Health Secretary Francisco Duque III turned emotional Tuesday as he accused the Commission on Audit (COA) of ruining the honor of the Department of Health (DOH).
Duque made the remark during the briefing of the House committee on public accounts on the COA report which found deficiencies in the management of the P67 billion funds of the DOH.
The health secretary said it was “unfair and unjust” that a certain judgment was handed down to them without the DOH being given time to act on the recommendations of the COA.
“Mula no’ng Wednesday na lumabas po ito, hindi na po ako nakakatulog, ang mga kasama kong mga opisyal sa DOH, hindi na rin halos nakakatulog,” Duque said.
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“Bakit ‘ka ninyo? Sa kahihiyan, we were bloodied and bludgeoned with this issue, and kung ganito nang ganito tayo, papaano tayo uunlad?” he added.
Prior to releasing the report, Duque said that COA should have considered that DOH is “operating under normal circumstances, we’re operating under a state of public health emergency.”
“Winarak na ninyo kami eh, winarak na ninyo ang dangal ng DOH. Winarak ninyo ang lahat ng mga kasama ko dito, hindi kami makaharap sa mga tao dahil lahat ang dami-daming sinasabi, ang dami-daming paratang. Wala pa rin akong tulog, ilang gabi na po ito,” Duque said.
“This is really unfair, unjust that this judgment has been handed down clearly without giving the DOH the full 60 days within which we should have given our rejoinder and reported on the actions on the recommendations,” he added.
In the end, Duque dared COA to take their place.
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“So masakit po talaga sa amin ito dahil kami ho ang pangunahing ahensya na humaharap, tumutugon sa panahon na ito,” Duque said.
“Sabi ko nga sa inyo, nagkasakit na ang mga tao ko, nag-isolate, nagquarantine, may namatay na, pero Diyos por Santo, maawa naman kayo, kayo nga ang pumunta dito at kayo ang gumawa?” he added.
COA has earlier clarified that its report on DOH is not conclusive of corruption, but was rather only pointing out deficiencies that the health department can still rectify. (NM)
