20 V. Luna execs sacked

A furious President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the firing of 20 officials of the V. Luna Medical Center, including military brass, for alleged anomalous purchases and fraudulent transactions.

It was the second mass termination in government following the sacking of Nayong Pilipino Foundation Inc. officials over allegations of corruption.

President Duterte has had it with corrupt officials that would mean a wider revamp in government, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

Following the result of a probe, Roque said the President ordered the relief of over 20 officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) hospital, including Commander of the AFP Health Service Command (AFP-HSC) Brig. Gen. Edwin Leo Torrelavega and Commander of the V. Luna Medical Center Col. Antonio Punzalan, Chiefs of Management and Fiscal Office and the Logistics Office of the AFP-HSC.

“In the last Cabinet meeting, he was just exasperated with corruption. Of course during that time it appeared that he had just learned about the Nayong Pilipino contract as well as about this (V. Luna officials) over this ghost delivery controversy,” he said.

“I think there is now going to be an even more intense drive against corruption, because he has said that if he were to succeed just in eliminating corruption in this government, he would have already considered his term of office to have been not for naught. So I think he is going full speed ahead against corruption in government,” he added.

Roque said it was recently brought to the President’s attention that alleged corrupt activities have been taking place at V. Luna.

The Palace official added exhaustive reports were submitted to the President by the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez regarding the irregularities in the hospital.

The AFP said the terminated officials who are with the military will face court martial.

“The problem is very systemic, the system is very flawed, anyone you put in that system will be eaten by the system,” Galvez said.

“The corruption has been going on since 2016, not even the time of the president, this happened from the previous administration,” he added.

“Based on the reports, several high-ranking officials and employees of the V. Luna Medical Center, Health Service Command [AFP] undertook anomalous purchases of equipment and engaged in fraudulent transactions, including ghost-purchasing, splitting of contracts to circumvent mandatory bidding processes and conceiving fictitious suppliers,” he said.

The President has also ordered to subject the officials to court martial proceedings, his spokesman noted.

“That’s what angers the President. This is not an isolated transaction. It involves quite a number of anomalous transactions. Apparently it’s a conspiracy,” Roque said, condemning what he described as an “institutional corruption.”

“He was personally aggravated when the information on corruption in V. Luna was confirmed. He is ballistic. Because only recently, he ordered the sum of P50 million a month be released to V. Luna, only to find out that much of the funds may be going to the pockets of corrupt officials of the Armed Forces,” he added.