President Duterte holds the fate of Dr. Francisco Duque III on whether he continues as Department of Health (DOH) Secretary or not as calls for his resignation mount.
Bases for the resignation calls are many, most of which are anchored on the purported failure of the DOH to stanch the rise of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection and his failure to check alleged corruption at the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) as its ex-officio President.
Senator Christopher Lawrence ‘’Bong’’ Go, chairman of the Senate health and demography committee, said Duque still has the President’s trust.
The Chief Executive has reiterated his support for Duque despite numerous calls by lawmakers for his quiet resignation for inefficiency and lack of leadership.
Senator Panfilo M. Lacson had stated he would call Duque to appear before a public hearing probably on Thursday by the Senate acting as the Committee of the Whole.
He said Duque would given the opportunity to rebut allegations of violating the command responsibility principle over an alleged P1 billion corruption case at PhilHealth. Certain quarters have claimed there are questionable purchases while unaccredited hospitals in Bicol and eastern Visayas were reimbursed some P400 million in one to two weeks although one of them had only one COVID-19 patient. This disparity stands out when compared to St. Luke’s Medical Center that has been asking for reimbursement of hundreds of millions of pesos spent in treating COVID-19 patients.
Go appeared to side with President Duterte on the Duque issue by reiterating his statement that it is difficult to “change horses at midstream” amid the national health emergency.
He said the President has appointed several retired military generals to key positions to be able to help Duque contain the COVID-19 crisis.
"Di po kakayanin ni Secretary Duque, kahit sinong Secretary of Health, di kakayanin ang labang mag isa at nakikita nya si Secretary Duque overloaded na at kung sya lang mag isa di kakayanin ang laban na ito kung sya lang magisa kung di natin tutulungan,’’ he said during a virtual press conference after the opening of the second regular session of the 18th Congress. (Secretary Duque would not be able to fight the health crisis alone. That is why the President appointed retired generals to help him. Duque cannot do it alone.)
"Ako personally as committee chairman ng health, di kakayanin ng DOH ang labang ito. Mahirap,’’ he explained. (As health committee chairman, I personally think Duque can do it.)
Queried on what could be done to contain the viral threat, Go said the answer would be in the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) to strengthen the fight against COVID-19 to balance both health and economy considerations.