BY GENALYN D. KABILING
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III still enjoys the trust and confidence of President Duterte and must be given due process like everyone else, Malacañang said Wednesday after he was implicated as the alleged godfather of a mafia in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
According Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, Duque would not have been staying in the Cabinet if the President has lost trust in him.
“For as long as Secretary Duque remains, then he enjoys test and confidence of the President,” he said over CNN Philippines Wednesday.
“If he has ceased to have trust and confidence, then Secretary Duque would no longer be in office because all Cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the President,” he added.
Nonetheless, Roque said the President has ordered the creation of a task force to probe the alleged corruption in PhilHealth. He assured that due process will be followed in the corruption probe the Department of Justice-led panel.
“He’s awaiting for the report of the task force. He gave them only a period of one month to render their findings and exercise powers that even the Senate could not including the power to impose preventive suspension, to conduct lifestyle checks in addition to filling cases in court,” he said.
Asked about the impact of the President’s previous pronouncement he won’t tolerate a whiff of corruption on the situation of Duque, Roque said: “Well I think everyone is accorded the right to due process and that’s why he created task force.”
Duque, who serves as chairman of PhilHealth board, has been accused by a whistleblower as the “godfather” of the PHilHealth mafia.
Thorrson Montes Keith, former PhilHealth anti-fraud officer, claimed that Duque, as chairman of PhilHealth board, approved the appointment of executive officials who were part of the alleged group behind the irregularities in the state firm. (Genalyn Kabiling)
