Health Secretary Ted Herbosa and Undersecretary Randy Escolango are facing new legal challenges after a group of concerned Department of Health (DOH) employees lodged complaints with the Office of the Ombudsman.
The administrative and criminal charges include graft, grave misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, all stemming from alleged mismanagement of funds and supply procurement.
The whistleblowers allege that Herbosa and Escolango orchestrated a system that funneled immense administrative power to a single individual, creating what they described as a “closed procurement scheme” that concentrated control over how public funds are allocated and how vital medical supplies, vaccines, and medicines are distributed.
To back their claims, the employees pointed to a Department Personnel Order from February 2026. The directive, authorized by Herbosa, placed Escolango at the helm of both the Supply Chain Management Service and the Financial and Management Service.
Furthermore, Escolango was named chairperson of the Central Office Bids and Awards Committee (COBAC-A), the body responsible for overseeing procurement projects worth billions of pesos.
According to the complainants, granting Escolango these sweeping, overlapping responsibilities breaches government procurement and anti-graft regulations, which mandate a strict separation of duties to prevent conflicts of interest.
They argued that combining budget allocation, procurement planning, and project execution under one tightly controlled chain of command compromises checks and balances and opens the door to corruption.
Given the gravity of the accusations, the group has requested that the Ombudsman place both Herbosa and Escolango under a six-month preventive suspension while the probe is underway.
This filing is part of a broader, ongoing campaign by the employees, who have previously submitted over ten cases and petitions regarding DOH leadership, some of which have reached the desk of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.