Duque Ready to Face Charges After DOH Term Ends

Outgoing Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III said that he will be ready to face charges that will be brought upon him once his term as the health chief under the Duterte administration ends on June 30.

This comes as separate inquiries by both the Lower House and the Senate recommended the filing of charges against Secretary Duque, as multiple issues surrounding the COVID-19 response of the health department were seen.

Duque maintained his position that all the allegations against him are without merit as the health chief defended himself during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum Wednesday.

Earlier this week, outgoing Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon told Duque to “hire a good lawyer”.

“Secretary Duque should hire a good lawyer. Clearly under the Revised Penal Code, he is a principal by indispensable cooperation,” Drilon said in a statement.

“He is part of the conspiracy to defraud,” Drilon added.

Duque once again defended himself during a televised interview on ANC, saying that he does not regret his decision.

“No regrets. There’s no evidence of wrongdoing. We gave them all the documents, unfortunately, they did not include documents that countered their official findings,” Duque said, as he referred to Senate blue ribbon committee findings as the committee investigated corruption allegations.

Duque approved the transfer of DOH’s COVID-19 response budget amounting to P42 billion to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in 2020 which resulted in the Pharmally deal.

Pharmally, then a company that was only six-months old, and only had a PHP600,000 capital, was awarded a PHP8.6 billion supply deal in 2020.

Moreover, a former adviser to President Duterte, Chinese Michael Yang, was found to be directly linked to Pharmally. (GFB)