Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa and 16 Department of Health officials are facing fresh charges at the Office of the Ombudsman over pharmaceutical stocks worth P1.5 billion that expired before reaching their intended recipients.
The complaint, filed Tuesday by anonymous individuals identifying themselves as “concerned DOH personnel,” runs 33 pages and names Herbosa alongside undersecretaries, division chiefs, and program directors in charges that include graft, serious dishonesty, serious misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of public service.
Respondents named alongside the health secretary include Undersecretaries Randy Escolango and Gloria Balboa, OIC-director David Masiado of the High Burden Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control Division, Dr. Anna Marie Celina Garfin, Dr. Adriano Suba-an of the Population Health and Non-Communicable Diseases office, Dr. Cherylle Gavino of the Mental Health Division, and Dr. Maria Joyce Ducusin of the Children’s Health and Development Division, among others.
The complainants alleged that medicines procured under high-value contracts for family planning and mental health programs were delivered to a national warehouse but “remained stagnant” and never distributed to regional health units. As expiration dates approached, Balboa — then assistant secretary — issued a department personnel order under Herbosa’s authority aimed at ensuring “effective delivery” and program “alignment,” placing most respondents in direct supervisory roles over the drug stocks. The complainants argue this makes them liable for the resulting losses.
Among the items that lapsed between December 2025 and March this year: 1.2 million cycles of Lynestrenol valued at roughly P40 million; 84,490 ampules of Flupentixol Decanoate worth P18.9 million; 165,115 ampules of Fluphenazine Decanoate at P4.95 million; and 32,005 bottles of Valproic acid amounting to P4.1 million. Separate lots of 160,000 ampules of Fluphenazine and 80,000 ampules of Flupentixol, valued at P5 million and P19 million respectively, added to the total losses.
The complainants are also asking the Ombudsman to place Herbosa and his co-respondents under preventive suspension to stop them from “further abusing their positions” while the case is under investigation. The Inquirer sought comment from the DOH secretary but had not received a response by press time.
