No” VIP treatment” in testing some officials ahead of PUIs

March 23, 2020

The Department of Health (DOH) Monday admitted to giving  consideration to some government officials in testing them for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). 

In a radio interview, DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said  certain officials and politicians were tested ahead of other persons under investigation (PUIs). 

"There are some officials that requested to be tested and we granted their requests to have their specimens tested," said Vergeire. 

In a separate statement, the DOH said it provided "courtesy" treatment to some government officials but not ''VIP treatment.'' 

"DOH assures the public that there is no policy for VIP treatment and that all specimens are being processed on a first-in, first-out basis, with courtesy accorded to officials holding positions of national security and public health,"it said  

Vergeire said some were given special considerations due to "national security". 

"There were those we tested because of national security reasons. We need to preserve specific high people in government," she explained. 

"Most of them meet the criteria in our previous decision tool used. So they were tested because they met the criteria and it was justifiable," said Vergeire. 

The reported preferential treatment, dubbed by netizens as "VIP testing", was subsequently linked to the reported replacement of Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) Director  Celia Carlos for supposedly opposing the scheme. 

But DOH said Carlos was not being replaced by Assistant Health Secretary Nestor Santiago.

The DOH said Carlos remains head of the RITM, but will be placed under the supervision of Santiago. 

"The circulating issuance stating that Dir. Carlos has been replaced by Asec. Santiago is an erroneous draft of the document, which was inadvertently posted but immediately taken down," said Duque in a statement. 

Duque said Carlos will focus on RITM functions considering her technical expertise. 

Duque said Santiago shall guide and manage the expansion of the testing capacity to public and private laboratories, and attend to coordination with other agencies. DMS