Department of Health (DOH) Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Maria Rosario Vergeire said that she has not received an offer from the Marcos administration to be the country’s health chief.
“No, honestly, it was not offered. I was asked to be an OIC,” said Vergeire during an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Thursday, Oct. 27.
Vergeire, meanwhile, said that she also has reservations if such an offer will be made.
“And I was able to explain to them also my reservations, and he just said that just continue to do the work and we will discuss further,” she added when asked if President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. already offered her the position of health secretary.
“I think most of us career officials would be thinking like this because we have spent our career—I have been here for almost three decades already, and I am a career official. So kapag may term po kasi tayo, kapag ganyan (if it is a term like that ), it is just only six years. And by the time I finish the six years, I still have years left to serve. And I want to still serve, of course, until I retire. Isa po iyan sa (That is one of the) reservations,” she explained.
Despite having reservations, Vergeire is not closing her door on such a possible scenario.
“As I always say, if I am here for service, itong mga ganitong rason syempre (these kinds of reasons), we set it aside and we really want to serve,” she said.
“So, we will see in the coming months or days kung ano po ang magiging desisyon ng ating Presidente. Basta tayo, tuloy-tuloy lang po tayong magtatrabaho (what will be the decision of our President. We will just continue doing our work),” she added.
Last July, Marcos designated Vergeire as OIC of the state health agency.
Cascolan role in DOH
In a related development, Vergeire said that she already met former Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Camilo Cascolan and are now in the process of discussing his role as DOH undersecretary.
“We already talked about when he will be taking his oath. He already submitted all of his credentials to the Department and we are now discussing kung saan po yung assignment ni Usec. Cascolan and we will be informing the public in the coming days,” said Vergeire.
“Looking at his credentials, he has done a lot of operations during his time as part of the PNP at tinitingnan po natin ngayon itong mga areas natin (and we are looking at areas) for operations or admin and finance where his credentials can be of use to the Department,” she added.
Last Oct. 23, the DOH confirmed the appointment of Cascolan as health undersecretary. The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) denounced his appointment, saying that it is “a huge insult to our health experts who are most qualified to administer and run the affairs of the DOH.”