Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa and two others were charged on Tuesday, Dec. 23, with graft and breach of conduct before the Office of the Ombudsman for their "conflicting roles" as officials of the Department of Health (DOH) in the P98 million radio show "PINASigla."

The radio show is aired on various outlets owned by Philippine Collective Media Corporation (PCMC).

Aside from Herbosa also charged were Officer-in-Charge Assistant Secretary Dr. Albert M. Domingo and Director of the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB) Ma. Kristina Marasigan.

Those who filed the complaints were the Concerned DOH Personnel, Alliance for Clean and Transparent Government (ACTGov), and Health Workers for Change Movement.

They asked the Ombudsman to charge Herbosa, Domingo and Marasigan for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; and Section 7(b) of RA 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees; and for Grave Misconduct and Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service.

They alleged that the three DOH officials are consciously maintaining "conflicting roles" as public officers and radio show anchors under the PCMC.

Worse, the complainants also alleged, the three officials even produced and funded the said radio program using government funds amounting to P98 million.

They told the Ombudsman: "Respondents did not merely approve a media program. They designed, funded, and personally occupied the platform created by public expenditure. In effect, they used the authority of their office to create a government-funded broadcast space and then installed themselves as its principal personalities. This is the clearest form of manifest partiality and evident bad faith."

By becoming the face and voice of the radio program, the complainants said they are demonstrating a "conscious wrongdoing" by blurring the line between public information and personal information.

They pointed out that while there is no law prohibiting health promotion, it is a different thing entirely for a public officer to use public funds to generate a platform where he himself benefits.

"Was the P98 million radio program genuinely for public health promotion, or was it a publicly financed vehicle for respondent Herbosa's own media exposure and personal branding?" they asked.

"Their deliberate use of public office to advance private interests, their conscious disregard of constitutional and statutory prohibitions on conflict of interest and divided loyalty, and their participation in a government-funded media program that personally benefited them demonstrated willful intent to violate the law, not mere error of judgment," they also said.

In a statement, Domingo said they have not yet received a copy of the complaint filed against them.

He explained: "Nevertheless, all our anchoring and hosting duties are fully compliant with government rules and regulations. There clearly is a pattern of repeated filing of complaints despite the circumstances being frivolous."