ribbon committee.

Gordon said Duque may skip the first hearing day to attend to dengue-related matters, considering that the country has been placed under a national alert amid sharp rise in the number of dengue cases.

"Pero sa mga susunod na panahon, palagay ko ay nautupag naman na yung dengue na yan, hindi ko na siya papayagan. I will try as much as possible na mag-concentrate doon sa structural na deperensya ng PhilHealth," Gordon said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview Sunday.

"Tsaka, ihuhuli ko siya dahil yung kanyang alegasyon ay personal e, hindi naman talaga pampubliko. Ang talagang nakakaapekto sa atin ay yung financial health ng PhilHealth dahil maraming nakaasa diyan. Dahil kung talagang mabubulilyaso yan at panay kalokohan sa PhilHealth ay mawawalan ng pag-asa ang mga taong nagkakasakit," Gordon added.

Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier accused Duque of conflict of interest, saying that PhilHealth's office in Ilocos Region is being housed in a building owned by the health secretary's family.

Duque, who serves as PhilHealth's ex-officio chairman, said there is no conflict of interest on his part as he signed the contract for the lease in 2016, when he was still a private citizen, and that resigned as president of their family corporation when he was reappointed Secretary of Health in 2018.

Lacson also alleged that the pharmaceutical company owned by Duque's family earned millions from contracts from the Department of Health, but the latter reportedly said he has divested from their family corporation as early as 2006.

Gordon believes that even as Duque skips the hearings, he cannot prevent the truth from coming out in the hearing.

"Hindi ako worried, kasi makikita naman yan by documentary evidence and testimonial evidence," he said.

Aside from Duque, also invited as resource speakers in the hearing are regional officers of PhilHealth, representatives from the Commission on Audit, and Duque's relatives themselves. —Erwin Colcol/LBG, GMA News