By Robert b. Roque, Jr.
After all the drama, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III is giving the Commission on Audit (COA) the proper response – that is, to submit all the documents and reports necessary as a rejoinder to the “deficiencies” in the management of DOH funds flagged by state auditors.
For those who missed his FAMAS Awards-level performance last week, Duque almost sobbed his way to denying any whiff of corruption over the whole affair. Coming short of papers to back up his denials, his narrative quickly shifted to the sacrifices he and his staff in the DOH had to endure this pandemic.
Emotionally-driven, to say the least, his monologue would have flooded the Davao marshlands with crocodile tears. But for lack of providing answers to the issues of allegedly underspending 31 percent of COVID-19 response funds or even obligating nearly P12 billion intended for hazard and special risk allowances (SRA) of health care workers, how can any of us not see through the acting?
Heck, Mr. Secretary, even if you had shared the stage with Al Pacino and Merryl Streep, no amount of drama could cover up P67 billion in various deficiencies uncovered by COA. So, finally, you came to your senses last Tuesday and promised that all DOH offices and operating units would comply with the recommendation of COA and submit those reports within 60 days.
But we’re not giving Duque an Olympic medal if he delivers on his promise. In the first place, those reports DOH owes COA in its 2020 Annual Audit Report are already almost eight months late. The only thing we wish now is that those reports are not – how do you say – doctored?
For once, Malacanang has recognized the tireless efforts of medical frontliners and, for their sake, vowed to settle their unpaid SRAs and hazard pay. Beg, borrow or steal, Duterte told Duque, just to get those benefits released within 10 days.
That move by the President deserves applause, of course. But then, what happens if Duque fails to deliver? Isn’t this just a vicious circle of incompetence rewarded by impunity? What’s there to be made right when all the President has shown since this “whiff of corruption” came out is pure disdain for COA making its initial findings public and, at the same time, ironclad defense for his favorite of all favorite secretaries?
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