9 DOH execs begin serving suspension

March 24, 2023 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) said its nine officials allegedly involved in the questionable procurement of COVID-19 pandemic supplies from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. will not be reporting for work starting Monday.

Earlier, the Office of the Ombudsman suspended 32 former and present officials of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) and the DOH for their alleged involvement in the pandemic supplies mess.

The health officials covered by the suspension were Nestor Santiago Jr., Assistant Secretary, Public Services Team; Crispinita Valdez, Director IV, Procurement Service; Amado Tandoc, head, Laboratory Research Division, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine; Lei Lanna Dancel, Dave Tangcalagan, Jhobert Bernal, Kenneth Aristotle Punzalan, Rose Marasigan, and Maria Carmela Reyes, Supply Chain Management Service, all of DOH-RITM.

All are holding permanent positio