{"id":147502,"date":"2018-01-19T02:09:02","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T07:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=147502"},"modified":"2025-01-13T21:30:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T02:30:36","slug":"doh-officials-deny-allegations-of-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/01\/19\/doh-officials-deny-allegations-of-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"DOH officials deny allegations of corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Seal of Department of Health (DOH) (Photo by Department of Health – Official Site of the DOH, Public Domain)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u2014<\/strong>\u00a0A total of 13 officials of the Department of Health (DOH) issued a statement late Wednesday, denying allegations of corruption over the procurement of the controversial dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia.<\/p>\n

The officials, led by Undersecretary Mario Villaverde, said they \u201ccategorically deny\u201d the accusations hurled against them by former DOH consultant, Dr. Francisco Cruz, over their alleged \u201cconnivance\u201d in the procurement of Dengvaxia and their \u201cparticipation in (the) supposed Mafia group in the DOH\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe allegation on the conversion modus operandi is a big lie. The balance of PHP556,155,900 remains intact and part of the open obligation in favor of (the) Philippine Children\u2019s Medical Center,\u201d read their statement.<\/p>\n

Other signatories to the statement were undersecretaries Lilibeth David, Gerardo Bayugo, and Ma. Carolina Tai\u00f1o; assistant secretaries Lyndon Lee Suy, and Nestor Santiago Jr.; directors Maria Joyce Ducusin, Laureano Cruz, Mar Wynn Bello, Leonita Gorgolon, Ariel Valencia, and Rio Magpantay; and Dr. Julius Lecciones.<\/p>\n

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III recently urged those supposedly involved in the \u201cmafia\u201d in the department to speak up and prove their innocence.<\/p>\n

“I encourage those who are painting the Department of Health in (a) bad light to present evidence to substantiate their claims. I cannot allow accusers to tarnish the good reputation of the Department of Health, which (was) gloriously built over the years, by spewing unsubstantiated allegations,\u201d Duque said in an interview with the media.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

He also warned that he \u201cwill not allow corruption under my watch\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they have evidence to support the allegations, I encourage them to go forward and file the necessary cases,” he said, adding that he wanted the truth to come out.<\/p>\n

In a news conference last Jan. 13, Cruz, a consultant during the term of former health secretary Paulyn Ubial, identified 18 incumbent and former DOH officials whom he said had benefited from the PHP3.<\/p>\n

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5-billion Dengvaxia deal and in the procurement of other medicines.<\/p>\n

According to reports, Cruz accused the officials of being involved in a conversion scheme, wherein 90 percent of the project\u2019s budget goes back to the department, and the remaining 10 percent to the financiers or suppliers.<\/p>\n

Villaverde, a presidential appointee, in an interview Wednesday called the allegations baseless, saying he was not connected with the DOH when the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Dengvaxia for the department\u2019s dengue immunization program.<\/p>\n

He said he began as a rural physician after graduation and rose from the ranks in the DOH to become undersecretary until he retired in 2011. He only rejoined the department in January 2017 when President Rodrigo Duterte appointed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cNasa<\/em>\u00a0academe\u00a0ako. Anim na taon ako nawala dito sa<\/em>\u00a0department\u00a0na ito<\/em>\u00a0(I was in the academe. I was out of this department for six years),\u201d he said, noting that he was with Ateneo de Manila University at that time.<\/p>\n

He also denied any affiliation with Sanofi Pasteur, manufacturer of Dengvaxia.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in a separate interview, Director Mar Wynn Bello, officer-in-charge of the DOH\u2019s Health Promotion and Communication Service, also strongly denied the allegation.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

“Walang kinurakot na pondo. Ang<\/em>\u00a0550\u00a0milyong natira sa pagbili ng bakuna ay buong-buo at ito ay nasa<\/em>\u00a0book of accounts\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0DOH\u00a0noong<\/em>\u00a02016\u00a0na walang nakitang anomalya ang<\/em>COA\u00a0tungkol dito<\/em>\u00a0(No fund was embezzled. The PHP550 million left after the procurement of the vaccine is there in its entirety. It is in the book of accounts of the DOH in 2016 and the Commission on Audit did not find any anomaly),” Bello said.<\/p>\n

He maintained that the dengue vaccination program was implemented with the best of intentions.<\/p>\n

Bello also challenged Cruz to file a formal case \u201cso we can defend ourselves\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u2014\u00a0A total of 13 officials of the Department of Health (DOH) issued a statement late Wednesday, denying allegations of corruption …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":111980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[18676,43984],"class_list":["post-147502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-department-of-health-doh","tag-doh-officials-deny-allegations-of-corruption","mauthors-leilani-junio","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283885,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147502\/revisions\/283885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}