DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III lamented that he and some of the agency’s personnel have lost sleep after being flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA).
“Since this was issued on Wednesday, I could no longer sleep well. Even my fellow DOH officials could not sleeo. Why? Because of shame, we were bloodied and bludgeoned with this issue, and if we keep on being like this, how can we progress?” Duque exclaimed.
“It really hurts us because we are the frontline agency that confronts, responds during this time,” the health chief added.
Duque also sought for mercy and dared COA to put themselves on their shoes.
“Just like what I have said, my officials get sick, they undergo isolation and quarantine, there are some of them who died, but for God’s sake, Diyos por Santo, please have pity. Why don’t you try to be here and do our work instead?” Duque said.
In a report issued on August 11, the state auditors have flagged the DOH due to its “deficiencies” in management of funds worth approximately P67.32 billion allocated for the response against COVID-19.
“Various deficiencies involving some ₱67,323,186,570.57 worth of public funds and intended for national efforts of combating the unprecedented scale of the COVID-19 crisis were noted,” the COA wrote in the report.
The DOH chief emphasized that the agency is aware of the findings and that they are committed to address the claims against them.
“Our civil servants that are doing good— we know what you’re saying, it is precisely because these findings mean because we are cognizant of the state of public health emergency that we are all in given this pandemic that has brought the whole world down to its knees,” he stated.
According to Duque, the agency’s reputation also got damaged which could have been prevented had the COA let them respond or release rejoinders to the audit report.
“You have ruined us, you have damaged the dignity of DOH. You have ruined all my fellow officials. We can no longer face the public because everybody has a lot of things to say and there are many accusations against us. I still couldn’t get a proper sleep for many nights,” Duque exclaimed.
The COA report first surfaced on their official website which eventually caused a public outcry and fueled anger against the health department.