Duque urged to attend House hearing, air side
DEPUTY Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Monday urged Health Sec. Francisco Duque lll to attend Tuesday’s House briefing on the use of his agency’s P67-billion coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic response funds.
“That will be Secretary Duque’s opportunity to explain the alleged deficiencies in the management of the funds as reported by the Commission on Audit. Anyway, he has vowed to account for all of the money and has declared that none of it has been lost to corruption,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said as far as Cagayan de Oro City is concerned, “we are thankful and happy with Secretary Duque’s and Secretary Carlito Galvez’s responses to our requests for assistance in fighting the pandemic, especially the recent surge in COVID-19 and Delta variant cases.”
He said the pandemic response task force has delivered additional vaccines and hospital ventilators to Cagayan de Oro.
Rodriguez added that he wants Duque to particularly address repeated complaints on the payment of benefits Congress had granted nurses and other health workers under the Bayanihan 1 and 2 laws.
He noted that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has recently announced that it has released P9 billion for the special risk allowance and hazard pay of government and private health care personnel.
“Where is the money now? Have the funds reached hospitals? Why are our nurses complaining that they have not received their special risk allowance an hazard pay?” He asked.
