“Short tenure of health secretaries” to blame for the Department of Health’s (DOH) lapses during the coronavirus pandemic, says Sen. Richard Gordon.
“Kaya hindi tayo magkaroon ng consistent and continuous planning in the DOH, [kasi] palit ng palit,” he said in a statement.
[We don’t have consistent and continuous planning in the DOH because we keep on changing secretaries.]
Most Philippine health secretaries are only in office for one or two years.
“Noong araw pa marami nang sindikato… sapagkat napaka-lucrative ng perang nandiyan kaya dapat bantayan yan,” said Gordon.
[Even in the past, there are a lot of syndicates… because the funds there are so lucrative so we really have to guard it.]
Lawmakers have been calling for the resignation of Health Sec. Francisco Duque III as the COVID-19 situation in the Philippine worsens despite having the strictest and longest lockdown in the world.
Duque, the former DOH chief of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was appointed back into the agency’s top post in 2017 after the Commission on Appointments rejected Paulyn Ubial.
President Rodrigo Duterte has continued to back his health chief Duque, even as the Ombudsman launched an expanded probe into the alleged irregularities in DOH.
