(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the relief of high-ranking officials of the V. Luna Medical Center over almost P1.5 million worth of “ghost deliveries” involving medical equipment, among others.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press briefing that among those relieved were Brig. General Edwin Leo T. Torrelavega, commander of the Armed Forces of the AFP Health Service Command; and Col. Antonio Punzalan, commander of the AFPHSC logistics unit.
Quoting Chief of Staff Carlito Galvez, Roque said all in all, around 20 officials were relieved.
“I suppose it’s the office involving procurement..Apparently it’s a conspiracy,” Roque said.
According to Roque, Galvez said “he would.. initiate, without prejudice to the investigation to be conducted by the Ombudsman, for the military, court-martial proceedings” against the officials.
According to Roque, the relief came following an investigation conducted by the AFP and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission at the behest of President Duterte.
Roque said it was a whistleblower who reported the anomalous transactions in the hospital.
Based on the probe, Roque said the P1,491,570,000 involved only a “single transaction.”
He said another report on other supposedly anomalous transactions involving “hundreds of millions of pesos” will be released “in due course.”
“(Duterte) (was) ballistic (when he found out). Only recently he ordered that the sum of P50 million be released to make sure V. Luna would have (facilities needed for soldiers) only to find out much of the funds may be going to pockets of corrupt officials,” Roque said.
Earlier, Duterte ordered the relief of Nayong Pilipino officials following an allegedly anomalous lease contract with a foreign company.
