HEALTH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa yesterday said he is ready to answer the complaints recently filed against him before the Office of the Ombudsman.
In an interview, Herbosa said that once he is officially required to respond, he is prepared to answer any inquiries from the Ombudsman.
“We will follow the Ombudsman. We will respond when we are asked to,” said Herbosa, adding he has yet to get a copy of the petitions.
“It would be nice if we actually knew what cases were filed… It’s difficult to answer without reading it,” he said.
Asked if he wasn’t expecting the cases filed, he answered in the affirmative.
“Yes, I’m surprised,” said Herbosa without elaborating.
A complaint was filed by concerned DOH personnel and healthcare governance advocates against Herbosa and five other officials of the health department.
The complaint stemmed from the alleged questionable and disproportionate allocation of government-procured psychiatric medications to the Rotary Club of Quezon City.
Subsequently, a group of concerned employees of the DOH also asked the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate Herbosa for alleged irregularities in the handling of agency funds.
In particular, they sought an inquiry into the P1.296 billion cash advance to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released from February to July 2024, which reportedly remains unliquidated, and an additional P524.926 million requested by Herbosa for the procurement of vaccines.
