SECRETARY Enrique T. Ona denied reports there are ”ghost” employees and projects at
the Department of Health (DoH) and has created a committee to determine the actual human
resources requirements of the health agency.
In a statement, Ona said the DoH does not have ”host employees, ghost projects, and
intelligence or discretionary funds to convert.”
Ona was reacting to reports that said the DoH and the Department of Education were among
government agencies that practice fund conversion on its personnel services budget.
Ona said the budget allotment of the DoH for the fiscal year of 2011 is as follows: P7.7 billion
for Personnel Services (PS), P15.1 billion for maintenance and other operating expenses
(MOOE), and P8.9 billion for capital outlay (CO), totaling P31.7 billion.
The DoH has about 35,000 employees nationwide for Fiscal Year 2011, he said. He also
disclosed the DoH budget for 2010 that amounted to P6.87 billion pesos for PS, P11.32
billion for MOOE, and P6.46 billion for CO.
Ona assured Filipino tax-payers and international donor agencies supporting the DoH
that ”every single peso allotted to and every foreign currency donated to the Health
Department properly goes to where it was originally intended, and then properly liquidated
and accounted.”
The health chief has assigned an ad hoc committee to study the actual number of health
professionals and health-related personnel required by government health facilities
nationwide. The ad hoc committee report will also serve as guide in crafting the 2012 to 2015
DoH budget. (PIA)
