Palace looking into complaints vs. Duque

“The SOP (standard operating procedure) is any complaint, as the President says, that reaches his table, will always be subject of a serious investigation by the Office of the President,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a media interview on Tuesday. (File photo: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson/Facebook)

MANILA — Malacañang is looking into graft and plunder complaints against Health Secretary Francisco Duque over a lease agreement between a company owned by his family and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

“The SOP (standard operating procedure) is any complaint, as the President says, that reaches his table, will always be subject of a serious investigation by the Office of the President,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a media interview on Tuesday.

“Any allegation against any member of the Cabinet or against any official of the government of corruption or conflict of interest or any act illegal is always a serious concern of the office of the President,” he added.

Despite these allegations, Panelo maintained that President Rodrigo Duterte still trusts Duque pending results of the OP’s investigation.

“He (Duque) has responded to the questions of the issue of propriety so if there are complaints against him, investigation will be undertaken and until such time that there is no definite finding of any act which is in violation of the law, Secretary of Health still has the trust and confidence of the President” Panelo said.

In a joint affidavit filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on Friday (June 21), complainants, who are parents of victims of the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, accused Duque of graft and plunder for entering into a contract which allowed a PhilHealth regional office to rent land belonging to his family.

Panelo defended Duque from allegations, stressing that the fact that Duque’s family owned a land where a PhilHealth provincial office is situated does not immediately prove that there is a “conflict of interest”. PhilHealth is an attached agency of the Department of Health.

“The Secretary of Health has already responded to that; as far as he is concerned, there is no conflict of interest,” said Panelo, who is also Chief Presidential Legal Counsel.

Citing Duque, Panelo emphasized that there is no conflict of interest because the contracts the PhilHealth entered into were signed prior to his being Health Secretary and others, he has divested of his interest and/or shares.

Panelo also welcomed Senator Christopher “Bong” Go’s call for an investigation into these PhilHealth transactions. Go is the new chairman of the Senate committee on health.

Meanwhile, Panelo also rejected claims that the appointment of Duque’s brother, Gonzalo, as Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) administrator was a conflict of interest.

“Why should there be a conflict of interest with regard to that? There’s none,” Panelo said.

Earlier, Panelo described Gonzalo Duque as “a man of competence and integrity” who would help “champion the cause of the Filipino coconut farmers”.