Akbayan Representative Atty. Chel Diokno questioned the Department of Health (DOH) over the timing of its inspection of health facilities, following the recent controversy surrounding non-operational Super Health Centers (SHCs).

The remark was made after DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa conducted inspections on various SHCs across the country.

“Why was the inspection only done now after the issue of ghost health facilities opened? This should have been done long ago as a form of due diligence, especially since billions of pesos of public money were spent on these projects,” Diokno said in Filipino.

Recently, Secretary Herbosa announced that 300 SHCs under the DOH’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) have been classified as “incomplete,” and have not operated since they were turned over to their respective local governments.

P170 billion has been allocated to HFEP infrastructure and equipment over the past decade, rising to about P400 billion if commodities and human resources are included.

Herbosa came under fire recently after a statement was caught on camera by a television network. While inspecting an SHC in Marikina City, Herbosa was heard in one of the TV recordings stating:

“At least tayo ang nag-expose. It’s better na tayo nag-expose kesa tayo ma-expose. Bahala na sila magpaliwanag.”

[“At least we are the ones who exposed it. It’s better that we are the ones who expose it, instead of being the ones getting exposed. It’s now up to them to explain.”]

Herbosa is currently facing multiple corruption cases before the Office of the Ombudsman involving P44.6 million worth of mental health drugs.

Concerned DOH personnel and healthcare advocates filed a complaint against the health secretary over the allegedly questionable and disproportionate allocation of procured psychiatric medications to the private civic group, Rotary Club of Quezon City.