DOH chief faces graft complaint over TB commodity procurement halt

MANILA, Philippines — Barely a month after assuming his post, Health Secretary Jose Pujalte Jr. is facing a graft complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly directing the suspension of the procurement of anti-tuberculosis commodities for this year. In an 18-page complaint, health advocates, who remained anonymous, accused Pujalte of violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for allegedly issuing a memorandum that halted TB commodity procurement. The “whistleblowers” asked the ombudsman to investigate, put Pujalte under preventive suspension and file criminal cases against him. The group claimed that Pujalte, who replaced Teodoro Herbosa as Department of Health secretary on July 13, is allegedly “deliberately stalling” the public bidding timeline to “buy time for an unnamed favored supplier.” Last week, Pujalte also faced allegations that he was seen gambling in two resort casinos in Parañaque City using a fictitious name. He has denied the accusations. The latest complaints said Pujalte showed manifest partiality to manipulate the statutory procurement and acted with bad faith for covering up the freeze under the pretext of an administrative due diligence review. “Unilaterally halting the supply line of life-saving, airborne-disease commodities without an emergency buffer stock constitutes a conscious, reckless disregard of obvious clinical consequences,” the complaint read. They also argued that the freeze causes real, quantifiable and catastrophic injury to public health as it causes interruptions on treatments of active TB patients, which induces drug resistance, and accelerates transmission, pointing out that TB treatment demands a continuous six-to-nine-month daily regimen of antibiotics. The advocates also accused Pujalte of grave misconduct, arguing that the freezing of the procurement is an “unconstitutional executive impoundment and usurpation of power,” calling it a “unilateral refusal” to spend funds appropriated by Congress. They also noted that the memorandum issued was a unilateral agency-level directive as it cited no rules, circulars or regulations authorizing a line-agency secretary to freeze procurement. The complainants added that the power to withhold or impound funds does not belong to a department secretary and that such a freeze effectively sabotages his own agency’s operational efficiency and core statutory mission.