Sen. Poe wants Duque suspended

TO MAKE THINGS clearer, Sen. Grace Poe has sought Health Secretary Francisco Duque's suspension after state auditors found "deficiencies" in his department's handling of P67.32 billion in pandemic funds.

Poe noted that last year Ombudsman Samuel Martires ordered the preventive suspension of eight Philippine Health Insurance Corp. executives and five DOH officials for alleged irregularities on the use of pandemic funds.

This time, Senator Poe said DOH underspent 31 percent of pandemic funds.

"Today, we take it further and raise the question which still hasn’t been answered despite numerous probes in the past: Shouldn’t Secretary Duque be suspended by now if you’re going to apply the same judgment as what happened to the PhilHealth executives?" Poe said during the hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.