ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Charges filed vs DOH Sec Herbosa, 10 other officials for non-distribution, wastage of P1.3-B worth of medicines

Charges filed vs DOH Sec Herbosa, 10 other officials for non-distribution, wastage of P1.3-B worth of medicines

Published Mar 31, 2026 06:18 pm
The Office of the Ombudsman has been asked to investigate and file criminal and administrative cases against Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa and 10 other health officials for their alleged failure to deliver P1.3 billion worth of medicines as well as for the expiration of P68 million worth of vaccines.
In a complaint filed last Monday, March 30, the Ombudsman was told: “This case charges respondents on a systemic and coordinated corruption within the DOH involving the expiration of essential drugs and life-saving medical commodities – valued in millions to billions of pesos – to the prejudice and damage of the government and the Filipino people.”
The complaint was filed by “Concerned Department of Health Personnel” who sought anonymity “for fear of reprisal from Herbosa and his co-respondents.”
Aside from Herbosa, also named respondents were Health Undersecretaries Randy B. Escolago and Gloria J. Balboa; High Burden Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control Division (HBIDPCD) Officer-In-Charge Director David Masiado; Directors Anna Marie Celina Garfin, Adriano Suba-an, and Cherylle Gavino; Children's Health and Development Division (CHDD) Chief Maria Joyce Ducusin; Family Planning Program Manager Hardy Dumawing; HIV/AIDS Program Manager Jan Derek Junio; and National Immunization Program (NIP) Manager Carmina Paz Vera.
None of those named as respondents could be contacted for comment as of posting time.
The complainants asked the Ombudsman to investigate and file criminal and administrative charges against Herbosa and the other respondents for alleged violations of Section 3(e) of Republic Act (RA) 3019 and other appropriate penal laws.
They also sought the filing of administrative charges against the respondents for grave dishonesty, grave misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of public service.
At the same time, they asked the Ombudsman to preventively suspend the respondents to “prevent them from further abusing their positions to intimidate, harass, and exert undue influence on witnesses; destroy, tamper with, and suppress evidence; and safeguard and preserve the integrity of the investigation and prevent them from obstructing evidence.”
They alleged that under Herbosa’s leadership, “the DOH entered into several high-value contracts for commodities, including GOP-C-2023191 for Family Planning and GOP-C-2023-165 for the Mental Health Program.”
“Large volumes of these commodities were delivered to the National Warehouse but remained stagnant, failing to reach the intended regional health units,” they also alleged.
They said the DOJ has incurred an actual, irreparable loss of P68,000,000 “due to commodities expiring while stagnant in the National Warehouse.”
“Moreover, the National Immunization Program reports an undelivered balance of P1,319,099,880, representing a staggering failure to utilize said life-saving vaccines,” they also alleged.
The complainant told the Ombudsman: “Not only did such material injury result from Respondents’ gross inexcusable negligence, but Respondents’ attempted to cover up this massive wastage of State resources also shows their concomitant evident bad faith in conducting and managing the State’s health resources.”

Related Tags

DOH Sec Herbosa Ombudsman
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.