Premature to say COA report ‘destroyed’ DOH, House leader says

It is premature for Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to say that the Commission on Audit's report on the deficiencies of the Department of Health in utilizing COVID-19 funds had brought down the agency's image and morale, Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez said Wednesday.

During the Ugnayan sa Batasan forum, Rodriguez said there is  still no final judgement on the report about the DOH's use of its P67.3-billion COVID-19 response fund.

He pointed out that there was no statement from COA indicating that there is corruption within the DOH.

"It's premature to say that it will destroy the DOH and the employees," Rodriguez said.

"On the other hand, these are something that should seriously be considered and answered and explained because it's a big amount of P67 billion," he added.

‘Just doing their mandate’

At the Senate hearing on issues hounding the DOH on Wednesday, Senators Richard Gordon and Risa Hontiveros told Duque that the DOH was not “destroyed” by the COA with its 2020 audit report, saying the state auditors are just doing their mandate.

“Hindi dapat tayo nagwawala na winarak sila. Sorry, Secretary Duque, I do not agree with your statement na winarak kayo,” Gordon said during the Senate blue ribbon committee investigation into the “deficiencies” in the DOH’s use of COVID-19 funds.

(We should not be hysterical and claim that we are destroyed. Sorry, Secretary Duque, I do not agree with your statement that you were destroyed.)

For her part, Hontiveros criticized Duque for saying he is already sleep-deprived due to the COA findings.

“Lahat po tayo dito ay halos walang tulog, hindi po ito pa-contest kung sinong ahensya ang mas maraming ginagawa o kung sino ang pinakapagod at nakakaawa,” Hontiveros said in her opening statement.

“Kung may nawarak man ngayong panahon ng pandemya, ang nawarak ay ang kabuhayan at kinabukasan ng milyun-milyung ordinaryong mamamayan,” she added.

(All of us are sleep-deprived and this is not a contest on what agencies are doing the most and whose personnel are tired and pitiful. If there is something that has been destroyed by this pandemic, it is the livelihood and future of the millions of our countrymen.)

COA report ‘unfair’

During Tuesday's congressional inquiry, Duque said he and other DOH officials had been “sleepless” since the COA released the controversial report.

“I think COA should also consider that we are not operating under normal circumstances. We’re operating under a state of public health emergency,” Duque said.

“Winarak na ninyo kami. Winarak ninyo ang dangal ng DOH. Winarak ninyo ang lahat ng mga kasama dito,” he added.

(You destroyed us. You destroyed the honor of the DOH. You destroyed all my colleagues here.)

He branded the COA report as “unfair” and he even accused state auditors of handing down judgment without giving the DOH enough time to submit its rejoinder and act on recommendations.

But COA Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo, who was also in the House hearing,  made it clear that there are “a lot of due process” followed in making audit reports, including several meetings with the concerned agency and an exit conference.

“So it’s not correct at all to say na walang [that there is no] due process,” Aguinaldo said. “It’s not correct to say na hindi sila pinakinggan and all [that they were not heard and all].”

There had been calls for Duque to step down from his post following the release of the said audit report.

Despite allegations of corruption, President Rodrigo Duterte has backed the embattled Health secretary and said he would not accept Duque’s resignation. — RSJ, GMA News