Duque, Lao face raps over COVID-19 supplies

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the filing of a graft case against former health secretary Francisco Duque III and former Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM) executive director Lloyd Christopher Lao.

The order was in connection with the alleged irregularities in the Department of Health’s transfer of P41.46 billion to PS-DBM at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In a 49-page resolution dated May 6 and approved by Ombudsman Samuel Martires on May 8, the anti-graft agency said probable cause exists to prosecute Duque and Lao in court for violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Section 3 (e) of RA 3019 prohibits public officials from giving unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference to a private party or from causing any party, including the government, undue injury.

Meanwhile, in a separate decision also approved by Martires on May 8, the ombudsman found Duque and Lao guilty of the administrative offenses of grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, still in connection with the P41.46-billion fund transfer.

Duque and Lao were meted with the penalty of dismissal from service, but since they were no longer connected with the DOH and PS-DBM, respectively, the ombudsman said the dismissal is convertible to a fine equivalent to their salaries for one year.

The ombudsman also ordered the forfeiture of all their retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from reemployment in the government service.

The ombudsman, on the other hand, dismissed the graft and administrative complaints against nine other officials of the DOH – undersecretaries Ma. Carolina Taiño, Myrna Cabotaje, Roger Tong-an and Leopoldo Vega, directors Crispinita Valdez, Napoleon Arevalo, Enrique Tayag, chief accountant Lorica Rabago and Financial Management Services-Accounting Division officer-in-charge Filipina Velasquez for lack of evidence to establish their participation in the allegedly anomalous fund transfer.

The ombudsman’s investigation on Duque, Lao and the other DOH officials stemmed from a 2020 Commission on Audit (COA) report