Palace hands-off on graft claims vs DOH chief Herbosa, Domingo

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is taking a hands-off stance on potential graft allegations involving Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa and an undersecretary, pending proof of wrongdoing, according to Palace press officer Claire Castro.

Herbosa, who has frequently been mentioned in reports of a possible Cabinet reshuffle, is once again under scrutiny after a health workers’ group asked the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate him and Health Undersecretary Albert Domingo for possible graft related to a state-funded business-class trip to Switzerland.

READ: Ombudsman probe sought into DOH exec’s biz class trip to Switzerland

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“For now, the president will not reprimand anyone because he has not seen any evidence of wrongdoing,” Castro said at a briefing.

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“Perhaps once the Office of the Ombudsman has issued a resolution, the president will take action,” she added.

In a letter dated June 4, the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) urged the Office of the Ombudsman to conduct an “immediate, unsparing investigation” of Herbosa and Domingo.

The request stemmed from Herbosa’s issuance of Department Personnel Order No. 2026-2590-A on May 11, which upgraded Domingo’s travel arrangements from economy class to round-trip business-class airfare for a trip to Geneva, Switzerland, where the 79th World Health Assembly was held from May 17 to 23.

“There is no operational necessity for an undersecretary to be pampered in business class,” the group said in its letter.

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“An economy seat does not diminish a bureaucrat’s capacity to sit through a conference or represent the country,” it added.

Domingo said he welcomes calls for an investigation, while Herbosa has yet to issue a statement on the matter.

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Herbosa and three other Department of Health officials were previously named in a nine-page complaint alleging bid-rigging in the procurement of mobile primary care facilities worth P1.8 billion. The graft complaint filed against Herbosa was still undergoing evaluation as of March 2026.

The Health chief is also facing a separate graft complaint over the alleged wastage of P1.5 billion worth of medicines and vaccines. /mr /atm

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