Exposed: More anomalies during Garin’s term at DOH
OVERLOOKED (or ignored) again by the country’s mainstream media was the Department of Health’s startling revelation of a multi-billion peso anomalous project undertaken by the previous administration supposedly to build thousands of barangay health stations all over the country, but which never materialized.
It was a classic “ghost project”: only 270 health centers were built out of the planned 5,700 with the astronomical budget of R8 billion already released but which has mysteriously disappeared. Massive corruption of this kind normally would have hogged the headlines but only one newspaper did so while the rest pushed it down in ranking or ignored it altogether.
Newspapers chose to headline instead the Department of Justice’s decision to allow the Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox’s temporary stay in the Philippines while the Bureau of Immigration hears the nun’s visa cancellation case and deportation order. I don’t know why this case involving a politicking nun would merit more media mileage than one where corruption and high crimes are involved.
Is it because our mainstream media is highly partisan in favor of the previous administration? As I’ve often suggested here, I hope that the reporters, editors, and publishers of today would give the current administration a chance and not let their bias for the previous dispensation cloud their editorial judgment.
In a press briefing, DOH officials said they were prompted to investigate the project following the demand letter of project contractor Jbros Construction Corporation billing the government for P2.9 billion even as it asked to terminate the contract. DOH then formed a task force to investigate the alleged anomalies in the project, which was undertaken during the term of former Health Secretary Janette Garin.
Garin should get a really good lawyer as it seems the cases against her are now piling up. Despite her relatively short term at the DOH (one year, four months), she has been linked to a number of anomalous projects and transactions. Recently, Garin was also hit with a graft case filed by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) for the alleged diversion of P10.6 billion that should have been used to pay for the health benefits of senior citizens.
The previous administration was known to be masters of media and propaganda, and Garin is no exception. She has vigorously defended herself, making the rounds of media outlets, and we can only ascribe her verbosity to self-preservation and fear of jail. Careerwise Garin was more a politician than a doctor having served in the Leyte provincial board and was a full three-term congressman (2003-2014) for the first district of Iloilo.
At times like this, seeing how fasttalking politicians get away with lies and deceits (our media is too meekly partisan, sad to say), I wish that we had the sense of shame and honor that we see in other Asian politicians who are linked to crimes. They cry and apologize, bow their heads, express genuine grief and remorse, and some even kill themselves out of sheer embarrassment. Filipino politicians are known for their “kapal ng mukha” and that’s that.
Garin was also in charge of the DOH when it fast-tracked the funding and implementation of the mass vaccination of a targetted 1 million public school children against dengue, using a new vaccine called Dengvaxia. Despite the warnings of local and international health experts, and the abundance of studies critical of the vaccine, the DOH under Garin proceeded with the mass inoculation.
Manufacturer Sanofi-Pasteur later said Dengvaxia shouldn’t be given to people who haven’t had dengue because if they do get dengue they will get its fatal version. Some 60 children have already died following inoculation with Dengvaxia, according to the Public Attorney’s Office, citing the adverse effects attributed to the defective vaccine including internal organ bleeding, edema, and hemorrhages.
Like the anomalous barangay health center project, billions of pesos of taxpayers money was used to fund the Dengvaxia vaccination, which was also seen as form of political campaigning since it was implemented just before the May 2016 elections. Some P3.5 billion was used for the program, a huge amount that was in itself illegally disbursed: the allotment did not go through, and was not approved by Congress.
Garin, former president Benigno Aquino III, former Budget Secretary Butch Abad, and other officials of the former administration are facing charges of multiple homicide and physical injuries through criminal negligence, graft, technical malversation, and violation of the procurement law, in connection with this scandalous Dengvaxia program.
The Department of Justice has started its preliminary investigation of the case, the outcome of which will test whether the country has already matured beyond the vindictive politics of the 1980s. Already, young Filipinos in discussions in social media are asking what the Aquino administration really accomplished during its much-bally-hoed term apart from attacking its perceived political enemies and implementing ingenious ways of “fund-raising” for its campaigns.
The country’s media people also need a rethinking of their own. Abandoning the EDSA-era political beliefs will hurt, of course, but there’s no two ways about it. It’s time to stop covering up for corrupt politicians of the previous administration, no matter how well they speak, no matter if they represented a part of your idealistic youth. It will be good to slough off the old and yellowed political beliefs.