Robredo does not hold any Cabinet post from which she can be removed. In the case of Duque, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go only advised him during a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing to address the findings of the Commission on Audit on the "deficiencies" in the Department of Health's (DOH) handling of the pandemic.
There is no report of any imprisonment as there are no cases filed against the health secretary, although the Senate blue ribbon committee and the House committee on public accounts began last month separate inquiries into the DOH's handling of COVID-19 multi-billion funds following a recent Commission on Audit (COA) report flagging “deficiencies” in the agency’s pandemic budget.
Tila hindi makapagdesisyon si Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte kung ano ang gagawin kay Health Secretary Francisco Duque sa gitna ng mga panawagan na magbitiw ang kalihim dahil sa napag-alamang kakulangan sa dokumentasyon ng Department of Health (DOH) tungkol sa higit P67 bilyong pondo para sa COVID-19.
President Rodrigo Duterte cannot seem to make up his mind on what to do with Health Secretary Francisco Duque’s stay in the Cabinet amid calls for the latter’s resignation over deficiencies in the Department of Health’s (DOH) documentation of more than P67 billion of COVID-19 funds.
Before and after the dubious video was posted on Aug. 19, President Rodrigo Duterte had declared full support for Duque amid calls for his resignation. During his weekly briefing on Monday night (Aug. 23), the president reiterated he would not ask his health secretary to quit, but would accept his resignation if he did so voluntarily. There has been no word from Duque since.
The Department of Health's deficiencies in spending P67.32 billion of COVID-19 response funds, as flagged by the Commission on Audit, bring to mind incidents when President Rodrigo Duterte aired his displeasure with the CoA's stringent auditing measures.
The country’s health chief has dodged so many controversies that one of at least 14 senators who have called for his resignation wondered aloud what amulet he has that President Rodrigo Duterte just can’t seem to fire him.
