Garin, Abad face another House probe

MANILA, Philippines — Former secretaries Janette Garin of health and Florencio Abad of budget are facing another investigation by the House of Representatives for what some congressmen claim was a scam bigger than the controversial P3-billion dengue vaccine Dengvaxia purchase.

The committee on good government has decided to invite the two Aquino administration officials to its next hearing on the P9.3-billion barangay health stations (BHS) project undertaken by the Department of Health (DOH) during Garin’s time.

The committee and the committee on health chaired by Quezon Rep. Angelita Tan have concluded their joint inquiry into the Dengvaxia procurement.

The investigation into the BHS project, launched in 2015, was prompted by a resolution filed by Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrelita Suangsing and complaints from House members, including Tan, over the location and construction of barangay clinics.

Tan said the health stations were to be located in public schools, many of which no longer have spaces even for additional classrooms.

Thus, the DOH, after nearly two years, failed to build many of the barangay clinics, she said. Of those built, she said many are substandard and incomplete and have yet to open.

Those completed do not have personnel, equipment and medicine, Tan, who is a physician, added.

This was also the case in her district, Suangsing said.

The good government committee, which Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel chairs, found out that only 10 percent of the thousands of barangay health stations to be built nationwide have been completed.

Committee members discovered that like in the Dengvaxia procurement, there were no funds in the 2015 and 2016 budgets for the BHS project. The P9.3 billion was taken from savings, the same funding source for the dengue vaccine.