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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 19) – The Health Department admitted it has made anomalous deals in the past, after Senator Richard Gordon threatened to block the approval of his 2021 budget if officials refuse to acknowledge corruption within the agency.
During the Senate plenary hearing, Gordon cited that in 2015 P3.5 billion of public funding was withdrawn for the Dengvaxia vaccine, then another series of money was withdrawn for the Health Facilities Improvement Program that was supposed to build systems barangay health.
Under the supervision of former Health Secretary Jeanette Garin in 2016, JBros Construction Corporation won a P3.5 billion contract to build more than 3,200 barangay health stations in two phases. The firm terminated the contract in 2018 without completing the project. That same year, Duque ordered an investigation into the alleged anomalous arrangement.
The Court of Appeals ordered the department to pay for the 270 barangay health posts that were built. Senator Pia Cayetano, a sponsor of the DOH budget, said there is an appeal pending in a local court to scrap the deal and blacklist the contractor.
“DOH terminated the contract and blacklisted the contractor, but the Manila RTC reversed that decision, so DOH and OSG (are) challenging the decision. The case is pending before the Manila RTC,” said.
Gordon asked Duque if he thinks there is corruption in the program to build thousands of rural health units. Cayetano responded that there is an ongoing investigation, but there may be anomalies.
An enraged Gordon refused to accept the answer: “Now I am tempted to stop the DOH budget if they themselves cannot admit that they have been misled, especially since the Secretary of Health has already said that it is a poorly planned exercise and that money is lost. The question is simple: Do you agree that there is corruption as a department? “
Cayetano responded quickly after conferring with Duque, who was sitting behind her, “The answer is yes. The secretary is answering behind me and said yes.”
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