Senate to probe P8.1-B Barangay Health Stations project on Wednesday

The Senate on Wednesday will conduct an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Department of Health’s P8.1-billion, school-based Barangay Health Stations project.

Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito, chairman of the Senate committee on health and demography, said among those who confirmed attendance were Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and his predecessors Janette Garin and Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial.

“The ‘ghost’ of the skeleton in the closet of the DOH under Secretary Garin is haunting us. In my investigation, Secretary Garin will have a lot of explaining to do regarding the alleged P8.1 billion Barangay Health Stations project,” he said in a statement.

“Nakakasama talaga ng loob dahil marami ang namamatay na lang dahil walang pampagamot, ‘tapos pinaglaruan at winaldas lang pala ang malaking pondo para sa kalusugan noong nakaraang administrasyon. Kailangang may managot dito kung mapapatunayang totoo,” he added.

Garin is facing a corruption complaint before the Ombudsman for allegedly diverting P10.6 billion to construct rural health units without prior approval from the PhilHealth Board of Directors. The funds were originally intended for the PhilHealth premiums of senior citizens for the calendar year 2015.

Garin has denied the accusation, saying that the P10.6 billion was not earmarked for senior citizens alone and was categorized as unprogrammed funds for health expenditure, which the DOH and Philhealth may access.

The Barangay Health Stations project was aimed at establishing 5,700 rural health units to ensure that barangays have access to primary health care.

J-Bros Construction, the contractor of the project, last March billed the DOH P2.9 billion for the 429 barangay health sites which it claimed had already been completed.

However, the DOH found out that only 270 barangay health stations were completed. Of these, only eight had validated complete documents. — BM, GMA News