‘DoH to cooperate in coronavirus probe’

THE Department of Health (DoH) will cooperate with the Office of the Ombudsman in its investigation of Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd and the department’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, concurrent spokesman, said during a “Laging Handa” public briefing aired on state-run PTV 4 that the DoH had been transparent from the start in its response to the crisis, including delays in reporting the number of cases, and had always made decisions after careful study and validation of data it had gathered.

“Kai lang a np on gm a int in di han n gating mg aka ba bay anna ang mga datos aynagmumula pa

sa lowermost level or facility, sa mgabarangay (village), aakyatsa mg a mu ni sip yo, a a ky ats a a ting

mga region, aakyatposaating national government ( The public should understand that the data we receive comes from the lowermost level or facility, from the villages, then to the municipality, to the region and then to the national government),” she said.

She added that the local government units have an important role to play in the department’s data gathering efforts by providing real time information through the CovidKAYA app.

Vergeire said the DoH would cooperate with the Ombudsman by providing information.

Vergeire said, however, that the Health department was not at liberty to disclose if a subpoena had been sent.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires said the DoH was hiding information following a two-week discreet investigation by his office before the March lockdown.