Año backs Duque as Ombudsman investigates him

June 18, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Thursday expressed his support to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III after the Office of the Ombudsman announced that they are conducting an investigation against him on the anomalies and irregularities of the agency in their response to COVID-19 pandemic.

In a TV interview, Año said Duque is a hard worker and may just be “overwhelmed” on his tasks.

"The President has already expressed his support to Secretary Duque and being a colleague of Secretary Duque, I have seen him working every day. He is still a very hard worker,” he said.

“I also expressed my support to Secretary Duque… I saw how serious he was (on his job). Maybe he was just overwhelmed on the number of his tasks, on the issues and managing this crisis is very, very, very hard,” he added.

On Wednesday, Ombusman Samuel Mariters said he created two more investigation team who will jointly probe the irregularities and anomalies committed by DOH on the delayed of the procurement of Physical Protective Equipment (PPE), and other medical gears for health workers; the alleged lapses and irregularities that led to the death and infection of health workers; inaction in the release and processing of benefits and financial assistance for health workers; and confusing and delayed reporting of COVID-19 related deaths and cases.

This team is in addition to the one the Office of the Ombudsman created last March 15, who are investigating DOH's purchase of 100,000 test kits and the use of invented test kits by the University of the Philippines.

Meanwhile, asked about the resignation of  Tony Leachon as the special adviser of the National Task Force (NTF), Año expressed regret but respects Leachon's decision.

“I also regret Dr. Leachon’s leaving the NTF, but he has decided to resign, so be it. But we will still remain friends. I, for one, will get his input from time to time,” he said.

The secretary said Leachon is a critical thinker who is a huge help to the government.

“I think he did that (with) good intention. He does not want to malign anyone. He wants to emphasize some reports. Sometimes he is very emotional,” Año said.

He added maybe Leachon is not aware on how things are being done in the government where officials follow a communication line.

"You know in the government, if you have some disagreement, you have to talk with the collegial body. You have to talk with the national task force and then whatever the agreement and the agreed communication line, we all follow... There might be a lot of messengers but there must be one message," he said.

“As a civilian, maybe Dr. Tony Leachon was not familiar with the rigid organization like in the government," Año said.

He admitted that some of Leachon’s statements were "already contradicting policies or official lines of the IATF”.

According to NTF chief implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr, Leachon’s pre-emptive releases of some information prior to official announcement and adaption jeopardized the communication efforts of the IATF and NTF and caused unwarranted misunderstanding between two entities that should be working together.

“I maintain my respects for Dr. Anthony Leachon and thank him for his services rendered to the National Task Force on Covid-19 (NTF) albeit very short. However, we have to let go of Dr. Leachon because the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) and NTF are collegial bodies that have to work in sync with each other,” Galvez said.

“He has been cautioned but remained deaf to collegial advice. Constructive criticism among colleagues is most welcome to assure improvement but this should have been done internally to maintain unity of effort,” he added.  Ella Dionisio/DMS