MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros has urged the Office of the Ombudsman to indict former president Rodrigo Duterte for graft over the irregular transfer of the P47.6-billion budget for the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
Hontiveros was reacting to former health secretary Francisco Duque III’s admission during a House of Representatives hearing last Monday that Duterte authorized the controversial transfer of funds to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) that was flagged by the Commission on Audit.
“I am not surprised by former secretary Duque’s revelation. Since Duque made this statement under oath, former president Duterte should be included in the investigation,” Hontiveros said.
“As the ombudsman continues its Pharmally probe, I trust that it will take this revelation into account,” she added.
The senator pointed out that Duterte should be charged with graft because it was through him and his former economic adviser Michael Yang that the overpriced pandemic supply contract with pharmaceutical firm Pharmally pushed through.
“It can be proven that he was introduced to Pharmally officials by Michael Yang, his special adviser, in 2017,” Hontiveros said of Duterte’s role in the graft-tainted contract.
“Duterte should, at the very least, explain the policy considerations that resulted in his directive to secretary Duque,” she added.
Duque namedropped Duterte following his graft indictment and dismissal from service for the anomalous P41.46-billion fund transfer from the Department of Health (DOH) to PS-DBM, then headed by former budget undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, without a valid memorandum of agreement in 2020.
Lao also faces a separate graft case for favoring Pharmally with a P11.5-billion pandemic supply contract despite its not being qualified and having little capital.
Hontiveros took part in the Senate Blue Ribbon committee investigations on the Pharmally mess led by then senator Richard Gordon.
In an interview with ANC yesterday, Gordon said the Blue Ribbon report on Pharmally, which he prepared but did not get enough signatures from his colleagues, implicated Duterte as “starting the wheels of corruption by making sure that he transferred the money (to PS-DBM).”
Gordon said Duque could have chosen to resign or expose the alleged irregularities instead of following Duterte’s orders.
“If you follow an illegal order, you will be charged. So Duque now can become a state witness, depending on the ombudsman – he can be a major state witness against Duterte to hold him accountable,” Gordon said.
The former senator also pointed out that Duque’s actions were unusual, given that the DOH is primarily responsible for managing public health programs and should not have transferred funds to another agency.
Gordon said Duterte’s involvement in the transfer of funds was key to the corruption scandal.
Meanwhile, Duque “was a prisoner of the president as a Cabinet member, who eventually collapsed and allowed himself to pass on the money to PS-DBM, which is unusual,” Gordon said.
“The DOH is a government agency primarily charged with the health of the nation. Why should they give it to the PS-DBM that is not used to those things? To make the long story short, it could not have happened without Duterte,” he added.
Duque said the DOH’s procurement of supplies for use during the COVID-19 pandemic was legal.
“The procurement by the DOH of the common-use supplies and equipment or CSEs and personal protective equipment through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) was in accordance with law,” he said in a statement.
The former health secretary stressed that these CSEs were procured sometime in April 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.
“This (was the time) when the only way we knew to protect ourselves, most especially our health workers, from the COVID-19 virus was through face masks, face shields and personal protective equipment. Their procurement was not only necessary, but was of extreme urgency,” he said.
Moreover, the said procurement through the PS-DBM was mandatory under the law and not discretionary upon the DOH, according to Duque.
“It was accordingly on the basis of the foregoing premises that president Duterte gave his approval to course the procurement of the said items through the PS-DBM when the DOH sought his position thereon prior to implementation,” he said.
Thus, the decision of the DOH to transfer funds in the amount of P46.7 million to the PS-DBM or the procurement of CSEs was upon Duterte’s directive and was consistent with and pursuant to the national policy embodied in the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act 1 and 2, according to the former DOH chief.
“In carrying out the same, the DOH and the various departments, agencies and offices of the Philippine government acted within the parameters laid down under various laws, rules and regulations,” Duque said.
The Office of the Ombudsman recently ordered the filing of graft charges against Duque and Lao over the alleged irregular transfer of over P41 billion for the procurement of supplies for COVID-19.
In response, Duque said he would file a motion for reconsideration on the ombudsman’s order. — Rhodina Villanueva, Mark Ernest Villeza