The transfer of three top Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital officials has been approved by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III who is appointing a new management team to temporarily run the facility, Dr. Robert So, chief executive assistant of the secretary, confirmed yesterday.

To be transferred are Dr. Domingo Vega, CLMMRH chief, Dr. Benito Bionat, chief of clinics, and Bryan Baylon, chief administrative officer, So told the DAILY STAR.

They will be transferred while an investigation on the recommendation for the filing of charges against them is ongoing so as not to influence its outcome, So also said.

Whether the transfer will be permanent or temporary will depend on the outcome of the probe, he added.

The transfer will take place as soon as a management team is in place, So said. The names of those who will form the team are still being evaluated, he said.

Agnette Peralta, who headed the Pre-Investigation and Fact Finding Sub Committee of the DOH Integrity Development Committee that investigated CLMMRH, said her team recommended the filing of appropriate charges against Vega, Bionat and Baylon for violation of procurement laws with the DOH Legal Service.

Peralta, chief of the DOH Bureau of Health Services and Technology, said the reassignment of the three is necessary because CLMMRH is "a mess with its top officials fighting among themselves".

The assignment of a new management team is necessary to ensure proper and efficient operation of the hospital, she said.

She said preventive suspension could be ordered after appropriate charges are filed.

Peralta also recommended to the DOH Legal Service the determination of the extent of liability, if any, of Loreto Abaño, chief of the CLMMRH property and supply section, and of the Hospital Inspection and Acceptance Team for the inspection and acceptance of oxygen delivered to the hospital from 2002 to 2007, she said.

Evidently there were some tanks delivered with no oxygen in them, she said.

The Legal Service will determine if charges should also be filed against these people, she said.

The Legal Service has also been asked to determine the extent and liability of the Bids and Awards Committee of the hospital in 2002 when it was headed by Bionat, Peralta said.

The BAC in 2002 conducted a bidding for the purchase of oxygen for six months in 2002 and the whole of 2003 and increased the price to be paid for the oxygen they purchased in 2003 that was approved by Vega, she said.

When government bidding is done in 2002 it should be for purchase in the same year, it cannot cover another year under the law, she said.

Baylon said he will have to see if the order for his transfer has legal basis.

Baylon maintained that he was the one who exposed the anomalies at the hospital and questioned why action was being taken against him for it.

This does not exemplify the DOH sincerity to fight graft, he said, claiming that the Peralta probe was biased.

If they remove those who speak out against corruption who else will do so in the future? Baylon asked.

Baylon had been charged with falsification of his daily time record even before his whistle blowing, Peralta said.

Baylon was informed that some of his functions would be removed, and that led to his whistle blowing, she said.

Baylon's whistle blowing led to the DOH probe on the CLMMRH and their team was also provided with some evidence against Baylon, she said.

The allegation that the probe on the CLMMRH was biased has no basis, Peralta said, as the findings they came out with were based on a decision of six members, including two from non government organizations, and not just hers.

The Pre-investigation and Fact-Finding Sub-Committee was composed of four representatives - herself, Dr. Crispinita Valdez, Dr. Ariel Valencia and Ameilata Arquelles, and Vince Lazatin of the Transparency and Accountability Network and Ann Bernal of NAMFREL.

Bionat said he was not aware of the DOH decision and could not give a reaction as of press time.

Vega could not be reached for comment.*CPG

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