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This Week in AsiaPolitics

The Philippines has the most Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia. Why is Duterte backing under-fire health secretary Duque?

  • The Senate is at odds with Duterte over his endorsement of Duque, whom it has accused of criminal negligence and gross mishandling of the pandemic
  • The body says Duque’s ‘failure of leadership and flip-flopping policies’ cost the lives of Filipinos, including frontline medical personnel

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Philippine health secretary Francisco Duque III has come under much criticism for his handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: AP
Raissa Robles
The Senate of the Philippines is at loggerheads with President Rodrigo Duterte over his continued endorsement of health secretary Francisco Duque III, whom the upper chamber has accused of criminal negligence and gross mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Twenty of the body’s 24 senators recommended Duque’s sacking in a 93-page report on September 1 that detailed his lapses as chairman of the board for Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), the state agency paying for medical care and Covid-19 testing.

The Senate had initially called for his immediate resignation on April 16 after a month-long extreme lockdown of the country failed to stop a spike in cases. As of Friday, the Philippines had more than 252,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, the most in Southeast Asia, along with over 4,100 related deaths.

The most recent controversy surrounding Duque is the controversial disbursal of 45 million pesos (US$925,500) from PhilHealth to a private dialysis clinic, B. Braun Avitum, that had no patients suffering from Covid-19 – despite the funds being earmarked for the pandemic.

Duque admitted the payment was illegal at an online Senate hearing on August 18, during which he was grilled for nine hours. However, he argued that he was not liable because as a “non-voting chair”, he did not sign the board resolution that advanced 14 billion pesos (US$288 million) of PhilHealth funds through the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) that saw even hospitals and clinics with no Covid-19 patients get cash advances, while other medical centres treating patients with the disease missed out.

Duque, who later told reporters he did not know how much each hospital received through the IRM, declined to be interviewed on the matter.

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Philippines denies it overtakes Indonesia as Southeast Asian country with most Covid-19 cases

Philippines denies it overtakes Indonesia as Southeast Asian country with most Covid-19 cases

Despite the charges against him, the health secretary has retained Duterte’s backing. “By the way, Secretary Duque, this is not the time for you to resign,” the president said in a pre-recorded briefing on September 7 in which he exonerated the health secretary of corruption over PhilHealth. “I have heard stories about you going to resign. I have full trust in you.”

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