Duque's ominous track record will bring controversy to the health portfolio

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will again be at the receiving end of likely controversies that will hound the Department of Health with the appointment of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. president Francisco Duque III.

How can Pres. Arroyo proclaim that she does not subscribe to paying political debts to her election benefactors and henchmen? The evidence is right in the Cabinet. First there is Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and Tourism chief Ace Durano who were responsible for the sizable votes for Gloria in the 2004 elections from Iloilo and Cebu respectively.

Now comes Duque to the DOH, who has a glowing record for supporting the current anti-OFW Macapagal-Arroyo regime. He is primarily responsible for the distribution of deceptive PhilHealth cards with Gloria's photo for free during the 2004 election campaign period. The said cards were used as a ploy to gather votes from the largely poor electorate.

Duque has been consistently boasting of his credentials as an efficient bureaucrat who can increase revenues of the agency he heads. He currently boasts that Macapagal-Arroyo herself was grooming him to be health secretary since 1999. Duque's stint as PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer is actually highlighted by the illegal transfer of OFW Medicare trust funds from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to the PhilHealth coffers. Duque himself said in a memo to Pres. Arroyo in 2003 that elaborated that "the proposed transfer will have a significant bearing on 2004 elections and on the President's desire to provide health insurance to 8M indigents by end of 2003.'"

This is why he was rewarded by Pres. Arroyo for being able to facilitate the transfer of P530,382,446 from the P4 billion OFW Medicare Trust Fund from OWWA to PhilHealth last March 1. This transfer was made possible by Executive Order 392 issued by the President on December 28, 2004. This order merely amended the controversial E.O. 182 allegedly drafted by Duque himself.

His profit-oriented mindset and bias against the poor will complement the administration's neglect for health and other social services in budget allocations from the national government.

With Duque's expertise at drafting, railroading and implementing executive orders, his appointment will herald the full implementation of Gloria's Health Sector Reform Agenda (HSRA) as elaborated in Executive Orders 102 and 366.

The said orders, according to the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), will completely restructure the Department of Health, leading to the privatization and corporatization of government hospitals.

The 2005 budget for health is a mere 10.4B (or only 1.1. percent of the national budget) and up to 70 percent of the local health funds are lost to corruption.

The Health Sector Reform Agenda, EO 102 and EO 366 will mean massive retrenchment of government health workers, an increase in the prices of medicines and higher costs of hospitalization and medical services, among others. Duque's expertise is extracting profit from even the poorest of our compatriots.

"Now with Duque as health secretary, more controversies will happen at the health department. We must remember that P520 million was lost due to padded or fake insurance claims at the PhilHealth under his watch. As health secretary, the Duque dubious brand of leadership and management at PhilHealth will be carried over to the Department of Health. #