THE Aquino Administration refused to comment on growing speculation that Health Secretary Enrique Ona was being eased out in favor Undersecretary Janette Garin, an ally of President Benigno Aquino III.
Officially, Ona went on a four-week leave to prepare answers to several questions that the President had about the Health Department’s vaccination campaign.
Ona on Tuesday confirmed that he asked for time to answer the President’s questions about the immunization program and other issues.
Interviewed after he attended the necrological services of the former Health secretary and senator Juan Flavier, Ona said the process of preparing those answers was “very complicated and extensive.”
He also said the report he was preparing would include the department’s hospital reform program.
Asked if the President forced him to go on leave, he said: “What the President said yesterday, let’s just stick to it.”
Since Garin was appointed to the Health Department in July 2013, there was talk that she would replace Ona.
Garin, a three term congresswoman of Iloilo City, is a member of Aquino’s Liberal Party and his ally in the House of Representatives.
She was also a co-author of the Reproductive Health Bill, a priority measure of the Aquino administration, and touted as one of its major accomplishments.
In confirming Garin’s appointment as Health undersecretary, the President said her “extensive practice and knowledge as a medical practitioner,” and her legislative background, made her the perfect fit for the post.
Before that, in one of the Liberal Party’s campaign sorties in Iloilo province, the President announced he wanted Garin at the Health Department to help him in his programs.
Garin, an obstetrician-gynecologist, denied that politics was behind Ona’s leave of absence.
After attending Flavier’s necrological services at the Health Department’s convention hall, Ona went to his office on the second floor of the main building and stayed there for some time.
Despite being on leave, he initially said he wanted to go to Tacloban City upon the invitation of the Health Department’s regional director for Eastern Visayas.
He later changed his mind, however, one source at the Health Department said.
“Perhaps, he realized that he cannot represent the DOH in the event in Tacloban City for the Yolanda victims because he is on leave,” the source said.
Ona said his relationship with the President remains good, and that his condition is better now after suffering from allergies due to hair dye. (courtesy Manila Standard Today)
