Gonzalez owns up to Depra-Ramos’ ouster

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. said he personally asked Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque to remove DOH-6 director Lydia Depra-Ramos from her post.

Gonzalez said he threatened to block the DOH annual budget if Depra-Ramos remains a minute longer in Western Visayas.

Based on information from the DOH administrative office, today is Depra-Ramos’ last day as DOH-6 director. She will then report to Manila September 19 where she is supposed to be assigned under the office of DOH Undersecretary Mario Villaverde.

Gonzalez said alleged anomalies and dismal performance by Depra-Ramos’ administration prompted him to ask Duque to relieve her from Region 6.

One of the anomalies Gonzalez attributed to Depra-Ramos is when she asked for P250,000 from the DOH for her lawyer’s fees which was later disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA).

The COA had ordered Depra-Ramos to refund the amount.

Gonzalez also rapped Depra-Ramos for unsatisfactory response in the aftermath of typhoon Frank, particularly when she required medical groups to coordinate with her office prior to holding missions.

Depra-Ramos also got flak when she told Jaro residents to look for another place if they cannot stand the stink of rotting rice inside the National Food Authority warehouse.

“I personally asked Secretary Duque to relieve Ramos from Region 6 because of the alleged anomalies. And I threatened him that I will block the DOH budget, through Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr., if he does not relieve Ramos,” Gonzalez said.

In an interview over Bombo Radyo, Duque said it was Depra-Ramos who asked to be relieved from Western Visayas to Region 2.

But since the incumbent DOH-2 regional director will retire in December yet, Depra-Ramos will be temporarily assigned as assistant cluster head of the policy and standard development team for service delivery and sectoral management conditioning team at the DOH central office.

But Duque said he received numerous complaints against Depra-Ramos aside from her cases with the Ombudsman and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission.

Depra-Ramos had denied all the charges against her saying their responses to the flood were duly commended by her superiors in the national office.

She said her relief was a promotion of sorts.

LGU volunteers urged to unite

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

IN unity there is strength.

The nearly 13,000 volunteers helping local governments implement various health, population, early child care and nutrition programs need to speak as one loud voice to pressure Iloilo vice governor Rolex T. Suplico to change his position on the proposed supplemental budget for their additional honoraria, a top Capitol official said.

“The hard-line stance taken by Suplico on the issue is not about the legality of the proposed appropriation, but about who wields the real power in the provincial government,” provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada said.

Suplico, who controls the majority bloc in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, doesn’t want to see these volunteers enjoy a cheerful holiday season and give Governor Niel Tupas Sr. the credit for pushing for these honoraria that they have been getting for the last three years, Mejorada said.

In a radio interview over Aksyon Radyo, Suplico said “his hands are tied” because of what he described as the explicit prohibition found in the Local Government Code on the enactment of supplemental budgets for local government units (LGUs) operating on a re-enacted budget.

Mejorada said the rule is not absolute, and the “general welfare clause” can be a powerful justification for enacting a supplemental budget. A top official of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is supporting this view, he added.

Mejorada said the real reason is that Suplico wants to show he can frustrate the noble goals of the Tupas administration in improving the health delivery programs of the province, which includes the grant of financial incentives to these volunteers.

“Make no mistake about it,” he said. “It’s about power.”

Yesterday, the board of directors of the federation of BHWs met with Tupas and Mejorada to seek their guidance on how the volunteers can get this honorarium which amounts to about P2,000 a year.

Tupas informed the group he had included about P18 million to pay for this honorarium in his request for supplemental budget, but the proposal is being blocked by Suplico and his allies.

“Maybe he will listen to you,” Tupas told the group.

Mejorada said the volunteers should be encouraged to ventilate their sentiments to the Sanggunian and make the board members understand their plight.