Ombudsman urged to probe SALNs of Duque brothers

MANILA, Philippines — The parents of 10 deceased children suspected to be victims of the Dengvaxia vaccine yesterday filed a motion before the Office of the Ombudsman urging the anti-graft body to subpoena the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and his brother, Social Security System (SSS) commissioner Gonzalo Duque.

The motion was filed in connection with a plunder complaint that the parents’ group earlier filed against the Duque brothers for allegedly holding unlawful interest in a family-owned firm doing business with the government.

The complainants specifically asked the ombudsman to issue a subpoena to the Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and the Social Security System (SSS) for the production of the Duque brothers’ SALNs from 2001 to 2018 as well as their respective personal data sheets (PDS) for those years.

The complainants said this is “to determine whether they declared in their SALNs the foregoing business interests that they have with Educational and Medical Development Corporation (EMDC); and if their appointment as chairman and member of the Board of Directors of PhilHealth are indicated in their respective PDS.”

The complainants also asked the ombudsman to subpoena the contracts of lease that the EMDC entered with PhilHealth in a span of 20 years.

The complainants earlier pointed out that Gonzalo, in a radio interview, admitted that the lease contract was entered into more than 20 years ago, a time when his brother Francisco was serving as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of PhilHealth during his incumbency as secretary of health under former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The contract was in connection with PhilHealth’s lease of EMDC’s 2,051.40-square meter building which served as its regional office for Region 1.

The complainants said that based on the contract, renewed in 2018, PhilHealth shall lease the EMDC building for P529,261.20 per month. The complainants said PhilHealth even made an advance security deposit of P1.105 million to EMDC.

The group, in their original complaint filed on June 21, charged Duque with violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, as well as plunder, as defined and penalized under RA 7080 or the Plunder Law.

The group said Duque still continues to hold substantial shares of stocks in EMDC even after he was reappointed as health secretary by President Duterte in November 2017.

The complainants said that based on the corporation’s 2018 general information sheet with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Duque owns 13,268 shares of stocks of EMDC amounting to P13.268 million, representing one-fifth of the P61.535-million total paid-up capital of the firm.

In their supplemental complaint filed on July 1, the group said Gonzalo must be implicated in the plunder charge as he also owns substantial shares of EMDC and for allegedly allowing his brother to accumulate illegal wealth.

The group said that with Gonzalo’s admission that the lease deal has been in effect for 20 years, the alleged money that his brother must have received from PhilHealth would have already exceeded P50 million, the threshold amount of ill-gotten wealth for a crime to be considered as plunder.