The 37-member Quezon City council is at odds with the city government’s health officer over alleged fake news that the fund allocation for medicines and hazard pay for health personnel was removed in the 2019 budget.
In light of the May 13 elections, Majority Floor Leader and District 3 Councilor Franz Pumaren said the council was not disregarding the basic service of medicines for the city residents.
He blamed Dr. Verdades Linga, health department head, as “the one who started sharing the false information” that over P110 million was removed from the city health’s 2019 budget to “malign the procedure of the budget deliberation and the city council.”
“I wish we would say the truth. It is a sole discretion of the city council. It was mandated by the law that we have every right to dissect every department, every budget—whether we increase, decrease or realign the budget. It just pains me to hear that. All of us can testify that we did not remove a big chunk of the city health department’s budget. That’s a big lie,” Pumaren said in a statement.
“As claimed by the health department, this was not a personal matter. The city council has consistently addressed the concerns of the city health department. The office head was asked regarding the distribution of medicines. However, she cannot clearly justify such,” he added.
The councilor said Linga even failed to take part in the budget deliberation.
“I was invited [on] Jan. 28 by Councilor Pumaren to listen to his privilege speech. Tomorrow [Thursday], I will be at the Blue Ribbon committee hearing to shed light on this [issue],” Linga told the Standard in a text message.
District 4 Councilor Marvin Rillo, meanwhile, proposed that the council refer this matter to the Blue Ribbon Committee.
“Invite all the people involved, invite the head of the appropriations committee to shed light, [and] invite of course, our head, Dra. Linga of the city health department,” he said.
Rillo said Linga must face the consequences “because her accusations… maligned our vice mayor, our majority floor leader, and the members of this council because there is no truth to the accusation.”
According to Pumaren, the hazard pay for the employees of the health department would still be provided to eligible employees, subject to usual accounting and auditing procedures.
This is “contrary to statements that it was eliminated together with drug and medicine expenses and the budget for medical, dental and laboratory supplies.”
Pumaren said the council has also “acknowledged the limitation of the department in service delivery and the decreasing number of medical practitioners because of the contract of service mode of the health department head.”
“The proposed P805 million of the city health department was technically approved by the city council with at least P110 million appropriated to the mayor’s office of the same budgetary item of drugs and medicines,” he said.
“Hence the decision of the council to transfer the funds to the mayor’s office is within their responsibility and discretion for the efficient use of public funds,” the councilor noted.