Secretary Francisco Duque III is still not "off the hook" from the reported audit deficiencies of the Department of Health (DOH), even as the state auditors said that they have yet to find that COVID-19 funds were lost to corruption, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said on Monday, August 16.
Drilon maintained that Duque must explain on the recent report of the Commission on Audit (COA) about the DOH's "various deficiencies" in spending over P67 billion of coronavirus response funds.
"Yes, the COA has said that the audit findings are not conclusive of corruption but that does not take Sec Duque off the hook," Drilon said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
"Because while the COA said the findings are not conclusive of corruption, the COA findings clearly show the dismal inefficiencies and lack of sense of urgency in DOH, demonstrating poor management and leadership," he added.
The COA explicitly called on DOH to “act with urgency and efficiency in the utilization of COVID-19 fund", Drilon pointed out.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will launch on Wednesday, August 18, on the COA's 2020 audit report on the DOH. But Senator Richard Gordon, its chairman, said he will prioritize the delay in the benefits of health workers.
Drilon was convinced that the DOH "clearly" mismanaged the country's COVID-19 response, citing the P42.2 billion is transferred to the Department of Budget and Management's (DBM) procurement service, and unobligated allocations amounting to P24.6 billion.
"Isn’t this criminal? You have so much funds which are unobligated? You have funds that are placed in a procurement service agency of the DBM and, yet, you have lack of ventilators and our health personnel are complaining they have not been paid their allowances," the Senate's chief fiscalizer said.
"This goes into the management ability of the DOH insofar as the management of pandemic is concerned. With the very dangerous situation we are in, our health system is already on the verge of collapsing. I hope it does not collapse but the signs are there. Yet, the DOH is not helping," he added.
Duque had earlier denied that the funds flagged by the COA did not go to corruption and that their disbursements were all accounted for.
He committed to attend the upcoming Senate inquiry to explain all issues.